Counting Down The Days

The ringing of the bells last night signaled the beginning of the Dekapentavgoustos – the Dormition of the Virgin Mary or what in Catholicism is known as Assumption. It’s the celebration of Mary’s ascension to heaven following her death. While there are some key liturgical differences – Orthodox says she died a mortal death and resurrected whereas Catholicism leaves room for her to not have experienced mortal death at all – the idea is the same. After vespers – the evening service held in two specific churches on Patmos, neither of which are the most used and common – there was a feast in Hora with dancing until morning when it’s time for morning services and the bells throughout the island ring.

Last year, the kids and I were in Athens on Dekapentavgoustos which is a national holiday and almost any business that wasn’t for tourists was closed. Even the staff that checked us into our apartment-hotel was late. With some irony, Patmos – which is one of the three holy islands of Greece and a place of pilgrimage, especially at Easter – is not closed at all because it’s the peak of the tourist season. There was even a cruise ship at anchor this afternoon.

That said, tourist habits were affected. It seems at least a decent number of Greek tourists participated in dancing and morning services. The traditional gathering after services at a local cafe was in full-force at Cafe Mostra in front of my house. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it so packed. Unsurprisingly the same was true of Petrino and Stelios in the town square.

They say Southern California traffic would be alleviated with just two percent of drivers off the road. Jewish holidays – particularly the High Holidays – are excellent proof of this. Los Angeles has a Jewish population of about 3 percent – higher than both the national and global average. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, freeways flow.

It turns out the same principle holds on Patmos. With enough Greek tourists participating in Dekapentavgoustos, it was easy to buy bougatsas for the beach, traffic at the main intersection of town was alleviated and Petra – at least when I arrived – was mostly empty. Skala felt as it did in June – more open, easy and relaxed.

It turned out – at least as far as the beach went – there was more to the story.

As I was leaving town, I stopped at the Alpha Bank ATM housed at my friend George’s office. Through a complicated set of events involving COVID, the closing of the AlphaBank branch, relocation of the Post Office and different banks bidding for different ATM spaces, George was approached to house an ATM in exchange for a monthly payment that significantly offset his rent. So I got my cash and managed to have a quick catch-up.

“I am watching the clock, watching the days, counting down until this is all over!” George told me. “It’s this August crowd. Every year it gets worse! This year is the worst!”

George doesn’t get upset easily.

It turns out many guests in the upscale homes and villas he represents are damaging property and treating the homes poorly.

“I smoke. But never inside. The other day, the cleaning woman, she sent me a picture of an overflowing ashtray next to the large bed in this multimillion dollar house! Who are these people smoking inside, smoking in bed?! They are animals!”

The worst part – he tells me – is this particular house is occupied by the staff of a very wealthy businessman who decided to treat his team to luxury living quarters while working for him during his Patmos vacation.

“These people could never afford to stay where they’re staying. But instead of being grateful or appreciative, they are the worst clients and they treat the house like shit.”

George isn’t the only one frustrated with the current crowd. Andreas at Agriolivadi too is counting down the days. The family that runs the Petra beach concession told me the past few days have been the worst they’ve experienced. The family that runs Flisvos restaurant – where I stopped for chickpeas – told me they are smiling on the outside, but not on this inside – this year is rough.

No one seems quite sure why this year’s crowd is more difficult than in the past, but George pointed out this August has a lot more young people compared to the other months – especially June and September. He said he loves the September crowd with a lot of older people who have been coming to the island for 25 years or more. They’re quiet, they appreciate Patmos, they’re easy to have around and to help. That was what Emily and I encountered in September 2010 when we first came to Patmos and again in September 2014.

My time at Petra today helped me see it a bit clearer. By mid-afternoon, the beach filled up with largely – but not exclusively – young Italian tourists. Usually quiet Petra where people typically read and sun bathe was like a party with a constant din and lots of smoke. I’ve seen Italians take the beach before and a lot of this behavior goes hand-in-hand. Only this year’s crowd skewed younger than the past and they were by far more disorderly and demanding of the beach staff. I was able to catch one girl speaking English that she was arriving at the beach at 2:30pm because she and her boyfriend were at a party last night and woke at 1pm to a hangover. So, yeah…. 2:30 seems about right.

It’s also possible the stars are in a particular alignment or something’s in the air.

Because this is the busy season, Andreas can no longer change me for only one chair and leave the other under the umbrella empty as he kindly did in prior months and weeks. So, he seated what seemed like a very nice, 65-year-old Swiss woman next to me who like myself is a regular on Patmos. We began by politely introducing ourselves to one another and at first quietly went about our respective beach experiences – with me writing and her on her phone.

Then she engaged me in what seemed like innocuous chat. It turned out the German-Swiss woman and her husband run a private firm that helps wealthy people looking to either tax shelter legitimate money or hide their questionably derived money and place it into banks and investments to get a healthy return. She went on about how the Swiss banks charge too much and new regulations are destroying the industry, so her firm helps find other investments for their clients that create higher performing portfolios.

For awhile I was interested because how often do you sit next to someone who maximizes investments on hidden money bordering on laundering – and admits to it? It was like my private interview with Al Capone. Only this Capone had a slightly manic energy.

I also learned the woman comes to Patmos for a month each year, renting the same place in Hora each time. Her husband comes, but only for a week because he can’t stand being on vacation for much longer, so she stays on her own and hopes to bring her college-age daughter soon. I also learned this fascinatingly complex Swiss-woman gets holistic treatments including cupping and massages, is very into healthy eating, participates in runs and marathons and has a lot of negative opinions on the Patmos Health Centre which in her mind is just inadequate and not friendly enough.

At this point, I was ready to get back to my writing and tried to break the conversation. However, it turned out she had already lifted the emergency break and we were in neutral coasting down an Alpine grade.

I used my own emergency break by feigning to need to use the restroom, but not before hearing a lot more of things I never needed to hear.

Last night at my final dinner of the season with my delightful French friends Sylvie and Eric – who as fate would have it also came to Agriolivadi and because Andreas knew we are friends were seated at the set of chairs to my left – were shocked about the Swiss woman. Apparently, I was far more patient than they would have been. I admitted to being part of the problem because once I got a sense the manic, new-age, fitness-crazed Swiss woman was also a shadow-fleet, money laundering kind of a gal, I was interested in getting the core of the story. I just hadn’t expected the bobsled to get away from me.

I don’t know if my Swiss seat-mate is coincidental or part of the same strange energetic alignment appalling poor George (who I reminded to watch Mad Men because people did used to smoke in bed – even if it is throughly disgusting)? Maybe the bells toll for more than one reason? The universe is complex and difficult to discern whether it’s highly structured or random – or maybe both?

Either way, George and Andreas are watching the clock countdown and so am I. Tonight is my last full night on Patmos for the year. I have all of Sunday, but depart at a quarter past midnight. I have been tidying up so it will be an easy turnover for my first Booking.com guests of the summer who arrive 12.5 hours after I depart. I’ll get in one last afternoon at Petra before I go and hopefully won’t encounter anyone who provides logistical services to the Russian Shadow Fleet.