Coffee in Ag Stefanos
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2008
1
29
48
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Agios Stephanos, Greece
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
stumbling on the sleepy fishing cove of Ag. Stefanos which I drove through and
into a world I'd never seen before in Greece. Ten-foot or higher walls suddenly
surrounded every property, huge gates - some with security guards - provided
access to what I glimpsed as massive establishments. Access to the shoreline
was blocked by "Private Property: signs. It was clear that this was a
serious-money area. One Palace dominated a whole headland and I assumed it must
be royalty.
The road came to a dead-end in Kerasia, so I returned to Ag. Stefanos
where I stopped for a coffee. After I'd been there a few minutes I heard an
Englishman's voice and beheld a Panama-hatted young chap who seemed to have
stepped straight from Gatsby. He set about connecting to the wi-fi and after a
while I asked if he lived there. He said not permanently, but that he'd been
there for the summer, working remotely as a journalist. We chatted, and he
confirmed that this was the "smart" end of the island and that the "Palace" I'd
seen "..belongs to the Rothchilds..". A couple of weeks later the
Mandelson/Oligarch story broke, and I bet he was kicking himself for being on
top of a missed scoop!
