Overtourism
Over the last few years I have read a number of articles but it has taken our 2022 travel to bring it home. The wonders of our world are being loved to death. Just type this sentence into Google and you will be presented with dozens of articles reflecting on this destruction. They have created a word for it, “overtourism”.
Sampling the UNESCO World Heritage List, I found several sites suffering from overtourism that have put in place some forms of control to reduce the impact and/or the number of people allowed to visit. They include Venice, Amsterdam, Machu Picchu, Stonehenge and Easter Island. The problem is not just isolated to heritage sites but over crowding is problem for popular tourist sites around the world. Even Disney is limiting maximum daily attendance to some of their parks.
Our cruise really brought home the realization of the problem. At each stop we were joined by at least 3or 4 other cruise ships. New cruise ships can accommodate over 3,000 passengers. Our ship maxed out a 3,300. One of the ships stalking us was the Odyssey of the Seas capable of hosting 4,200 passengers which is becoming the norm for the new cruise ships.
So, do the math, 4 X 3,000 means the potential of 12,000 people coming ashore all fighting for space. The island of Mykonos has a total population of just over 10,000. During the high season it is estimated that there can be as many as 50,000 tourists wandering around the island. Seeing it with 12,000, I can only imagine what another 38,000 visitors filling these tiny streets would be like.
Day 6 found us at the city of Volus on the Greek mainland. We had booked a shore excursion to the Eastern Orthodox Monasteries of Meteora. They were built atop steep rocky pinnacles almost 600 years ago so the monks and nuns could isolate themselves from the world.
Originally there were 24 monasteries but only 6 remain. We were to visit two. Arriving at our first monastery, we were confronted by five buses ahead of us and two more arriving behind us. Joining the line we slowly made our way through the monastery and then crammed into the church. The church is tiny with every surface from the ceilings to the pillars covered in religious frescos and icons. It was a challenge to hear our guide’s presentation over those of the other guides.
The second monastery was a repeat of the first, so feeling a little claustrophobic I ditched the tiny church and made my way outside to enjoy the incredible scenery. The purpose of isolation was to allow the monks and nuns to become closer to God. Not happening today.
Day 7 and we woke with the island of Mykonos and the village of Chora moored to the ship. We were up early so we could walk off the ship as soon as we were allowed as there were two more ships dropping anchor. We definitely wanted to beat the crowds.
The weather was sunny, with a very stiff chilly wind which seemed appropriate as our first planned stop was the iconic Mykonos windmills.
Next stop, Little Venice, a section of Chora built on the waterfront and with the wind today, the waves were crashing over the walkway.
The area is populated with cafes, bars and restaurants. The line-ups were already starting.
We managed to elbowed our way into a bar and enjoyed our first drink of the day while the waves crashed at our feet. Had a pretty darn fine Mai tai all be it very expensive.
For the next few hours we just wandered around the town. No destination in mind just mindless movements up and down the tiny streets filled with souvenir shops. The town is postcard pretty no matter where you found yourself.
White and blue seems to be the only colour allowed. As we made our way back down to the port, the crowds were definitely larger with another cruise ship parking itself in the bay.
Day 8 brought us to the island of Rhodes. It was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Colossus of Rhodes, a giant bronze statue of Helios, the Greek sun god erected at the entrance to the port of Rhodes. The statue stood 70 cubits high and was erected to commemorate the city state of Rhodes’ successful defense of an invasion by some other Greeks.
The word colossus was created by the Greeks to describe the statue.
Sadly, it was colossally underwhelming in real life. To be fair, the original statue was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC and someone thought this cute deer would make a nice replacement?
We awoke as the only cruise ship visible in port. Headed out for a walk on the old wall that encircles the Old Town. While the earliest fortifications were erected on the island in 7th Century BC, these walls were built by the Knights of St. John in the 14th Century to defend against the Ottoman Turks.
We found that the “Old Town’ resembled most of the “Old Towns” we have visited with the usual immaculately maintained buildings from the 14th Century filled with plenty of souvenir shops. However some of the old buildings were being used as offices, museums and other commercial services.
Our first stop was the “Street of Knights”, a 600 metre cobbled street consisting of 7 beautiful buildings constructed in the 16th Century by the Knights of St. John with each building representing one of the 7 different languages spoken by the Knights. We found the street surprisingly empty of tourists.
However a few hours later, it was a different place. Seems, we have been found by those other cruise ships.
Lines up were present at most of the bars and shops and an especially long one for the Palace of the Grand Master our last stop. Oddly, there were no line ups for the archaeological museum next door so we skipped the palace and hit the museum.
It was quiet and cool with little chunks and pieces of Greek history scattered about the place. Best of all it was empty. A planned 30 minute visit turned into 90 minutes.
We exited the museum to find the Old Town full up. On our walk back to the ship, we counted 5 cruise ships with one of them being the overtouristed Odyssey of the Seas
Back at the ship, I was disconcerted to find that I could not get a drink at the bar as I had not purchased the drink package. The bartender took pity on me and made me two, one for me and (wink, wink) one for Nonie but no more booze for me till we left port.
Day 9 saw us waking to a view of Santorini and the small town of Fira perched on its cliffs. It was the only stop where we were tendered to shore. There were two other ships in the process of mooring off shore so we quickly made our way down to the tender loading area.
From the port you have three choices to reach Fira, a cable car, a donkey or a walk up 300 steps ascending up the steep cliff to the edge of town. Three hundred steps doesn't sound like much but the steps are more of a ramp than a step that makes it easier for the donkeys to climb and descend but no so much for humans. The donkey crap also requires you to take care and energy to navigate the stairs.
Once we arrived, we faced even more stairs as the town continues to terrace up and down the cliffs with stairs everywhere.
There were so many tender boats flitting about moving passengers between the ships, I wasn’t able to count them as we rode in the cable car back down to the port to catch our tender. My intent was to brave the unheated pool for a few laps and try and cajole another Mai Tai out of a different bartender.
Day 10 and we are back in Piraeus waiting to load a bus that will take us to the airport and our flights home. We got up early to have a fancy restaurant breakfast, something we didn’t have time for on previous days. While we ate, another passenger sat at a table next to us. She perused the menu then ordered ever breakfast item on it. The waiter did not blink and eye and hurried off to put the order in as she made it very clear her time was limited as she was catching a bus for the airport. Sadly we also had to catch a bus and were not able to stay and see her tuck in.
No comments:
Post a Comment