Small Greek Islands Punch For Equal Status Ahead Of Local Elections

An�fi, Greece, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd May, 2019 ) :On the small Greek island of Anafi -- population 273 -- each ferry arrival is a notable event. With a mere two connections a week to the port of Piraeus, Anafiotes feel little love from the state in distant Athens.

The island has a single doctor, ten high-school students, one cash dispenser, that regularly runs dry, and a steadily dwindling citizenry down by half in the last sixty years.

"At 10pm, everything is dead. All you can hear is the wind howling and cats meowing," says Martha Ferfiri, a recent arrival from northern Greece struggling to adapt to local life.

"The days can seem especially long to young people who do not have the same interests as older generations," says Ferfiri, whose companion Yannis Patiniotis is running for mayor in May 26 local elections held nationwide.

Patiniotis, a 35-year-old who spent six years studying in Athens before returning to open a restaurant and a cafe, says Anafi can change "from an abandoned island to an attractive all-year destination.

" "Few young people live on the island all year round," the leftist candidate told AFP. "We want to attract them, create jobs by focusing on green energy and sustainable tourism," he told AFP.

Anafi is just a one-hour ferry ride from famed Santorini, an island which attracts more than 1.5 million tourists each summer.

Among ideas floated by Patiniotis is redeveloping the island's small port to accommodate sailboats, encouraging a general medical practitioner to settle, and opening a museum showcasing the island's rich political history.

During the Greek civil war (1946 -49) and the military dictatorship (1967-74), Anafi was a place of exile for suspected Communists.