04/09/2024
Matt Barrett
INTERVIEW FOR THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER POLITIKA -LESVOS (English)
by Barbara Gigilini
Date: August 26, 2024
"1. Lesvos is an authentic island, definitely not similar to any other Greek isles...
What do you think is different about Lesvos?
I came to Lesvos in 1992 with my wife, Andrea, then my girlfriend, whose family came from Xidira and Agiassos. I spent the first 2 weeks in Xidira. There were at least 7 kafeneions then, all filled with men. The women you would not even see until early evening when they sat outside the doors of their homes talking together. I didn’t have a car so I was confined to the village, drinking ouzo, eating simple mezedes and trying to converse with the old men, some of who had spent time in Australia or the USA. It was like being in my grandfather’s village in the Peloponnese in 1963. And as far as I knew the whole island was like this. One day, when I was starting to go stir crazy I decided to hitchhike to the beach at Skala Eressos. When I got there and saw the restaurants, cafes, bars and the counter-culture lifestyle I was astonished. And it showed me 2 sides of the island. You have the simple agricultural village life and you have places like Skala Eressos, Molyvos and Petra which are touristic in a way the the Cyclades were in the seventies before mass tourism. And then you have Mytilini which is a city that is like it’s from a time before cities became too big. Lesvos is a multifaceted island and a good balance between agricultural and tourism and in many ways almost like a small country.
2. Your page has thousands of followers who look to you for holiday ideas and suggestions...How did that concept come about?
I began writing about Greece many years before the internet began. I lived in Athens as a child, first in 1963 when my father taught at the University and then from 1968 to 1974 when he taught at the American High School in Halandri. After I moved to the USA I came back many summers. I played guitar at the Old Captain Bar in Kamares, Sifnos and in the daytime I would write about Sifnos. Around 1995 I discovered the internet and made my first website with these Sifnos stories mixed with photos and practical information. Then I made a website about Athens (www.athensguide.com) and added other places as I visited them. Because we were coming to Lesvos every summer this became one of my biggest websites. (www.lesvos.com). And because one of my favorite things to do is drink ouzo and eat mezedes Lesvos style this became an important part of my website. And because almost everyone likes to eat my Lesvos page became popular.
3. What do you think is unique and special about Lesvos? Is there anything specific that resonates with you, in particular?
When I first came there were a few years when there were many charter flights and package tours and hotels and restaurants making money and suddenly this collapsed and it was a crisis. Then there came the economic crisis, then the refugee crisis, then the earthquake and fire in Vatera and it was as if the only thing people heard about Lesvos were the problems. People associated Lesvos with refugees and not with beautiful beaches, amazing food, and all the things that people love about the island. That is changing again and Lesvos is proving it’s resilience as people discover or rediscover the island.
4. Do you have any suggestions as to what can be changed or improved and what should stay the same regarding the "character" of the island?
I think sustainable tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, is the path to follow. To return to large scale package tourism at a time when mass tourism is capable of destroying any island would be a mistake. Hopefully there are enough interesting people in the world to sustain Lesvos.
If you think of Lesvos as 2 different islands, I am a western Lesvos fan.
If we can share the beaches, towns and lifestyle with the kind of visitors who can appreciate it, whether they are Greeks or tourists, from the mainland or abroad, without destroying it, I think that would be good for the entire island.
A short ferry trip from Lavrion to Sigri 2 would be helpful. (And I don’t say this only because I live in Kea and this makes it easy for me.) Mytilini is too far for a highspeed and the existing ferries don’t have enough cabins for overnight trips. A fast boat from Lavrion that makes the trip to Sigri in 4 to 6 hours is the answer.
Anyway why did they spend so much money on a new ferry port? For a once a week ferry that only runs for 2 months? That seems ridiculous.
August takes care of itself but Lesvos could welcome visitors most of the year. There is enough to see and do and to be able to do it without the heat and crowds of July and August is a much nicer experience. There’s no reason that hotels with no availability in August should close in September/October because they are empty.
5. The island's culinary side is something you portray as exciting...Do you think it differs from the other Greek cuisine you are familiar with?
It’s not just what you eat. It’s also who you eat it with. The Lesvos cuisine is not unrecognizable to people familiar with Greek cuisine from other areas. But people who know Greek food and say or have heard that the best mezedes come from Volos, or Thessaloniki, or Crete need to put Lesvos on their list of places to visit too. And if they have not progressed beyond mousaka, pastitsio and fried kalamarakia they will find plenty of that too. But for me, perhaps my favorite thing to do in the world is sit in a kafeneion or restaurant with a karafaki of ouzo and a plate of sardeles pastes, lakerda, keftedes or even sikotaria, that has been made by the owner or his wife, listening to the people around me speaking their village dialect and trying to understand what they are saying. Matt Barrett www.lesvos.com www.greecetravel.com
INTERVIEW FOR THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER POLITIKA -LESVOS
by Barbara Gigilini
Date: August 26, 2024
1. Lesvos is an authentic island, definitely not similar to any other Greek isles...
What do you think is different about Lesvos?
I came to Lesvos in 1992 with my wife, Andrea, then my girlfriend, whose family came from Xidira and Agiassos. I spent the first 2 weeks in Xidira. There were at least 7 kafeneions then, all filled with men. The women you would not even see until early evening when they sat outside the doors of their homes talking together. I didn’t have a car so I was confined to the village, drinking ouzo, eating simple mezedes and trying to converse with the old men, some of who had spent time in Australia or the USA. It was like being in my grandfather’s village in the Peloponnese in 1963. And as far as I knew the whole island was like this. One day, when I was starting to go stir crazy I decided to hitchhike to the beach at Skala Eressos. When I got there and saw the restaurants, cafes, bars and the counter-culture lifestyle I was astonished. And it showed me 2 sides of the island. You have the simple agricultural village life and you have places like Skala Eressos, Molyvos and Petra which are touristic in a way the the Cyclades were in the seventies before mass tourism. And then you have Mytilini which is a city that is like it’s from a time before cities became too big. Lesvos is a multifaceted island and a good balance between agricultural and tourism and in many ways almost like a small country.
2. Your page has thousands of followers who look to you for holiday ideas and suggestions...How did that concept come about?
I began writing about Greece many years before the internet began. I lived in Athens as a child, first in 1963 when my father taught at the University and then from 1968 to 1974 when he taught at the American High School in Halandri. After I moved to the USA I came back many summers. I played guitar at the Old Captain Bar in Kamares, Sifnos and in the daytime I would write about Sifnos. Around 1995 I discovered the internet and made my first website with these Sifnos stories mixed with photos and practical information. Then I made a website about Athens (www.athensguide.com) and added other places as I visited them. Because we were coming to Lesvos every summer this became one of my biggest websites. (www.lesvos.com). And because one of my favorite things to do is drink ouzo and eat mezedes Lesvos style this became an important part of my website. And because almost everyone likes to eat my Lesvos page became popular.
3. What do you think is unique and special about Lesvos? Is there anything specific that resonates with you, in particular?
When I first came there were a few years when there were many charter flights and package tours and hotels and restaurants making money and suddenly this collapsed and it was a crisis. Then there came the economic crisis, then the refugee crisis, then the earthquake and fire in Vatera and it was as if the only thing people heard about Lesvos were the problems. People associated Lesvos with refugees and not with beautiful beaches, amazing food, and all the things that people love about the island. That is changing again and Lesvos is proving it’s resilience as people discover or rediscover the island.
4. Do you have any suggestions as to what can be changed or improved and what should stay the same regarding the "character" of the island?
I think sustainable tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, is the path to follow. To return to large scale package tourism at a time when mass tourism is capable of destroying any island would be a mistake. Hopefully there are enough interesting people in the world to sustain Lesvos.
If you think of Lesvos as 2 different islands, I am a western Lesvos fan.
If we can share the beaches, towns and lifestyle with the kind of visitors who can appreciate it, whether they are Greeks or tourists, from the mainland or abroad, without destroying it, I think that would be good for the entire island.
A short ferry trip from Lavrion to Sigri 2 would be helpful. (And I don’t say this only because I live in Kea and this makes it easy for me.) Mytilini is too far for a highspeed and the existing ferries don’t have enough cabins for overnight trips. A fast boat from Lavrion that makes the trip to Sigri in 4 to 6 hours is the answer.
Anyway why did they spend so much money on a new ferry port? For a once a week ferry that only runs for 2 months? That seems ridiculous.
August takes care of itself but Lesvos could welcome visitors most of the year. There is enough to see and do and to be able to do it without the heat and crowds of July and August is a much nicer experience. There’s no reason that hotels with no availability in August should close in September/October because they are empty.
5. The island's culinary side is something you portray as exciting...Do you think it differs from the other Greek cuisine you are familiar with?
It’s not just what you eat. It’s also who you eat it with. The Lesvos cuisine is not unrecognizable to people familiar with Greek cuisine from other areas. But people who know Greek food and say or have heard that the best mezedes come from Volos, or Thessaloniki, or Crete need to put Lesvos on their list of places to visit too. And if they have not progressed beyond mousaka, pastitsio and fried kalamarakia they will find plenty of that too. But for me, perhaps my favorite thing to do in the world is sit in a kafeneion or restaurant with a karafaki of ouzo and a plate of sardeles pastes, lakerda, keftedes or even sikotaria, that has been made by the owner or his wife, listening to the people around me speaking their village dialect and trying to understand what they are saying. "
www.lesvos.com
www.greecetravel.com
Ο Ελληνοαμερικανός Matt Barrett έχει γράψει εκατομμύρια λέξεις για την Ελλάδα. Περνώντας το χρόνο του ανάμεσα στην Ελλάδα και τις ΗΠΑ έχει δημιουργήσει με τα χρόνια ταξι...
