Waterfall for sale

(The river at the Krinelou Mill)

Not only is Greece in crisis, the European Union itself sinks deeper and deeper into a financial swamp. Everything and everybody gets accused, the people have to pay and only the bankers — one of the main causes of the problem — continue to reward themselves with huge bonuses as if nothing had happened. And no authority dare forbid them.

So there you are with your savings. Not wanting to put them in the bank because they are even too selfish to give you a reasonable interest rate. Put it under your bed? Then you risk the mice eating it. Take it to the stock market? You might as well go to the casino.

So maybe you best invest it in some real estate and make a dream come true? Even if you don’t make big money, it’s always nice to be able to dream about spending big!

Imagine that you could buy an old watermill, complete with a lake and a real waterfall... For 350.000 euro you can get one here on Lesvos — the Krinelou waterfall (plot Eresos). Flowing out of the waterfall there’s a little river which although it might never really be your property, each day you can enjoy watching the endless stream of water. It is on an enchanting piece of land, where old plane trees contemplate themselves in the water, even in the midst of summer. There are paths with wooden rails which crawl over volcanic rocks towards the big waterfall, where you could take a shower every day. It is even said that many centuries ago the Lesvorian poetess Sappho used to come here for a bath.

I was stunned when I heard that the mill and its gorgeous land was for sale. The owner Panagiotis Kinelou must have more financial problems than his country. It was his dream to renovate his grandfather’s old watermill and with love he started to rebuild it. He made wooden floors above the water where you can quietly dream away. He cut chairs and tables from big chunks of wood, he dug small canals to irrigate his orchard, so to put this all for sale must hurt a lot.

I do hope he finds people to buy it who will love the place as he did. His last dream was to make it a tourist attraction, it is, after all only a few kilometres away from the famous Petrified Forest. Although the way to the site is pretty rough, not suitable for mass visits by coach parties, it has potential for small scale tourism.

Do you dream about opening up a tourist centre on a Greek island? Well, the Karuni Estate is for sale (Buildings on an amazing plot). This also a place with which you could easily fall in love. The estate is on a hill, a little outside Molyvos with four buildings, two with large spaces and studios, (the other two are bungalows) set in a beautiful park with rare trees and flowers all around. The greenery feels like magic and everywhere you are greeted by stunning views including Molyvos and its magnificent castle.

If such an estate is too big for you, for half a million euro more you can become the owner of a breathtaking, beautiful renovated, traditional Lesvorian Tower House, not far from Mytilini (Villa Aklidiou). This is a real dream house complete with antique furniture, a Byzantine bath, as well as a swimming pool and fancy lights everywhere. If you think this is too much, you can always turn an old olive mill in Eresos into spacious living quarters.

But maybe you do not want too many tourists around so even the Tower House would be too much. Well, you can always buy your very own island where you can be alone, play Robinson Crusoe or build yourself a modern villa. For a million and a half euro you can call yourself King of your own island (St. Athanasios Island).

It is great to be able to dream away about owning a waterfall, an estate, an historic house or an island. But not everybody is rich enough to afford such things. Do not worry. On Lesvos small dreams can come true. Especially in the unknown villages where there are plenty of houses for sale for much less money. For 150.000 euro you can buy yourself a small Palace (Palataki) in the village of Lisvori. For 200.000 you can buy a bungalow (which includes an old restaurant next door which you can resurrect). Its speciality is that it has a pool. Or for only 40.000 euro you can get a charming little cottage in the village of Vrisa, close to Vatera (on the south coast of the island).

Surf the internet and you will be surprised how many houses and plots of land are for sale on the island. You might even get the impression that everything is for sale. But do not take every seller seriously. In the tourist areas they ask such high prices it’s pretty obvious they don’t really have to sell. Of course, they would be pleased if a fool came along and bought at the inflated price, but otherwise, despite the crisis, they will continue living as before, because life under the sun just goes on like it always did…

(with thanks to Tony Barrell)

@ Smitaki 2010