Int’l Travel Magazine Urges Visit to Lesvos’ Skala Sikaminias

Photo source: AFAR

It’s been described by Fodor’s Travel as an “exceptionally lovely fishing port … a miniature gem – serene and real’’ — Skala Sikaminias on the northernmost point of Lesvos, is again featuring in the news as one of the 100 places to visit in 2017 as recommended by travel magazine AFAR.

“What’s my number one destination,’’ AFARs editor in chief asks. ”Skala Sikaminias is a small fishing village on the Greek island of Lesvos. It garnered attention for the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East and Africa who were rescued from small boats by its 100 residents. Since then, the local economy — highly reliant on tourism — has been gutted. I believe that we should act with our tourism dollars and support communities when they need it the most. Which means Skala Sikaminias tops my 2017 list.’’

In one paragraph, AFAR places the tiny Greek village at the top of its 2017 list  which includes such places as Bermuda, the Western Sahara, Japan’s Okinawa and Hokkaido, Puerto Rico, Singapore and Buenos Aires.

“We can change the current situation in tourism. The fact that hundreds of thousands of refugees went through Lesvos made the island known worldwide for the humanity of its people,’’ the island’s mayor Spyros Galinos told the Athens News Agency.

”By taking appropriate actions we can reverse the negative situation that we are facing today. We can come to be known as the international tourist destination – the island of humanity and solidarity in addition to one of natural beauty, history and culture.”