Greek lavish lifestyles on hold in Athens 'Yes' neighbourhood

Expensive consumer items sit in Kifissia's shop windows as Greece tries to cope with crisis,.

The streets of Kifissia, in northern Athens, are lined with trees and designer shops. Valentino stilettos, diamond rings and yachting equipment beckon. People here have money to spend but they are not spending it at the moment.

Nikki, 34, is sitting with her friend Maria outside the shop where she sells smart children's shoes. She is clutching a telephone and glancing at the front door, but no customers come through it.
"We are waiting to be told what is going to happen with the banks," she says. "We can't do anything."
Cool and chic, Kifissia is one of the wealthier areas of Athens. It is also one of the few in the capital where the majority of people voted 'Yes' in Sunday's referendum.

An overwhelming 61.3% of Greeks voted 'No' to the international bailout offer from Greece's creditors, but in Kifissia people rejected the government's promises to strike a better deal.

Most people here - 63.9% - wanted the country to accept the bailout and undergo any austerity measures that went with it.

"Maybe rich could afford to vote Yes," says another idle shopkeeper, his eyebrows raised.

But now their country's future remains in the hands of the radical-left Syriza government as it holds yet more emergency talks with eurozone finance ministers.

Wads of cash

The fortunes of some also lie with foreign spending power. The owners of a high-end jewellery shop nearby strike gold when a customer buys not one but two sparkling necklaces.

Nicole Kharma, 48, is visiting from Singapore and arrived in Greece prepared, carrying a wad of 50 euro notes. As she counts out her hundreds, jewellery dealer Stavros Metaxas explains: "The foreign customers are very important. The Greeks are waiting to see what happens with the crisis and do not want to sp

end money."