Greece's abandoned wealth

Since it almost went broke in 2010, Greece has suffered horrific job losses, soaring long-term unemployment, across-the-board income cuts and over-taxation, despite a constant deterioration in state-provided health, education and welfare services.

The country is now dotted with the hulks of formerly flourishing factories that for decades churned out wealth for their owners and provided a sure if modest livelihood for multitudes of workers. While many predate the country's financial crisis, the past five years have accelerated the pace of de-industrialization.

Beyond the derelict factories with their cracked concrete platforms and smashed windows, there's the old Athens airport complex, abandoned since 2001, and former farmland in the southern Peloponnese region.

Some of the plants are guarded by former staff, others padlocked or open to anyone prepared to dirty a pair of trousers. Inside are the relics of their former activity: Piles of wine bottles, stacks of crockery, idle machinery. Scattered among them are the imprints of the people who worked there — rotting boots and gloves, personnel files, dust-infused jackets left hanging on nails and never reclaimed.

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015 scattered airliner seats lie on the tarmac of the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

This photo taken on Thursday, April 16, 2015, shows abandoned hothouses in the strawberry-growing near the village of Manolada, in the southern Greek region of Peloponnese. Production has been hit by the Russian embargo against European Union agricultural produce. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, weeds and plants have grown at the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

This photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, shows a sign besides the charred remains of a meat factory in Corinth, in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. The factory was destroyed by fire in August 2014 while it had stop working months before. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece

This photo taken on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015 shows an abandoned Hellenic Ceramics (ELKE) factory in the Greek town of Halkida north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, an abandoned factory lies in a field of sprouted weeds near the Greek port of Piraeus. The Chemical Products and Fertilizers Company, the owner, founded in 1910 and employing about 4,000 at its peak, was shut down in 1999. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, weeds have grown at the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 16, 2015, an abandoned stadium used for baseball events during Athens' 2004 Olympic games is seen through weeds the sun lights the former abandoned old Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, the husk of a airplane lies on the tarmac of the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 16, 2015, an abandoned stadium used for baseball events during Athens' 2004 Olympic games is seen through weeds the sun lights the former abandoned old Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015, sunlight coming through broken windows highlights a glove lying on the floor of an abandoned fertilizer factory near the Greek port of Piraeus. The Chemical Products and Fertilizers Company, the owner, founded in 1910 and employing about 4,000 at its peak, was shut down in 1999. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, two bottles on a desk and stacks of plates gathering dust at an abandoned Hellenic Ceramics (ELKE) factory in the Greek town of Halkida north of Athens. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015,an abandoned alcohol factory, once considered one of the best examples of 20th century industrial design, is seen through a broken window in the industrial zone of Elefsina, west of the Greek capital Athens. Kronos, the spirit manufacturer, was founded in 1920 and ceased operations in 1986. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, a safe and airline brochures and other documents clutter an office at the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, an abandoned fertilizer factory is lit by the sun near Athens' port city of Piraeus. The Chemical Products and Fertilizers Company, the owner, founded in 1910 and employing about 4,000 at its peak, was shut down in 1999. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, papers lie on a desk and the floor in an office of an abandoned building of a winemaking cooperative in Nemea, in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece. The cooperative still operates at newer installations, but production has declined and older facilities were shut down in 2008. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, July 16, 2015, the sun lights the former international terminal at the abandoned old Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. The property, along with idling installations built for the Athens 2004 Olympics, is Greece's most valuable piece of real estate whose sale has been mired in controversy. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2015, plates lie scattered outside an abandoned ceramics factory in a seaside town of Katakolo, western Peloponnese, Greece. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, machinery used to monitor production lies idle at the control room of an abandoned metal pipe-making factory. Hellenic Pipe Works was founded in 1967 and exported 80 percent of its production to the United States. In 1994 it was acquired by a construction group and was shut down in 2011. It still employs 30 people who show up once a week in shifts to prevent looting and claim they have not been paid in four years.

Greece Abantoned Wealth

In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, a map of Greece lies inside what used to be airline offices at the abandoned former Athens International Airport, which shut down in 2001. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

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Text from the AP news story, AP PHOTOS: In Greece's shut factories, lost jobs and wealth. 

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