Sun, sea and cigarettes

摘要

A few recent days on the edge of the Saronic Sea, due West of Athens, is all that was needed to renew the conviction that Greece is the European Union's most sumptuous cliche. In this, the country is abundant. As nowhere else, and all the time, colours and light are in harmonious competition. Greek waters are bluer than a postcard's, the peaks more serrated than a child's drawing; villages remain romantically dilapidated, and sharply painted fishing boats seem playthings rather than someone's livelihood. The qualities of this physical environment - these cliches - are reflected in the warmth, family or other, of Greek life.