(written
by Pip)
Many other
Greek islands haven been transformed into amusement parks, but Lesvos has not.
This island is the perfect destination for people who want to live the real
Greece. This is what the travel guides say and from what I have seen from the
island so far, the guides are right. The question however is how long Lesvos
will remain an island unspoiled by tourism.
As the
island is really a large green nature park, tourists have fun on Lesvos; but instead
of aqua parks with complex-constructed slides, bearing names like Water city or
Aqua Plus, tourists here have to make-do with some sixteen waterfalls like the one
of Pesas. For others, climbing up Mt Olympos or Mt Lepetymnos with a rented car
may be even more exciting than having a ride in a dangerous rollercoaster. And,
when arriving home, being able to tell the story of how you survived an
earthquake, sounds far more interesting than the one of how you were nearly shaken
off a banana towed by a speedboat.
But this
year there have been developments in order to raise the amount of fun for tourists, a change that might attract another kind of public. It is clear that
not everybody is happy with these ‘improvements’. There has been lots of
commotion around the two tractors that tow two wagons between Molyvos, Petra
and Anaxos. This slow train, which disrupts the traffic on the small boulevard
of Petra and the not-too-wide road between Petra and Molyvos has got the name
Village Train. The drivers of these trains and those from the regular buses and
cabs have been close to a fight on more than one occasion. The resulting road
blockage was so bad that the police had to come and restore order. There is
talk through the grapevine that this was done on purpose – an attempt to harm
the train company. I’d best say no more about this. Even if they ask me for my
opinion about this train I‘ll keep my mouth shut. Whether you approve or not,
before you know it, you may make enemies for life. The good thing about this
train is that since it now crawls all the way up to the medieval castle above
Molyvos, the local beach bus between Anaxos, Petra and Molyvos now goes up the
steep hill too and tourists no longer have to do the climb themselves or to take
a cab to visit the crown of the town.
Another
development is the reconstruction of the ‘flying saucer’, a building that has
been standing empty for a decade (changing into a typical Greek ruin) on a
mountaintop between Petra and Molyvos. Next month will be the opening of the Star
beach-like club and then Lesvos will have a fancy night club with swimming
pool, just like on Crete: the Oxy-club. Years ago this used to be a nightclub,
but for reasons I do not know it closed down. The young Lesvorian men are all
looking out for this new event, ready to practice their seduction tricks on the
female tourists. With some cocktails, a nocturnal swim while accompanied by
music of a famous DJ, they will feel confident success may be at hand. Another
kind of men (and women) are not too happy about the opening of this club. They
are the masses of birdwatchers who come every spring to Lesvos. The area around
this nightclub is the breeding habitat of the Rüppell’s warbler. Even though
the nightclub will probably open after the shivering spring nights,
birdwatchers are afraid that this little bird will have to look for another
spot to lay and breed its eggs and the birdwatchers will also have to change
their beautiful look-out over the Aegean Sea.
That a
Dutch snack bar, with real Dutch snacks, has been opened is not worth
mentioning. For years you could find English breakfasts all over the place.
Tourist attractions and foreign entrepreneurship remain small on Lesvos and I
expect will remain small in the near future, especially now that the whole
island has been named as a geo park. So it is Nature that still has the last
say. It is still unknown what the warblers are going to do. Maybe they like
Dance music and will remain where they now are.
(With
special thanks to Gerard van Zeele
for his photograph and Mary Staples for the English corrections)
© Pip 2014
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