Your Next Vacation
I realize that it is a dream to have this sabbatical funding. My situation in being able to travel is something I would not have been able to do without the support of Messiah Lutheran and First Lutheran Churches. Not everyone will be a pastor who got a Lilly grant - BUT, if are able to use money for vacation, which we all know is a luxury some people will never have..... IF you are saving to do a vacation some day... Here are a few ideas about why Greece is a good choice. P.S. No, I am not getting money to write this! Ha.
The biggest chunk of money will be the airfare. I need to find out the website Robert used. He found a round trip ticket on a reliable airline for under $800 from Mpls to Athens. My guess is that as the tourist season picks up, these ticket prices go up. Traveling in a time OTHER than June July or August seems to make prices less. If you are a school teacher, that is harder.
Once in Greece, this is just one of many ideas. According to our Kos taxi driver the 4 islands who received and are still receiving refugees are: Kos, Lesvos, Samos and Xios.
Right now I am on Lesvos. If you have time, go to You-Tube to find a video about refugees on Lesvos. The theme I am hearing is that “We Greeks are taught to share what we have and be hospitable. When we see a boatload of people coming as refugees our knee jerk is to help them.”
What has been doubly hard is that with the Greek economic crash in 2010-2011, there truly was a huge crash. Right now unemployment is 20% or more. Those who have jobs are still getting sometimes 50% of the salary/pay that they used to get.
Why all of this background? Well, once you fly to Greece and if you decide to go to any of these islands, your tourist dollars are indirectly helping refugees, and directly helping Greek people survive.
I do not know anything about how your tourist dollars are helping in other countries, so I am ignorant on that. Maybe I am also ignorant here too. Of course there is much I do not know.
All to say-this little area called Skala Eressos on the Greek island of Lesvos is beautiful. The water photos you are looking at are taken from my hotel balcony window. This is Sappho the Eressos Hotel Restaurant Bar and Spa. For these first nights, I have been the only person at the hotel. The cost per night is 30 Euro which is approximately $37.50. I am here off season, so I realize prices may go up. But, now is lovely. I do not like huge crowds so this is great. The only thing is, if you don’t like cats, it might be hard for you. There are a lot of cats in Greece.
On Patmos we had the same feel. What we did not know, and now do know, is that Patmos is one of the more expensive islands. Sea view hotel on Patmos might be more like 60 Euro per night or more which is double that of where I am now. The islands such as Santorini or Mykonos are much more expensive and even more so in late June, July and August.
The photos have people kayaking and swimming. A big thing people do here is swim to that big rock and jump off the rock. I hope to do it maybe on Monday.
My tourist talk is all over the map. A few more tidbits... On Patmos, twice, we were told by locals that they never lock their doors. They feel safe. People also feel safe here at Skala Eresos.
Only if I ask the question, only then, do I hear about how economically challenged many people still are. The front they show to me as a tourist is huge graciousness.
On the island of Samos, when I went to the more touristy place called Kokkari, their prices were also reasonable, a bit higher. I just found a sea view hotel room for 50 Euro per night for a couple, 45 for a single. This area is sort of like Bayfield, as it caters to the out of town tourist. Kokkari actually caters to Europeans and uses English letters almost more than Greek!
So, with my tiny bit of research, I think Skala Eresos is the BEST deal for your money.
The only hard part is getting here. You can get here by bus and that is the best price and no worries about traveling on this road, The bus cost was about 10 Euro one way and about 2.5 hours. If you rent a car, it is 90 kilometers, so if you know where you are going, that can be done in 1.5 hours. Having a rental car is an additional cost, but gives you the freedom to explore. My rental car was 25 Euro per day.
Waaay more info than you even asked for. And I could go on and on. But I won’t.
There is google for any other questions.
Love and prayers, Nancy