Sir: I read with great interest Mr Rudolf Fischer's article
on Greece last week.
My husband and I booked for a two-week coach tour last November, due to go at the end of May shortly after the coup. Our friends asked, 'Shall you still go?' Yes,' we said. 'If there is any danger the tour would be cancelled, and in any case the government is sure to do all they can to ensure tourists are unmolested, since they so badly need us for their economy.' How right we were! Some- one will point out that a coach full of English people who can't speak Greek. and move in a party, are isolated from the country they 'visit. This is true up to a point, but we had quite a lot of free time to wander on our own.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday, lovely weather, two weeks packed with interest, and we saw no soldiers beyond the ceremonial guards. and few police. It was a pleasure to be in a country free from touting, overcharging, the outstretched palm, and the need to watch one's handbag or camera! The Greek people were friendly, courteous, kind and helpful. The fact that one could drink water safely anywhere, and also that it was automatically supplied at meals (hotels in water-sodden England, please note!) and that you were not bullied to take wine, meant more to spend on other things, and there were pleasing inexpensive gifts to buy for those at home.
We lit a 'Candle for Greece' in the little Byzan- tine church we visited on our last day, and hope that as it has overcome so many difficulties in the past -the present ones will soon be no more than an unhappy memory.
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