Originally Posted by
rickg523
...{snip}...
What I'm wondering is what these places are like in May. Relatively crowded or relatively empty? Most things open or closed? Most of all, to anyone who knows what Greece was like in the 1970's, how will 21st century Greece compare? One of the things that struck me most about Greece was how happy and outgoing the people were compared to villagers in Spain or southern Italy. I characterized this as the difference between being poor and living in abject poverty. I wonder how modernization has affected happiness on the Greek islands.
1) Santorini will be relatively crowded, the rest will be relatively empty,
2) Most "things" open in all places.
3) In a sense disappointing, but there will be lots and lots of improvements. I'll list only one here: most toilets will be clean, functioning and they'll have really soft paper in contrast to what you certainly remember. Still, lots of cars everywhere, tourism has made everything less personal, but be glad that in May people have not yet had enough of the tourist season.
4) I agree 100% with your explanations!
In spite of the above, you'll love it. Think of Greece as Claudia Cardinale. Think of her in 1978 and today. Still a very good-looking woman, but not in the same sense as 40 years ago...
PS I forgot: Greece has the highest per capita consumption of scotch, really!