Halki destination history

[simon]

Purely out of interest, how long has Halki been a holiday destination? Who was the first person on the forum to go there and what year?

[carol]

Hi Simon, welcome to the board, an interesting question to which I am sure you will get some answers, there are a few people on here who have been going for quite a long time ;D

[carol]

Apologies Simon, I read new member and welcomed you but I can see you have posted before ;D

[Liz]

My money is on Howard ..or Sth ...or Pda ............which basically means ...........I don't know ! ;D ;D

[Enforcer]

Simon, hopefully the following might give you an idea however, it is just my recollection.

Ian and Kate Murdoch started Laskarina Holidays in about 1975 concentrating on the smaller, less populated Greek Islands. Halki was added either late ‘70’s or early 80’s but soon became their jewel in their crown. With no office accommodation they set up shop in Costas Taverna which is why Nissia, Laskarina’s worthy successor, still operate out of Costas. ;D

We discovered Halki in 1994 and have been returning every year bar one and before anyone says there are other places in the world I have been everywhere in the world. From skiing in Norway to playing with King Penguins in S Georgia; the flesh pots of HK, Singapore, Tehran, and Beirut made Hamburg seem tame. I was part of the team who became the first white men ever to walk across the Rub’ Al Khali (we cheated and went south to north) and have been to all the bits in between.

I digress. In 1993 the Murdochs’ decided to put a little more into the island and in that year and in 1994 they put a small surcharge onto the cost which was to pay for the renovation of the mosaic surrounding the church of Agios Nikolaos; the work was actually finished early 1994 and the mosaic was pristine. Nissia are continuing the tradition and support many local needs including the school. As an aside the original Halki ferry was an ex-Norwegian fishing boat that chugged from KS to Halki in about 90 minutes (longer if one engine broke down, the record is 135 minutes from Halki to KS). We used to arrive in Halki in the dark to offload and wave goodbye to the tourists who stayed on board while the ferry chugged off to drop them at Tilos.

In 2006 Laskarina stopped trading for myriad reasons and sent all the regular Halki tourists into total panic. Luckily Lynne Evans (ex-Laskarina Halki rep’) and Meni Hadzigeorgiou (Rhodes) formed Nissia and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Nissia is run as a family business and hopefully will weather the current financial storm.

At one time it was said that 75% of the Halki tourists were repeat offenders quite often meeting at Gatwick and starting the holiday there. It is hard to explain the ambience of Halki but if you take Mexican ‘mañana’ then the Greek ’avrio’ is sometime after that; Malaysian ‘rubber time’ is even less urgent and Halki time is about a week after all of these. ;D

No doubt there will be quills scratching on parchment to correct any or all of the mistakes I have made but in true Halki tradition I do not care – sue me.

[carol]

Thanks for that information Enforcer ;D I giggled to myself when I read the bit about meeting friends at Gatwick and starting the holiday then, that is exactly what Mrs Daisy, Fergie and ourselves are planning in september

[Deleted]

An odd question, how long has Halki been a holiday destination and I suspect an impossible one to answer. I certainly know one person who holidayed there in 1970 and I know of others who visited earlier than that. Some are still visiting. I suspect there are several on the forum who have like myself, been associated with Halki in excess of 20 years. Which one was first does not interest me. Enforcer's facts are basically correct and as he sais, if not, then so what. In the interests of accuracy however, Laskarina were not the first company to sell Halki as Twelve Islands were there before. The ex norwegian vessel renamed "Halki" was not the original. She is but one of a lengthy line of craft that served the KS route. Her immediate predecessor was the Kyristanis and earlier the large fishing caique Mocha. The latter was the first transfer boat used by Laskarina. Earlier boats are still lying around the harbour to this day.

[Enforcer]

Thank you sth.

Someone had to start and I elected me. I forgot it was Twelve Islands though at the time I was with Small World before they turned it into a divorced-dating-club.

Perhaps it was the Wehrmacht after they over-filled the beaches in Crete in May 1941?

If many people put in their 5d worth (that’ll confuse the youngsters) someone will be able to write a potted history. You never know but by the time this post has run its course we might even get entries from the Templar Knights and the Phoenicians. ;D

[pda]

Wasn't me.

We were 80's people. But being from oop north could only afford DG, Laska was a bit too posh for the likes of us. Cloth bags never were worth the extra.

Remember the old boats though as I was in charge of holding daughters over the side of the boat while my wife slumped green & groaning near the rail....They never were very good sailors. ;D

Of the old tavernas I think most have changed over the years with just the odd one being in the same hands. Some gone for good like Rambos, our old favourite.
The old supermarket was a taverna/bar when we started going, not sure I remember just when the change to supermarket was.

Don't think anything has changed too much though.
Still an instant antidote to stress unlike anywhere else I have been.

[Enforcer]

Yes pda, I do not suppose our cloth bags would match your cloth caps but that is the joy of Halki. After a few warmers at KS no one cared if you came from north of the Thames or even, heaven help you, west of Farnham.

In 1994 Petros was the only viable ‘supermarket’ with two smaller shops to augment purchasing and the Black Sea had not been thought of. Even then the current large supermarket was a taverna/bar with a couple of slot machines for the teenagers.

In those days the posh side of town was between the Post Office and the Hotel, even the footpaths were ‘paved’. The other way (our way) was more primitive, beyond the church there was no street lighting and the paths were dust trails but we were a hardy lot then.

[Amanda]

New kids on the block us! ;D

Only 12 visits since 2003, so we've seen little change. It's very interesting to read about 'the old days' though, so thank you Enforcer, sth & pda.

[Deleted]

Pda, that taverna you speak of in the position of the larger of the two 'supermarkets', was in fact a grill house and only best for chicken,chips and salad. It was operated by a Greek with strong Egyptian links and in fact he professed to be Egyptian. Shortly after that it turned into the noisy "Michelinos" as described by Enforcer. Michaelis failed in that venture and then tried "Memories" up on the Pondamos road. It too bit the dust as did his Cantina at the left of Pondamos. He was a little more successful with Babis Taverna on the harbour but as you know, has now rented that out and concerns himself with supplying the building trade and his little hardware shop just along from and behind the bakery. He had a stab at a few other bits and pieces along the way including fishing.
The old fishing Mocha (spelling!!) can be seen lopsidedly and forlornly lying in the commercial shipyard in Rhodes Town and the Kyristanis is lying in the middle of the channel between the hotel and Nissi Is., where she sank in spectacular fashion a few years ago having previously been swatted by a big ferry.
There two German couples (home owners) on Halki who have I suspect, had much longer connection with the island than anyone on this forum. One of them will be reading this. ;D

[Liz]

Wow all these replies ...really interesting thread

[verity]

've been a 'lurker' on here for months and I've done my share of 'lurking' on Halki too! I first came with the aforementioned Twelve Islands in 1990 and remember a promotional vhs cassette they made in 1983, which had a 3 min section advertising Halki. It showed the road next to Dimitri's bakery was just a path with steps in those days. Laskarina arrived in Halki in 1986, then Twelve Islands was replaced by Timsway in 1991, then Direct Greece in 1994. Interesting to look at old brochures and start spotting the changes (you can tell what a hoarder I am...) The town clock used to chime on the hour and the half hour (stopped early to mid 90's) Pondamos beach was looked after by a redoubtable lady (Theodosia's mum) who kept it litter-free and would shoo away any young local lads who were too obviously strolling along for an eyeful of topless ladies! Both local boats used to leave at 5.30 am for Kamiros Skala, not 6.00 and the competition between them for passengers and the 'best' berth was fierce, with violence involving large pieces of wood being brandished, a regular occurence! Petros and his lovely wife, Maritsa, used to run their shop together and some of those shelves always had a bit of a bow in them... The telephone was literally a kiosk within Diamandi's grocery shop next to the bakery.
Memories...

[Deleted]

Hello Verity. All absolutely accurate and as you say, great memories. Specially the boat owners squabbles. I have a copy of that TV doc. you refer to. The road up by Dimitri's bakery was not in fact the road but as you, steps(of a sort). The road for what it was worth ran between Petros shop and Maria's taverna (just then opened), round the back of said shop and joined the current road where Francis now has her shop. No surface, simply a red, muddy mess of stones and rubble. Sometimes I think it was better like that.