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SusSET Greece Conference 10-14 May 2006
Report by Jacqui Christie,
Community Planning Officer, Kincardine & Mearns
After a gruelling 22 hours travelling to reach our destination of Pyrgos and a midnight reception at the Town Hall (which was scheduled for 8.30pm), we quickly learned that the Greeks do not operate to the same tight schedules that we do, and that times quoted can become a little (or a lot) later in actual fact.
The conference started promptly the next day however, and commenced with speeches from the Mayors and officials from Pyrgos, Messologhi and Aeghio. This followed by detailed presentations from each of the towns. The progress of each of the 6 project themes were presented by the lead towns of each theme, and after lunch workshops were held to progress these themes further. The themes are Long Term Planning, Conservation & Heritage; Engagement, Youth & Dialogue; Tourism and a sense of belonging; Partnership and Town Management; and Whole Town Strategy.
Stonehaven was in the coastal towns group, which comprised Stromstad and Messologhi (the Polish town of Hel was not in a position to join this conference, but may be a part of the project in the near future). The discussion centred mainly around Tourism in each of the towns, a strong theme that we all have major interests in expanding. Our fishing heritage is important to all and looking to utilise and diversify from it by creating new opportunities, perhaps through Tourism, would be beneficial. It was decided that working in our town groupings is a good way to develop the project themes further.
It was decided to concentrate on the other themes later in the conference.
We had a guided tour of Pyrgos, which although picturesque in parts, is a large town with obvious problems with grafitti wherever we were taken. The small, but impressive theatre we were shown was just one of the buildings where their arts and culture are showcased to the community. Tourism is a major part of the area as cruise ships come in only 10km from Pyrgos. The day finished with dinner and an excellent show of traditional Greek dancing.
Pyrgos is the nearest town to Ancient Olympia. We were given a short guided tour by an excellent guide, of this huge tourist attraction, which is visited by millions each year. As a sprinter in my youth, it was a breathtaking (literally) experience for me to be able to run in the Olympian stadium, where thousands of years before, the Greek athletes ran.
The Stonehaven and Stromstad delegates travelled to Messologhi ‘The Sacred Town’ and saw the site and factory where they produce salt from the sea using only natural processes. We were taken to the Town Hall where we were given the wealth of history around the sieges that had taken place in the town in the 19th century and shown all the paintings around the Town Hall. We then went into a working session discussing the other themes in the project. There was a youth festival taking place in the Square outside the Hall when we came out, which sounded great.
We were shown around the Garden of Heroes, where the sieges and wars were commemorated. As one of the 3 world sites of Byron, Byron’s heart (and other internal organs – but it doesn’t sound so romantic) is buried here with a memorial to the famous poet. Then we were shown museums and art galleries in the town. We were also shown from the coach, the new University. For me the two highlights of the tour of the town and environs was the Roman Baths, which were probably built in the 2nd century AD, and were partially restored as part of the Interreg II programme in 2001 and the beautifully located fish and eel farm at the lagoon, where they were working hand in hand with the abundant natural environment. The fish tasted fantastic and I’m sure the eels would have too, if I had been brave enough to eat them. There is a new cycling route around the lagoon area.
We were taken to Aeghio by coach and took part in the closing of the conference and the final dinner. After a hectic few days and a final whistle stop bus tour of Athens, we made our way on the homeward journey.
Looking back over the days away, I learned that the Greeks have fantastic hospitality and have friendly personalities that are always ready to greet tourists in a welcoming way, which is something we could learn greatly from. Life is led at a different pace and strict time control is not their first consideration by any means.
Messologhi, Stonehaven’s ‘equivalent’ in Greece, was for me, the best destination (although we did not see Aeghio properly) of the trip. They have a wealth of history, and an exciting present with many assets that I felt, made them stand out from other Greek places that I have visited (5 of the Greek islands). The lack of a tourist information (which had closed 2 years previously) and signposting was a disadvantage for them. I discovered that they have water and mud which all the locals know to have healing properties. The water has been sent away for verification and should provide another interesting asset to promote to tourists, both within Greece and beyond. Their emphasis on preservation of their natural environment, was unexpected and I felt that we could learn from Messologhi how to practically do this, while they can learn from us on how to promote these assets to the correct market.
There appeared to be no real engagement with the community in any of the towns and perhaps the graffiti in Pyrgos was a reflection of this lack of engagement? There also did not seem to be a match to our business associations in Sweden and Scotland. The voluntary sector was also missing in the towns we visited. We, in Scotland, discovered that there is much to be achieved by engaging with the Community and listening to what they want/suggest. The big opportunity missed as far as all of us were concerned was that we had no chance to see any of the shops in any of the towns other than a quick tour of Pyrgos. So there was no chance for anyone to shop for gifts to take home throughout the 5 day trip, other than a 20 minute stop at one shop (out of all the towns) on the way to the airport. As we work closely with our business community, our retail businesses would have been outraged if that had been mirrored here.
I noticed that the Town Hall in Pyrgos, where the first conference was held and in Messolghi, were beautifully maintained and highlighted as an asset. This is something we would benefit from in our Scottish towns. Within both were museums, and I especially liked Messologhi Town Hall which was steeped in its fascinating history and with an array of paintings on every wall. The history, however, is not a happy one with the violence of the seiges depicted in graphic detail, and so perhaps, not for the tender hearted or very young.
We have discovered that we have many things in common with the Swedes and working together with them should be easy, as we share many of the same goals and methods. We have also identified areas where the coastal towns (Stromstad, Messologhi, Stonehaven and hopefully the incoming Polish town Hel) can work fruitfully together.
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