jax
New member
Just had an email from a live aboard pal in the Ionian. Tells me that prices of everything there are going through the roof due to Olympics - comments from anyone?
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Inflation
- Thread starter jax
- Start date
tcm
...
A shame. The french determineed that prices would not go up for the winter olympics a few years back. But they were sky-high anyway.
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AndrewB
Well-known member
Funny thing, that.
They were going through the roof last year too, but then it was all the the fault of the Euro.
NOTHING whatsoever to do with the Greeks getting greedy, of course. Perish the thought. (And who's to blame them with round the year bombardment by cargo plane loads of Sunsail money-no-object funseekers swamping out their once lovely islands).
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They were going through the roof last year too, but then it was all the the fault of the Euro.
NOTHING whatsoever to do with the Greeks getting greedy, of course. Perish the thought. (And who's to blame them with round the year bombardment by cargo plane loads of Sunsail money-no-object funseekers swamping out their once lovely islands).
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ccscott49
Active member
Re: Funny thing, that.
Do I detect a little pissed-offness in your post? Just a little of course!
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Do I detect a little pissed-offness in your post? Just a little of course!
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bryantee
New member
Re: Funny thing, that.
Just been to pay for the Rival 31 marina berth.Six months Jan to end June.price has gone up from 350 € to 450€,but water and electric included now. All taxes and prices have gone up,but just had two months in UK. That was expensive.It is still cheaper here. Still reckon about 25% cheaper. two years ago was 30%.
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Just been to pay for the Rival 31 marina berth.Six months Jan to end June.price has gone up from 350 € to 450€,but water and electric included now. All taxes and prices have gone up,but just had two months in UK. That was expensive.It is still cheaper here. Still reckon about 25% cheaper. two years ago was 30%.
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ccscott49
Active member
Re: Funny thing, that.
I'm not that far over yet, I'm hoping they have learnt some sense before I get there. If that is, I come east of Italy atall, after a bloody war!! With a boat called Englander! May just head over the pond next year, instead.
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I'm not that far over yet, I'm hoping they have learnt some sense before I get there. If that is, I come east of Italy atall, after a bloody war!! With a boat called Englander! May just head over the pond next year, instead.
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AndrewB
Well-known member
No, not exactly p*ssed-off ... (long)
Kephalonia 1965. We arrive on the twice-weekly ferry, student backpacking in the long vacation. There is one other ‘tourist’ couple on the ferry, and perhaps a dozen tourists on the island, plus a sprinkling of well integrated foreigners, seeming involved in reconstruction projects. The islanders don’t speak English of course, but we can manage Italian and all the adults can speak that, grudgingly perhaps, but are delighted by a few Greek phrases.
There are almost no hotels on the island, so where to stay? No problem, we are welcomed everywhere. Walking into a village, we are greeted by village elders, sat down in the middle of the village square, table and chairs brought out, a ceremonial glass of ouzo is offered, and people sit round and ask us about news of the outside world. A couple offer us their home for 10 drachma a night, (about 12p) – we find out they move into the barn with the animals. A taxi driver offers to give us a tour round the island for the same price. We prefer the ramshackle pre-war buses that rattle over the precipitous mountain passes.
After a few days, we arrive at a tiny gem of a village, Fiskardo. Almost the only place without the scars of the earthquake of 1953. Twenty or so houses, one of which we negotiate to ‘let’ for a few days.
And then the following morning, in the centre of that pristine bay, come in with the sun, a solitary yacht with a faded red ensign is anchored. In weeks of wandering around the Greek islands, the very first yacht we have seen. Old but solid teak, varnish mostly gone, shiny brasswork, with the air of having travelled far. A bronzed English couple aboard, at ease and self-confident. For me it is a blinding, Pauline conversion. I had sailed dinghies, but the idea of voyaging in a yacht is a complete revelation. I swear to myself that whatever else happens in my life, one day that will be me sitting in that boat, in that bay, controlling my destiny.
Kephalonia 2002. The better part of my lifetime later and my first return to the Ionian. Jetted in from Gatwick of course, modern tourists have no time for ferries. I’ve finally made it back to Fiscardo in a yacht. Tough to find a space to moor, but I finally squeeze between two gleamy white Sunsail Beneteaus on the crowded quay. It isn’t just the boats that have turned to plastic. I compare the town with an old photo. A few of the more conservative houses away from the water are unchanged, but the look is quite different. The waterfront conforms to a standard that is identical right across the north side of the Mediterranean, an endless row of bars and tourist traps. It’s a far more prosperous place, of course, and about three times the size.
And the same mysterious tide of Euro-conformity has overtaken the people. Still hospitable, but far more reserved, they are pleasant enough but make you conscious that they are providing a service, and it isn’t expected to come gratis. All seem to speak English and my faltering Greek phrases are waved aside. High prices are blamed on the Euro – but they are a bit lower than back home so the tourists are all cooing - I refrain from saying what it cost last time. Local costume has vanished, ouzo and retsina are tucked in the shelves of tourist specialities. We try for a bus but have to settle for a taxi. Its still a pretty island. The mountain precipices now all have crash barriers and the roads are all tarmacked. And they are busy! Cars have completely replaced the donkeys. All signs of the earthquake have gone, and so has my dream.
But is it really so different, or is it me that has changed? I’m reminded of that famous Conrad quote at the end of ‘Youth’:
‘”But for me all the East is contained in that vision of my youth. It is all in that moment when I opened my young eyes on it. I came upon it from a tussle with the sea--and I was young--and I saw it looking at me. And this is all that is left of it! Only a moment; a moment of strength, of romance, of glamour--of youth! . . . A flick of sunshine upon a strange shore, the time to remember, the time for a sigh, and--good-by!”.
‘And we all nodded at him: the man of finance, the man of accounts, the man of law, we all nodded at him over the polished table that like a still sheet of brown water reflected our faces, lined, wrinkled; our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone--has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash—together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.’
Kephalonia 1965. We arrive on the twice-weekly ferry, student backpacking in the long vacation. There is one other ‘tourist’ couple on the ferry, and perhaps a dozen tourists on the island, plus a sprinkling of well integrated foreigners, seeming involved in reconstruction projects. The islanders don’t speak English of course, but we can manage Italian and all the adults can speak that, grudgingly perhaps, but are delighted by a few Greek phrases.
There are almost no hotels on the island, so where to stay? No problem, we are welcomed everywhere. Walking into a village, we are greeted by village elders, sat down in the middle of the village square, table and chairs brought out, a ceremonial glass of ouzo is offered, and people sit round and ask us about news of the outside world. A couple offer us their home for 10 drachma a night, (about 12p) – we find out they move into the barn with the animals. A taxi driver offers to give us a tour round the island for the same price. We prefer the ramshackle pre-war buses that rattle over the precipitous mountain passes.
After a few days, we arrive at a tiny gem of a village, Fiskardo. Almost the only place without the scars of the earthquake of 1953. Twenty or so houses, one of which we negotiate to ‘let’ for a few days.
And then the following morning, in the centre of that pristine bay, come in with the sun, a solitary yacht with a faded red ensign is anchored. In weeks of wandering around the Greek islands, the very first yacht we have seen. Old but solid teak, varnish mostly gone, shiny brasswork, with the air of having travelled far. A bronzed English couple aboard, at ease and self-confident. For me it is a blinding, Pauline conversion. I had sailed dinghies, but the idea of voyaging in a yacht is a complete revelation. I swear to myself that whatever else happens in my life, one day that will be me sitting in that boat, in that bay, controlling my destiny.
Kephalonia 2002. The better part of my lifetime later and my first return to the Ionian. Jetted in from Gatwick of course, modern tourists have no time for ferries. I’ve finally made it back to Fiscardo in a yacht. Tough to find a space to moor, but I finally squeeze between two gleamy white Sunsail Beneteaus on the crowded quay. It isn’t just the boats that have turned to plastic. I compare the town with an old photo. A few of the more conservative houses away from the water are unchanged, but the look is quite different. The waterfront conforms to a standard that is identical right across the north side of the Mediterranean, an endless row of bars and tourist traps. It’s a far more prosperous place, of course, and about three times the size.
And the same mysterious tide of Euro-conformity has overtaken the people. Still hospitable, but far more reserved, they are pleasant enough but make you conscious that they are providing a service, and it isn’t expected to come gratis. All seem to speak English and my faltering Greek phrases are waved aside. High prices are blamed on the Euro – but they are a bit lower than back home so the tourists are all cooing - I refrain from saying what it cost last time. Local costume has vanished, ouzo and retsina are tucked in the shelves of tourist specialities. We try for a bus but have to settle for a taxi. Its still a pretty island. The mountain precipices now all have crash barriers and the roads are all tarmacked. And they are busy! Cars have completely replaced the donkeys. All signs of the earthquake have gone, and so has my dream.
But is it really so different, or is it me that has changed? I’m reminded of that famous Conrad quote at the end of ‘Youth’:
‘”But for me all the East is contained in that vision of my youth. It is all in that moment when I opened my young eyes on it. I came upon it from a tussle with the sea--and I was young--and I saw it looking at me. And this is all that is left of it! Only a moment; a moment of strength, of romance, of glamour--of youth! . . . A flick of sunshine upon a strange shore, the time to remember, the time for a sigh, and--good-by!”.
‘And we all nodded at him: the man of finance, the man of accounts, the man of law, we all nodded at him over the polished table that like a still sheet of brown water reflected our faces, lined, wrinkled; our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone--has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash—together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.’
ccscott49
Active member
Re: No, not exactly p*ssed-off ... (long)
Nothing stays the same, but I know also from bitter experience, the caribbean of my younger days and now, I just don't want to go back there. Greece I've only worked in and offshore, you meet different Greeks then, but they are still all ruled by the mighty Euro/pound/dollar it makes no dofference what currency. We just have to make our own space on the planet now and defend it. Great pity it is aswell. I feel for your lost island, it makes deppressing reading, but you still manage to keep your chin up! Good luck to you mate!
Colin.
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Nothing stays the same, but I know also from bitter experience, the caribbean of my younger days and now, I just don't want to go back there. Greece I've only worked in and offshore, you meet different Greeks then, but they are still all ruled by the mighty Euro/pound/dollar it makes no dofference what currency. We just have to make our own space on the planet now and defend it. Great pity it is aswell. I feel for your lost island, it makes deppressing reading, but you still manage to keep your chin up! Good luck to you mate!
Colin.
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GAJ
Member
We 've kept our boat in the Ionian for the last 10 years and can state that prices went through the roof last year on the back of the Euro. We spent spent a full summer there last year rather than the 4 weeks that we have in previous years. We like Greece for its climate, people and lower prices and were willing to offset the primative facilities, petty beaurocracy and simple/rough food against lower price,........... no longer!
Inflation was due to part of the the price increases noted last year but PROFITEERING by the island traders and taverna owners was on a monumental scale, so much so that the Government pleaded with tavernas and minimarkets not to be so unreasonable, it didn't work so then there was a national strike, that didn't work either.
Cephalonia, we were charged 8 Euro for a bottle of Amstel and the equivalent of £12.00 for a bottle of the local rough wine that can be bought for 70/90 Cents a litre, and that in a taverna where we have been regulars for 10 years.
Meganissi,... a bill in September for £220.00 for 5 people, simple starters, lamb chops, some beer and local plonk, last year a similar meal cost £60.00.
The cost of shopping in a supermarket is now greater than it is in the UK. Booze is cheap and diesel half the price. It costs more for a rough Greek coffee in the Ionian than it does for a good filter coffee on the Cote d'Azur. We went from Athens to Antibes and were astounded to find that it was cheaper to eat out in the South of France than in Corfu, and there was no comparison with the quality of food and service.
Our route back to the UK was through Athens and we were there for 6 days, the cost of everything in Athens was significantly lower than in the islands and the choice greater, due to more competition perhaps?
Sad to say but that's the way it is.
Reluctantly we're off to Italy, but at least you can get decent coffee there.
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Inflation was due to part of the the price increases noted last year but PROFITEERING by the island traders and taverna owners was on a monumental scale, so much so that the Government pleaded with tavernas and minimarkets not to be so unreasonable, it didn't work so then there was a national strike, that didn't work either.
Cephalonia, we were charged 8 Euro for a bottle of Amstel and the equivalent of £12.00 for a bottle of the local rough wine that can be bought for 70/90 Cents a litre, and that in a taverna where we have been regulars for 10 years.
Meganissi,... a bill in September for £220.00 for 5 people, simple starters, lamb chops, some beer and local plonk, last year a similar meal cost £60.00.
The cost of shopping in a supermarket is now greater than it is in the UK. Booze is cheap and diesel half the price. It costs more for a rough Greek coffee in the Ionian than it does for a good filter coffee on the Cote d'Azur. We went from Athens to Antibes and were astounded to find that it was cheaper to eat out in the South of France than in Corfu, and there was no comparison with the quality of food and service.
Our route back to the UK was through Athens and we were there for 6 days, the cost of everything in Athens was significantly lower than in the islands and the choice greater, due to more competition perhaps?
Sad to say but that's the way it is.
Reluctantly we're off to Italy, but at least you can get decent coffee there.
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ccscott49
Active member
Sounds more and more to me, I might give Greece a miss! Although all the Germans etc. are heading for the northern adriatic, so the prices there may start to go through the roof aswell! Why do these people think we are rich? Most of us are trying to eke out a living on retirement etc, as has been said maybe it's the sunsailors etc, driving prices up, aswell as the Euro and profiteering. The ballearics were empty last year, they have already priced themselves out. Great anchorages though, empty!!
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charles_reed
Active member
Thanks for the warning - in the rest of euroland the governments put a 6-month moratorium on price increases - however one saw an inexorable rise in July when the stricture came off.
No doubt people will be voting with their keels - most seem to agree that Turkish waters are more benign.
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No doubt people will be voting with their keels - most seem to agree that Turkish waters are more benign.
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charles_reed
Active member
we kill the things we love..
so let's try and find the undiscovered places - I'm afraid that the Dalmatian coast is already fairly pricey.
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so let's try and find the undiscovered places - I'm afraid that the Dalmatian coast is already fairly pricey.
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Gunfleet
New member
The Germans call it the 'teuro'... as in teur, expensive.
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bryantee
New member
Going up to Preveza on monday,will be out for a meal in "look here" Symposia . a taverna on the waterfront.Will let you know how much. I normally pay for the Greek salad and Kalamari Starter,a couple of pork Chops and the complimentary Fruit dessert ,Plus a kilo of Krasia Aspro ,about 20Euro.If you go to the fish restaurant expect to pay five times the price as everthing is weighed ,including the ice.Fish farming is expensive?a bottle of beer is about a 1.5 Euro, about a quid.
I buy a case of 24 Amstell in Makro for 11 Euro.
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I buy a case of 24 Amstell in Makro for 11 Euro.
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Mr Cassandra
Well-known member
Hi Pal
I use the taverna about two rows back up a narrow alley there is a Bank of Greece on the left ,as you go up. I think it the bestfood and good value for money.
cheers bob t
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I use the taverna about two rows back up a narrow alley there is a Bank of Greece on the left ,as you go up. I think it the bestfood and good value for money.
cheers bob t
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Metabarca
Well-known member
Re: we kill the things we love..
Dalmatia certainly has got pricier and blander too. It was more attractive, less developed, more 'foreign' when it was Yugoslavia and there were only a few mega-hotels along the coast. Now the building's started, the Germans are coming and you could be anywhere. Still very pretty, but not specifically anywhere. What a shame. Perhaps the shift from 'travelling' to 'tourism' sums up the virus that has changed these places.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>
Dalmatia certainly has got pricier and blander too. It was more attractive, less developed, more 'foreign' when it was Yugoslavia and there were only a few mega-hotels along the coast. Now the building's started, the Germans are coming and you could be anywhere. Still very pretty, but not specifically anywhere. What a shame. Perhaps the shift from 'travelling' to 'tourism' sums up the virus that has changed these places.
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html</A>
