Live Your Myth in Psimythos
Dear Member,
We hope you had a lovely summer and given it’s the first of September we would like to wish you a wonderful autumn and September ahead.
This is our weekly round-up from Greece.
Citizens and tourists in Volos, Central Greece, woke up this week like protagonists in a post-apocalyptic movie. Millions of dead fish had blanketed the port, and the stench was unbearable. This haunting event was possibly the result of last year’s catastrophic floods, climate change, and poor management by the authorities.
Fires erupted in three emblematic Greek mountains this week, including Mount Olympus, but not from Zeus’s thunder. As scientists predict a warm autumn and the country's drought is already prolonged, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that we are on the wrong policy course.
Have you been to Psimythos Island? In this newsletter, we exclusively report on Greece’s best-hidden gem to give our members the privilege of visiting it before it’s overrun by overtourism.
Dead fish in millions
It was an otherworldly image—an image directly out of post-apocalyptic nightmares. This week, millions of dead freshwater fish blanketed the port of Volos city (Opens in a new window), Central Greece. It soon became evident that the dead fish had also blanketed Lake Carla and the Xirias river (Opens in a new window) in the area. The stench was unbearable. Citizens were possessed by fear and awe. Authorities became alarmed.
What had happened?
The BBC reported (Opens in a new window) that the fish are thought to have become confined to freshwater in Lake Carla, which had swollen to three times its normal size following the flooding in the Thessaly region of Greece last year.
During Storm Daniel in 2023, Lake Carla (mostly drained in the 60s) flooded, covering many cultivated plains as Thessaly is Greece’s breadbasket. Thus, a “cocktail of pesticides and toxic chemicals ended up in the lake. Coupled with the summer high temperatures, they caused the fish’s death and disrupted the ecosystem,” News247 reported (Opens in a new window). Then, authorities opened the Carla dam sluice gate for the surplus water to flow into Pagasitikos Bay, “resulting in the dead freshwater fish ending up in the sea, and also those fish still alive to die as they could not survive in the salty seawater.”
“When the extreme weather phenomena occurred, some 20,000 hectares flooded. Fish from various canals and rivers ended up in the flooded plains, where they found abundant food,” said (Opens in a new window) professor of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment Dimitris Klaoudatos. Then, however, authorities started draining this water through the Carla dam - meaning they opened the sluice gate. This water ends up in Volos Port through the Xirias River. Thus, these freshwater fish were streamed to the sea, where they could not survive. “These fish were living within 20,000 hectares, which have become 2,500,” the professor said.
Greece’s Supreme Court prosecutor ordered on Thursday Volos prosecution authorities to proceed to an urgent preliminary investigation (Opens in a new window) into the matter to ascertain, among others, “whether and for what reason was the dam sluice gate open, which leads to the tunnel that is the only gateway for all Larissa-Carla plain waters into Pagasitikos - and generally how this tunnel’s operation is regulated.” Moreover, the investigation should extend “into who decided to irrigate the plain as mentioned above this way and whether they took or not into account the risk for Pagasitikos from the continuous flow of lake Carla into it,” “whether the sluice gate should have closed earlier, that is as soon as dead fish appeared in Pagasitikos, or even earlier, given the low level of Lake Carla waters” and whether there is an approved plan for draining the lake.
In what is a usual practice in Greece, authorities started pointing to each other as to who is responsible, with Volos mayor Beos and Thessaly Regional Governor Kouretas engaging (Opens in a new window) in a heated exchange.
Apart from the apparent major environmental disaster, there are worries about a possible health emergency. At the same time, hoteliers and catering facilities reported (Opens in a new window) that the tourists have made massive cancellations.
The Magnisia Chamber of Commerce spoke of (Opens in a new window) “an unbelievable ecological and economic disaster.”
On Thursday, authorities started cleaning the waters from the dead fish. As of Friday, and while the operation was still underway, over 160 tonnes of dead fish (Opens in a new window) had been removed.
Also, local authorities temporarily removed (Opens in a new window) six out of eleven Blue Flags from beaches along the Volos shores and neighboring areas due to the dead fish disaster in Pagasetic Gulf.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Volos prosecution authorities published the results of an investigation following a lawsuit filed by the Volos mayor last year. In this, it is reported (Opens in a new window) that the Lake Carla sluice gate could not close as the area had to be relieved from the flooding. It also said that, until the dead fish appeared, the lake did not burden Pagasitikos.
This does not make much sense, though, in light of recent events. This extreme dead fish phenomenon cannot have occurred out of the blue. We will keep you posted on the developments.
It’s not Zeus that is angry; it’s nature altogether.
This week, Greece's three most imposing mountains, Olympos, Taygetos, and Paggaio, were set on fire.
The fire in Paggaio, near Kavala in Northern Greece, erupted on the 22nd of August in a remote area. It was burning for eight consecutive days. Did authorities manage to put it out? No. It just rained on 30 August. By the 27th, it had burned more than 1,341 hectares (Opens in a new window).
On Monday, a fire started (Opens in a new window) at Mount Taygetos, possibly from thunder. Thirty-one firefighters, two ground groups, six vehicles, four aircraft, and a helicopter were reportedly mobilized. The fire was put out the following day. On Friday afternoon, it was reported (Opens in a new window) that a new fire had started on the mountain.
A clap of thunder is said to have also been the cause of the fire that started (Opens in a new window) on Sunday in Mount Olympus - Greece’s tallest mountain, where once upon a time, the country’s gods were residing. It was raging at a height of 1,9 km. The fire was successfully put out (Opens in a new window) on Monday.
On Friday, more fires started (Opens in a new window): two in Kalyvia, Attika, and four on Evia island, which were reported to have been put quickly under control.
These were just some of the fires that erupted this week, indicating once more that the country should take fire prevention and environmental protection seriously.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said (Opens in a new window) during a meeting with Attica regional authorities and mayors whose cities were affected by fires that nearly 4,000 fires broke out in 2024, many of these in the Attica Region.
As meteorologists expect unusually warm weather (Opens in a new window) in autumn across the country, it’s not only the tourist season that might extend along with the summer but also the ‘fire season’ and the prolonged drought.
Nature has been sounding the alarm for a very long time now.
Psimythos: The island of our dreams. Literally.
“Discover the magic on the island of Psimythos, a real paradise in the Mediterranean Sea. Psimythos is Greece’s hidden gem, combining natural beauty, a peaceful vibe, and authentic Greek hospitality.” This is how the website psimythos.gr (Opens in a new window) introduces the island.
“For days now, we are lost in only one island,” popular streaming platform Netflix wrote on Facebook, posting (Opens in a new window) a photo of Psimythos under the caption “the LOST island.” “LOST, all seasons now on Netflix.”
Psimythos did not remain out of politics, though. “The last doctor resigned in Psimythos. He posted on FB that he couldn’t manage an 800 euros salary. An island of 600 people with thousands of visitors is left without a doctor. This is [Health Minister] Adonis’s NHS (the media said nothing about this.”
This triggered the reaction of the blusterous Health Minister Georgiadis. Not only “the news concerning the resignation fake, but the island itself, which is supposed to be on the brink of a health emergency, does not exist! (...) an account on Twitter invented this fake island, and now the fake island has no doctor…” he wrote (Opens in a new window). “And they should not say they did it for fun because if I hadn’t posted this, half of Greece would have believed that… ‘Psimythos’ is left with no doctor, and the NHS collapses… Ya, basta!”
This time, the minister was telling the truth. Psimythos, indeed, is an imaginary island.
It was not invented, however, in the context of some imaginary ‘war’ against the ruling New Democracy.
It all started on X by beatBukofski account, who wrote (Opens in a new window) on 24 August:
“Find a fake name for an island, a bit cool and hippy, eg Psimythos, and say that all cool things happened this year. Have you not been to Psimythos? It’s smashing. It rocked this year.”
Then, the trolling party started.
“Well, done. Now the prices of the ferry tickets to Psimythos will become higher.”
“Does anyone remember the name of Arsenis’s mother who had a kafeneio in Psimythos and was making an amazing casserole?”
“Let’s see how they voted last year in Psimythos.”
These are indicative comments of the thousands flooding Greek X, where “Psimythos” was trending for days.
Even posters (Opens in a new window) for shows supposedly taking place in “the ancient theatre of Psimythos” were created by real artists. A travel article (Opens in a new window) on Psimythos was also published on a popular website.
Honestly, this was a much-needed laugh. The joke is still going on. There could be people from other countries who would start asking for travel advice about Psimythos in a bit.
Well, not our members :-)
Read
Greece ― the country that lets people escape justice (Opens in a new window): Cover-ups, botched investigations and a general feeling of impunity set alarm bells ringing.
Turkish Tourists Flock to Greek Islands Using Express Visas (Opens in a new window)
Working Six Days a Week is No Myth in Greece (Opens in a new window)
Poll: Shocking drop for ruling New Democracy, main opposition SYRIZA (Opens in a new window)
One dead as Greek Coast Guard chases boat carrying migrants off Symi (Opens in a new window)
Santorini Caldera: Building licenses suspended (Opens in a new window)
“Sovereignty issues will never be on the table with Turkey,” says Greek FM (Opens in a new window)
Hackathlon 2024: Landmark event jointly by Greece and Turkey (Opens in a new window)
Alexandroupolis included in WHO Age-friendly municipalities (Opens in a new window)
Fun Park tragedy: Investigators find “rusty, rotten, broken rides (Opens in a new window)
Teenager girl accused of raping young man (Opens in a new window)
Fire shots in the air as taxi drivers brawl in Athens bus terminal (Opens in a new window)
That’s all for this week; please forward this email to anyone you think might find it interesting and ask them to join our international community!
The AL team
