Handmade

These handmade baskets are fabricated by people who visit the island for the summer and try to make some money. I don’t want to photograph them where they work. It is outside in the open air. The baskets are handy to store stuff. You can find them near the bus station.

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SIFFY is back!

The first two days of SIFFY (Skopelos International Film festival of Youth) have been amazing. The kids are playing with the theme Philotimo which means love of honor. Do something without asking something back.

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So much

Many, many people have donated food and other things for all the people that need help in Athens after the horrendous fires there. At the moment it is not nessesary to send clothes etc. Needed are volunteers in Athens and money donations and blood.
Update 12.53 hours.
The website: http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com has a long list of banks, municipalities and institutions like the red cross to which you can donate.

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Rain might come

For Skopelos today.

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Help

There is an beautiful initiative from Mrs. Gorgo Papazisi and Mrs. Rodoula Orfanou to gather food for the victims of the fires in Athens. They will gather the food in Elios today and Thursday and send it to Athens on Friday. Please call for more information 6974325862. (Gorgo speaks English)
I have called the municipality and they will do the same and gather goods in the Old Kapi building just above Ionia hotel today and tomorrow and Friday from 08.00 until 14.00 hours. You can call Eleni Kefaloniti if you have any questions. Mobile 6980502827. In Glossa you can take the goods to the library/the municipal building and call for info to Alexandra Kallianou.

The food cannot be something that needs a refrigerator. Pasta, rice, beans, long lasting milk, baby and children’s food in jars, vegetables etc. in tins. Cookies, biscuits etc. Medicines like pain killers, betadin, band aids, antibiotic creams etc. Also shampoo, soaps, washing liquid, diapers etc. Towels, sheets, pillow cases etc. Also torches and batteries.

Koxilis bakery has a donation box on the counter.

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Unbelievable

Our thoughts today are with everybody in the Kineta, Nea Makri, Penteli, Rafina and many other areas outside Athens. The fires that started raging there yesterday have killed at least 25 people and many were wounded. Many people have not been accounted for yet. The photographs of people standing in the sea to escape the fire are heartbreaking. You will find them all over the Internet. It is a national tragedy.

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Be careful

Our thoughts are with the people who have lost their homes in the area of Kineta (West Athens area) The wind is about 7 Beaufort there which hinders the airplanes to take water from the sea and throw it on the fires and help the firefighers on the ground. The situation is dramatic there.

Photo taken at 20.32 hours tonight

Strong winds tonight on Skopelos. In an area already destroyed not a lot of more damage can be done but a strong wind can ignite a small smouldering piece of wood and get the fire started again somewhere else. Tonight is a very critical night. There are also talks of rain and that might be a blessing.

Be extremely careful with your cigarette butts, your waste. With this kind of heat and wind the damage is done very easily again.

Destroyed forrest at Amarandos. Photo taken from the sea

Photo Ovidiu Temeo via Meteo.gr

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Fire at Amarandos, the next day

(Photo’s Costas Andreou)

A very big thank you must be given to all firefighters on the ground and in the air.

Estimates are that around 500.000 m 2 (500 stremma) have been burned in the fire yesterday. The fire is under control and that is why there are no airplanes anymore but on foot there are many firefighters accessing and controlling the area. Tomorrow we will have around 4 Beaufort the whole day so it is important no fire starts again.

Many people are asking about the three trees that stand at the edge of the cliffs of Amarandos. They have not been burned but what about the 500.000 m2 of pine forest? How could this happen? What a shame that such a big part of extreme beauty has been lost. There are many rumors flying around that the fire started because of a bbq gone wrong, a cigarette from a person who fell asleep etc. etc. Reports about somebody hurt, somebody that has died. All terrible news. Maybe it is time to take some measures. There is a reason that wild camping is forbidden, better information about open air cooking. Signs that tell people how to behave and preserve certain areas on the island.

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Fire in Area Agnondas/Amarandos

A big fire started this afternoon (around 16.30) in the area Amarandos/Agnondas. The fire has not reached the village of Agnondas. The road to Agnondas is closed for obvious reasons. At 19.00 hours no flames were seen by us who looked at the fire from the top road that comes to the t-junction Agnondas-Panormos. Seven fire planes have been working for hours to help and stop the fire and also a helicopter has been seen working. This helicopter has also brought fire fighters from Athens. The last ferryboat of today will also bring several fire trucks from the mainland and more fire fighters. (Source: Ert1 Greek television)

(photo’s Anne-Guurt Jaeggi)

Nothing is confirmed but word is out that one foreigfner has died after being severly burned.

(source: skiathoslife)

What I saw from the road is that there is a lot of smoke but there is no fire to be seen anymore. It is 20.58 now and the fire planes will stop for tonight. Hopefully the wind will lie down.

Source: Μανώλης Αθηνα Σκιαθίτη

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Skala

A new cocktail bar opened just underneath Vrachos. It is called Skala (stairs, staircase) You can reach it going up left from the Municipality building in the harbor and from the village above. Walk to Vrachos and go down.

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