Athens is preparing to welcome German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, following the country's return to the bond market after four years in exile.
However, not everyone is convinced of a return to growth after years of austerity under international bailout conditions of which Merkel remains a figurehead.
"Generally, the way the situation is now, it is really difficult," said one student demonstrating in front of the parliament on Thursday. "I am worried there will be no growth - not in two years, not even in ten years' time."
Just hours before the country re-entered global bond markets on Thursday, a bomb exploded in the capital. Police suspect left-wing groups were behind it.
Though some fear Greece's re-entry to the market could increase public debt, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras defended the move saying, "The international markets have expressed in the most indisputable way their confidence in the Greek economy, their confidence in the future of Greece, because it is in this future that they will invest, and they also expressed their confidence in Greece's ability to exit the crisis."
A general strike on Wednesday showed how many Greeks feel about their future, and the spending cuts necessary to receive bailout money from international creditors including Merkel.
All demonstrations have been banned during Merkel's visit, after her last outing in the Greek capital in 2012 when 50,000 took to the streets.
Source: EuroNews
