Greeks queueing to pull their money out of banks are getting mobbed

Central Athens is a strange place today - the normal tourist activities are still going on, just metres away from shuttered banks and lines of people trying to access their cash.

Most of the people queueing that I've talked to seemed cautiously optimistic about the situation for the country, or maybe just a little jaded after a six-year crisis. The current capital controls and bank closures are supposed to last just a week. Of course, that's also what was said when Cyprus brought in its controls two years ago.

Central Athens is predictably a hotspot for the international media too, so savers are being mobbed by journalists from around the world looking for juicy quotes.

The queues seem shorter than they were when I arrived on Sunday night. One on a street corner near the city's Syntagma Square had around 15 people in line at about 2 p.m. Athens time (12 p.m. BST, 7 a.m. ET) today.

Mike Bird, Business Insider

Others trying to get hold of their deposits are being mobbed by journalists from around the world too:

Mike Bird, Business Insider

The people just trying to get hold of their savings were understandably a little perplexed at becoming the centre of a global media firestorm.

Mike Bird, Business Insider

There are reporters from all over the world turning up too. If nothing else, it's a small stimulus for the fixers hired to help journalists in Greece:

Mike Bird, Business Insider