1st April 2022
“The winter it has passed
And the summer’s come at last”
April greeted us with a sharp increase in temperature. The seafront has sprung into life. In a nearby restaurant, Αλμυρίκι (Tamarisk) people were cleaning inside and painting outside. The same was true of the last restaurant on our stretch, Γοργόνα (Mermaid). Two or three small yachts in the bay added to the spring scene.
Sunday, 3rd April. Walking along the beach in the afternoon, I could see the restaurants were doing a brisk trade as locals and groups from Thessaloniki flocked to the seafront restaurants. One sign that business is good is the difficulty in finding a parking space – a perennial problem in Thessaloniki but not really an issue in the Thermaic Municipality.
The north is concerned about the tourist season. By “north” I mean the coastline stretching from Katerini to the second leg of Halkidiki. Greeks used the first summer of the Euro to jack up their prices, failing to realise that 1) Austrians are numerate and 2) they didn’t need to be numerate when they were using the same currency. I single out Austrians because they were by far the biggest tourist bloc in Sithonia (the second leg of Halikdiki). The following summer they had disappeared completely – probably opting for the Dalmatian Coast or Turkey. Halkidiki has never fully recovered. Over the years more tourists have come from North Macedonia, Bulgaria and other east European countries. Unfortunately, they do not have the same spending power as Austrians, so while the guesthouses and mini-markets do well, the overpriced café bars and restaurants struggle for customers.
Covid didn’t help in 2020 and 2021, but the war in Ukraine is cited as the reason why bookings for 2022 are down by 150,000. More Russians and Ukrainians started arriving in considerable numbers after 2015. The industry is hoping the war will end soon and be followed by late bookings. I can’t see that happening with Russians under sanctions and Ukrainians cleaning up the rubble.
“And the small birds are singing in the trees”
We seem to have two dominant species here. Seagulls, of course, but also large grey crows who seem to be part eagle and part vulture. Walking the dog has made me aware of my ignorance of the local flora and fauna. I’ll need to download the app that boasts it can identify thousands of plant species. The next post will have more murder and mayhem.
The quotes above are from an Irish song called The Curragh of Kildare. Here are the Dexys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-TN_hkVYG8