I like to remember
Things couldn't be more alarming in regards to Covid-19 in Greece, but the upcoming greek summer is not totally lost.
Covid-19 stats for Greece are not looking good at the moment and the feedback I personally get from friends who work in hospitals is also not very comforting.
Sometimes, I catch myself thinking about this picture (taken in 2010) with people rushing to see the sunset in Oia, Santorini:
It does look like a thing of the past, doesn’t it?
It feels like ages ago since we were all able to gather and… just stare at a magnificent natural event like Oia’s beautiful sunset.
Santorini is undoubtedly famous for its sunset but trust me:
Every sunset on a greek island is equally beautiful. The only problem is that you need to find the time and money to visit as many as greek islands you can, in your lifetime.
Eventhough, I was never a fan of those crowds who just followed Tripadvisor’s top list and “ticked the boxes” during their trip, I honestly miss what this crowd on the photo had at that moment!!
I also remember taking my drone out for a “ride” last October (when not that many people were actually on the island) and took some amazing aerial shots of the beautiful beaches of Santorini, like this one:
But now what…?
When are we all going to be able to travel again?
When things will get back to normal in Greece?
I am getting that question a lot on our Santorini Secrets Group or even from people emailing me directly with lots of questions.
And I get it.
People need to know what the future will be so to… simply plan their lives.
I am in the exact same position. I cannot plan a single thing!
So, my answer to everyone who is asking is:
I literally don’t know!
Greece has started the vaccination process in January 2021, but it is going to be a very slow process and the amount of vaccines that every country is getting, is centrally controlled by the European Union.
Even the people 80 years or older haven’t yet been vaccinated (1st dose) in Greece.
Officials don’t expect this to be a quick process and the country still has extremely strict lockdown rules.
Schools have closed again since yesterday.
There is now a stricter curfew after 6pm every day.
Public hospitals have pretty much exceeded their capacities.
All numbers are going up and the greek government are clueless and completeley irresponsible in my honest opinion.
My personal prediction though is that the greek government will relax some of the measures around April 2021, for the following reasons:
the heavy industry of Greece is its tourism in its high season between April-October every year (the famous greek summer) and there will be lots of pressure from the big companies in the industry to relax some of the measures at that point because there is a lot of money at stake; I should mention though that this was the exact same reason the greek government opened the doors of the country widely last June 2020 (with a fancy press conference in Santorini!). As you can see from the graph above, the Covid-19 cases went up significantly after the tourism season ended in September. This move literally costed human lives…
This move is also probably the reason that you are not able to travel to Greece in 2021…
many people would have been vaccinated at that time (eventhough it’s still not 100% clear if the vaccines work and how exactly are they protecting us from spreading the virus)
Honestly, travelling should be the last of our worries, when there are thousands of people fighting the virus every minute, as we speak.
Our health workers are the most precious group of individuals we have, in our modern societies. We should never forget about that. Even after the pandemic.
I am personally worrying about those people and not about my travel plans.
I don’t worry when I would be able to dive into Greece’s beautiful sea waters again.
I know this day will come.
The future will be normal again.
We just don’t know when…
Stay safe and keep dreaming!
Thanks for being a subscriber and see you soon!
Pavlos