what is your opinion about my country

Mr. "Moz":

You wrote:  "Mrs Moz and I had planned to visit the USA last year but discovered that you guys didn't travel around on horseback and fight Indians with a sixshooter anymore,   now we have to go to Canada for our Hols. LOL"

I hardly think 1968, 1971, and 1978 (times in Corfu to which I referred when speaking about "how it used to be") qualify as equivalent to 1868, 1871, and 1878 in the U.S.!  But tut tut... rational thinking has no place with some folks, I guess.  During those years, Corfu was backward to the U.S. (re society and progress as a whole) by only about 13 years, max.  Not, as you imply, by more than a century.  There were at that time in Corfu automobiles, paved roads, good plumbing, etc. 

What I am talking about is, since the heavy influx of those British tour operators, much of the once open land has been eradicated for large ugly hotel/resorts, all spontaneous dancing by local Greeks has been made ILLEGAL (so as not to take away money from the huge hotels/resorts which offer Greek dancing by paid dancers, for the tourists' delectation) [confirmed by several Corfiots], there are very few open-to-the-public spontaneous musical get-togethers by Corfiots who just want to play their mandolins and sing in the moonlight at a little cafe (and for all I know, THAT's illegal, too!), and because of the huge influx of tourist dollars, many of the Corfiots who once just wanted to live a laid-back life and enjoy one of the most beautiful places on earth have, understandably, been transmogrified into people who live for the tourist dollar and thus are most amenable to changing the very focus of their lives, severely and detrimentally affecting the pace of life and the quality of life. 

I would hardly call "greed" "progress."  Yes, yes, it's the same everywhere, but it would be nice if we all did our little part to make certain that Corfiot land developers (whom I understand are NOT native Corfiots at all and are mostly all from other countries) are stopped when a picturesque bay is due to be destroyed by some monstrous tourist "resort" and when laws are passed banning some ancient cultural tradition, like Greek dancing done spontaneously.  One cannot have one's cake (an idyll on an old Greek island valued for its tradition of friendliness and beauty) and eat it too.  There should be legal limits to amounts of new hotels, tourist busses, American-style cafes, etc.  All educated people pretty much stand by the "no" or "slow growth" movement, in order to secure beautiful land and cultures for future generations.

If one wants to stay at a raucous, all-the-amenities Hilton Hotel or its equivalent, one very definitely should --- just not on a placid, history-rich, friendly little Greek island like Corfu!  The peasants are the very backbone of Corfu, and I think they need our support.  What could be better than finding one's own lodging at an old 1850 establishment run by a Corfiot family, one which one finds quite serendipitously rather than by design many months prior to departure for Corfu?  There are still places like that left, and just by patronizing those places which are not tied in to all the money-grubbing tour operators who despoil the land, the culture, and the people, one can do one's bit to retain Corfu's grace and charm.

Bravo to all the people here who have written in to acclaim the undisputed friendliness and warm-heartedness of the Corfiot people.  Let's make certain they are going to be around for our children to get to know, too. 

With all my heart, I don't mean to upset anyone.  It's just something to think about, eh?