The security guard wrinkled his brow at the sight of an unfamiliar face. But when he found the name of the Guardian’s correspondent, left at the gate by a member, his demeanour changed.
“Parakalo,” he said with a warm smile, handing over a card to open the turnstile. Either side, the walls were thick and high.
The country club, on the outskirts of Athens, was laid out with an extravagance in the use of space that you seldom find outside the Americas. In the clubhouse, set amid towering pines, there were corridors as wide as rooms, and rooms the size of basketball courts. But perhaps the most striking thing about the club was that it was opened after the onset of Greece’s never-ending financial emergency.
Since then, Greece has become notorious for deprivation. According to EU figures, 23% of Greeks were poor or “at risk of poverty” in 2012, the last year for which comparative statistics were available. It was the highest proportion in the EU and has almost certainly risen since.
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