So where do Greeks holiday? Where does Spiros, your taxi driver, or Maria, your villa cleaner, choose to go?
Summer holidays, for all those connected with travel and tourism here, are pretty much a 'no-no' (it doesn't translate well, trust me, no-one says an 'ohi-ohi' over here). Working long hours and lucky to have a day off, you'll often hear the Greek equivalent of "roll on winter..." (I've taken out the expletives for the sake of this newsletter...).
So what do they do when it finally comes? Well, interestingly enough, quite a lot of them do...nothing. By that I mean they stay at home, potter around, relaxing or doing jobs around the house that are long past their 'do-by' date. They may spend a couple of days here or there - Athens, perhaps, on a shopping expedition or to visit old Uncle Socrates before he departs this world. They are not so curious about the wider world as, basically, they are quite content with their lot here.
Those who do travel seem to do so either tentatively (3 or 4 days on a city break with daily 'phone contact with relatives) or full steam ahead (Thailand, the Maldives or maybe Florida) on a long
'get-away-from-it-all-and-bask-in-the-sun-myself-for-a-change'
trip. City breaks very often feature London or the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich where many Greeks have family members living or studying and who are good for a sofa to kip on, Greek hospitality being what it is.
Seeing the Carnevale in Venice is very popular with organised travel agency trips. The nice thing is that all the ideas gained there can be put into practice at the Greek Carnival which falls a bit later! But most of all the Greeks seem to really love the mountains, staying in villages such as Pelion, Zagoria and Metsovo and skiing resorts on the mainland (yes...I did mean Greek skiing resorts!), snow-clad Parnassos and Chelmos being firm favourities.
|
Our own Sofri spent a few days last winter just outside the village of Kranea in Grevena, Epirus, and came back to the office full of enthusiasm (in fact Nathan thought he was a bit too enthusiastic as we all then wanted to go on holiday too). He travelled from Corfu via Ioannina and Metsovo and stayed at the lovely Pindus Resort Hotel where he was given a fabulous suite with its own working fireplace (must have been flashing his travel industry ID card again...). He managed to drag himself away from the warmth and the sumptuous sofas to go sightseeing and to the Vasilitsa Ski Resort where we have since found out he didn't actually ski but simply snow-balled.
So where is it this year for Sofri? Nowhere, it seems, he's going to potter around, relax and do all those jobs way past their 'do-by' date...
[
