July 24th 2010
Those who don’t know any better think that this means donning sunglasses and a Liz Hurley bikini and carving a bit of space out for yourself on a Riviera beach in August, while wrinkled brown bodies step over you and kick up sand in your face and into your warm and fly- infested 15 euro mojito .
July 17th
A shipowner friend arrived on his yacht yesterday – his newest toy, which is a Viking 45; small, smart, fast and sporty. Since the sea has been like a dusty mirror stretching all the way to Italy, we set off for the beautiful beach of Afales with its towering white cliffs and tiny round white pebbles. Captain Artemis watched us leave Skinos with misgivings as to our friend’s prowess as captain. I don’t believe in the evil eye, but within five minutes of our arriving at Afales, the anchor snapped in 15 metres of water, and we had to beg Captain Artemis to come out from Skinos. He arrived by speedboat, took one quick look around, a deep breath, and then disappeared under water for 5 minutes. We watched admiringly as he settled himself comfortably on the sea-bed, tied a knot around the broken anchor chain, tested it out, had a little rest, and t,hen floated back up. “All fixed” he said, adding balefully “and I am not coming out a second time…” and then sped back to Skinos.
July 7th Life in Villa Skinos Summer has set in now – long hot days with crickets chirping and a calm, warm sea. The oleanders and agapanthus are in full bloom, with fat bees buzzing around them and birds rustling in the trees. To cool off, we took the boat and sailed to a secret … Read more
July 4th Fittingly for July 4th, we have here at Villa Skinos, a house full of American guests – a press officer from the State department, a CBS producer and two actors from California, so at every meal time, before we sit down, someone says “Off the record…” followed by something outrageous. We are desperately … Read more
June 29th
The Five Star Greece office has moved for 3 weeks to Ithaca with me – at this time of year everything is easier from Greece, as our role becomes more pastoral than commercial, looking after clients rather than taking new bookings. Well, that is the excuse.
June 26th I was telephoned today by a journalist from “To Vima”, Greece’s Sunday Telegraph. “What is Five Star Greece’s view of the state of tourism in Greece,” she asked, I took a deep breath and launched into a detailed account of everyone I would sack and what improvements I would implement if I were Minister … Read more
I would normally never try to sell you anything on a blog…. but this is important. Evi has six puppies who are ready to leave home, (aka the Athens Five Star Greece office HQ) and until they are gone, I cannot have a sensible conversation with her that lasts for more than two minutes. So please, … Read more
June 22
No, this is not a catalogue of last-minute offers on Five Star Greece villas, although of course there are plenty to be had even on our top VIP luxury Greek villas with pools. (Yes, I admit, I have had my first SEO lesson..sorry about that…) We are far too elegant to trumpet that sort of thing around….
The longest day of the year needs breaking up a little so I went to the physiotherapist to treat my repetitive strain injury – after the usual torture, she felt around my neck and head and pronounced “Too much using of the brain”, which was reassuring…..
I promised her I would aim to use it less.
June 20th
When people ask me for my favourite island, one of the answers I often give is Serifos.
The Gorgon’s island; the island of Andromeda and Medusa, of Perseus and Hermes.
Apart from its right to have “here be dragons” written on its map, it is the sort of island that a child would draw – just the right size, a port, a mountain top capital, stuck on top of an implausibly perfect conical peak, that has not yet been prettified or tidied up,
June 18th
I had dinner yesterday with the President of the Greek Chamber of Shipping (oh, all right then, my cousin…), and we both agreed that the failure of our Hellenic lawmakers to make reasonable laws that normal people would be more or less happy to comply with , as happens in normal countries, was inexplicable, and was the key to fixing Greece’s problems. He felt that it would take a generation. I felt that we ought to rent a government from Northern Europe for 10 to 15 years – If the rental were for a longer period of time, we could negotiate a better deal for the client of course; I can’t promise anything, but leave it with me for a while, as we say.
Perhaps we should start a sister company to Five Star Greece called “Five Star Government.” Obviously not a Greek company given the ridiculous restrictions and rules…