Why Still Holiday in Greece?

Hello – how are you? This is a happy week for me as my daughter is in town. She lives in Dubai and is here to complete a course module for her studies. She arrived in London hoping to escape the heat in Dubai, only to be met with uncharacteristically hot weather here! I did warn her in advance – but do kids ever listen to their mothers? Thank heavens it’s cooling down a little now, for both our sakes!

Are you off to Greece this summer? A number of people have asked me whether I think it’s a good idea to go, given the strikes that seem to have become a regular occurrence…

Frankly, my answer is yes. For a start, there are far fewer tourists in town – it reminds me of when there was a Gadafi-related problem years ago and there was barely a tourist in the whole country. I am sure they were sorely missed by local hotel and restaurant owners but it certainly made visiting the Acropolis bliss! Tourism numbers have definitely dropped so queues are shorter and doing all the wonderful touristy things are just so much easier.

Then there is the Greek government’s offer to compensate tourists affected by industrial action. They have committed to pay up to €70 (£58) a day to cover costs incurred because of strikes, a sign of just how seriously they are taking the threat to the tourist industry.

And for good reason: tourism accounts for one in five jobs in Greece and nearly 20% of its GDP. The Brits are second only to the Germans here and are being especially courted, with the tourism ministry going so far as to create a Greek beach on the bank of the river Thames recently! They used 350 tons of real Greek sand to build a real Greek beach beside the River Thames in June at London’s South Bank’s riverside walkway by Gabriel’s Wharf, along with Greek food and entertainment. There’s no doubt in my mind that everything that can be done to help tourists will be done.

My suggestion is to perhaps stick to mainland Greece instead of the islands: ferries and local flights are particularly badly affected when there are strikes. You may want to try the Peloponnese for example - there are some wonderful seaside resorts along the coast. I personally love Monemvassia, not for beaches but for pure historical charm. And another of my wonderful discoveries is Xylokastro, right on the Corinthian Bay in the Peloponnese, on the way from Athens or Corinth to Patras.

I stayed at Le Convivial Luxury Suites & Spa – it’s near both the sea and the mountains, an hour’s drive from Athens (I took a bus) and within a short distance of some of the most important archaeological sites in Greece. In fact, the hotel’s clientele is often made up of academics, archaeologists and historians who use it as a jumping-off point for ancient sites in the region, including Epidavros, Nemea, Mycenae, ancient Corinth, ancient Olympia and Delphi. Plus Xylokastro has a wonderful small town atmosphere and a lovely beach – the photos show the spa in the hotel and the views from a local restaurant… what more could you want? You can travel either by hired car or by bus, as I did.

And if you are thinking of buying a property in Greece, property experts are looking at a projected drop of 30% in the prices for the next two years. Some sources go as far as to say that property deals decreased by 60% and brokers are not expecting the market situation to improve before the second half of 2012. This means that prices will be down. It also means that you will really need to concentrate on accessibility – always important but never more so than now. I write a monthly Greece Buying Guide newsletter and I am dedicating my end July/ early August one to transport within Greece – you may like to look at it. Just go to: http://www.greecebuyingguide.com/greece_news.htm around about 29th July.

Chat next week – ’bye for now!

Carol.