Peak Of The Season

It's a nice 82 out – not terribly warmer than it has been for the past month – but the humidity has increased to 65%, making things a little stickier and sweatier. Thankfully, a nice breeze has come to mitigate the effects providing blasts of relief just as the sweat on my brow becomes noticeable. On a day like today, it's obvious why Greeks take their afternoons off with most shops and many restaurants closed from 1 to 5 pm. 

Along with the heat, the summer activity is also ratcheting up. We don't watch the ferries arrive, but everyday we can feel more people on the island. Particularly on a day like yesterday where we counted three different cruise ships arrive, flooding the island – and particularly its two towns – with visitors for four-hour windows. 

We were told from the time we arrived in June that early August is the peak of summer and that things really fill-up. It's been hard to imagine since Emily and I have arrived at the end of August on our previous visits and the first time stayed until the end of September – which was delightfully calm, relaxed and cheaper as both lodging and retail prices drop when the season ebbs. But there we were, trying to drive to our usual parking lot in the back-end of town – as far as it gets from the harbor – with slow, confused, meandering groups of largely American tourists wearing blue-banded Education First tags around their necks filling the road and blocking us from getting anywhere.

We weren't completely surprised – we saw the ships in the harbor on our way back from swimming. Celestyal Cruises works with the American education program Education First to do some kind of family program for learning about the Mediterranean region and its history. So, we know what to expect when we see that boat. 

What doesn't usually happen is another cruise ship being in port at the same time – which was the case yesterday as the ultra-luxurious Bougainville of the French Ponant Line was. Which meant that in addition to the meandering, back-pack laden herds of Americans were pockets of cigarette smoking French who were inevitably torturing the staff at our favorite gelateria who have mentioned that French tourists in particular are very difficult to please and show little kindness to them. For shop owners, these hours of cruise passengers are their prime time chance to make some real money – which is why the island has favored allowing more cruise ships. However, for anyone actually staying on Patmos – particularly long-termers like us, who enjoy our peaceful Skala, cruise ship hours are the worst. Add the cruise passengers to the growing number of Patmos vacationers and the island feels a little…packed.

Even without the cruise crowd in Skala, the peak tourism season has begun to affect everything. The beaches are fuller with front-row lounge chairs almost impossible to get after 10:30 am. Petra Beach which has always been quiet, as if the most beautiful beach on Patmos was magically forgotten not only has more than five cars in the large dirt parking lot, but Sunday actually had two rows of cars parked – maybe 25 in total! Petra's chaise lunge fee went from 6 euros to 7.5 euros per chair. Alpha Beta's produce and dairy sections looked picked over by the afternoon of the days they get their product deliveries (Saturdays, Tuesdays and Thursdays – a tip from Valentis, the delivery-man). The cafes in the town square are packed at all hours. The dinner-only gyro restaurant was almost out of gyro meat by 9:30 last night – which may seem late in American terms, but dinner-hour in Greece begins between 9 and 10. Parking in our usual lot is getting shockingly fuller. Even the butcher shop – which is primarily patronized by locals and Greek visitors – is clean-out of chicken by 11am and not well-stocked in beef or pork either by that time. This is the time for Patmos entrepreneurs to make hay while the sun shines.

We learned from some property owners that their daily rates spike for the end of July and beginning of August with a small three bedroom house with a view going for as much as 600 euros per night and a four bedroom, three bath going for as much as 1100 euros per night! Of course, those are very, very nice properties – there are still studios in town that go for 90 to 100 euros per night. But compared to the 45 euros per night Emily and I paid the two Septembers we stayed, it's a stiff increase.

Lucky for us we booked in advance with a good monthly rate.

Generally, it's easy to feel that the increased population decreases the enjoyment – especially for those of us who "live" here and "belong". The transient vacationers  - they don't know the real Patmos like we do… We know what a chair a Petra "should" cost and prefer our beaches and restaurants quiet – after all, that's why we came.

Or we can take this as a new slice of Patmos life – enjoying the positive energy of the many French and Athenian vacationers who come here to enjoy their precious holidays. After all, each one of them validates the value of the "secret" we've known all along – that Patmos is amazing. We can also be happy for the Patmosian business owners, most of whom make their entire year's living in the span of a few months. These are the critical weeks which determine their family's fate and fortune for the year ahead. We know them, like them and support them – so if we have to arrive a little earlier to buy chicken breast or put up with the din of a full-house at our favorite restaurant, perhaps it's okay. For them, the heat is definitely turned up, whereas we can choose to play it cool and relax.