UPDATE: It looks as if mayor Patros is not very clear about the renting of the islet. Today, he said that he will not rent the whole islet, but maybe only a part of it. ( news247.gr ). Who knows, what made him change his mind… Some pressure from certain circles, some reactions by Greek internet users who criticized the action, saying you can’t rent public property and maybe ask a fee for access to it.
This is the original article:
Forever gone are the time when grannies and kids were rushing to island ports upon the ship arrival and used to shout “Rrrooms! Rrrrooms!” and raised placards with handwritten “Rooms To Let” to arriving tourists. The new trend in debt-ridden Greece could very well be “Rent a Whole Islet”. The serious economic problems and the lack of funds urged Mayor of the small island of Chalki, Michalis Patros, to raise a rent-an-islet sign on the nearby islet of Alimnia (Αλιμνιά).
Alimnia is a 7.4 square kilometers islet in the Dodecanese group, in the South-East of the Aegean sea, near the islands of Chalki and Rhodes and not far from the Turkish borders.
Blue sea, clear waters, a natural port, virgin landscape and very few visitors in summer offer the holiday-maker a time for relax… An abandoned village and a medieval castle intrigues the investor to rent the islet and turn into a …paradise on earth.
Mayor and the island council decided to rent the islet in order to “stop begging for funds from the Athens-centered Greek state,” Patros told daily Proto Thema. And he added “Alimnia is an islet but in fact a small island of extraordinary natural beauty. Even though it was abandoned in 1966, several hundred holiday-makers visit it every summer with their yachts or speed boats.
Mayor Patros and “his” islands
Chalki municipality council is about to work out the details of the leasing in fast track procedures so that Alimnia can be rent in 2012. Patros told the newspaper that the first investors have already expressed interest. The lease price has not been revealed.
PS Had I the money…. 🙂
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