"Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah"

For those of you old enough to remember Alan Sherman’s song about the kid at summer camp, “Hello muddah, Hello faddah, here I am at Camp Granada, life is very entertaining, we might even have some fun if it stops raining”! Today it is raining in Vatera, after many nice days, so we are sitting at the hotel thinking about our experiences in the last few weeks.

We have spent the last month in Vatera at the Aphrodite Hotel on Lesvos Island as the only guests. Last week, a few people arrived for the Easter week celebrations so the hotel came alive with people, food, and conversation. May is the official start of the holiday season on this island so more people will be arriving and our own little hotel will become more of a tourist destination. The owners of the hotel were concerned about our staying here for the entire month since there is not much to do, but our plan was to travel extensively to Egypt, Turkey and other islands, then settle in for some down time. We did travel mid-month to Turkey, Santorini and Chios before returning to Lesvos for the last two weeks, so we did not spend an entire month staring at four walls.

Lesvos is the third largest island in Greece; the basic economy is olives, olive oil, sheep, goats and tourism, with worldwide competition, olive production has become less of the economic engine as in the past, so tourism is becoming more of a money maker, but only four months of the year during the summer months; during the rest of the year, Lesvos is still a Greek island with families, traditional culture, events and celebrations based on centuries of life here.

We have been fortunate to experience more of this traditional culture instead of staying at a four star resort on Santorini. During our time here, while we are still the foreigners, we have met and become friends with several people, from the tavernas, to the grocery store, to the people who have cleaned our clothes. In the US, I can not imagine the owners of the dry cleaners inviting us to Easter celebration with their family, or the hotel owners treating us like family. The roads are narrow, clogged with parked cars, yet there is no road rage, no anger at parking your car in the middle of the road to talk with your friends, no desire to become rich and famous, or flout your wealth to less fortunate people. It is a different world, less stress, less anger, more family, more friendship, more taking care of others.

While I would not want to live on this island, I do understand how people can live here and flourish, not with wealth, but with love, concern and honest appreciation for living. We have met the family, the grandparents, brothers, children, grandchildren of the hotel owners as they work together to make staying at the hotel a great experience; we have almost become family as we help to prepare the hotel for the summer guests, enjoy an intimate Easter experience, attempt to converse with the non-English speaking family, and just enjoy being a part of the family.

Thursday evening we depart on the ferry to Athens where we will rent a car and drive through the Peloponnese mainland for three days, to ancient Corinth, Olympia, and Delphi among along with a myriad of other destinations before returning to Athens for three days where we will finish our trip.