Year round flights to Corfu?
As you may be aware, the great majority of visitors to Corfu arrive on charter flights. These are sold by large tour operators (TOs) who often also own the airlines. This means that visitors are at the mercy of these TOs and their scheduling. For example it has become increasingly difficult to get to Corfu at Easter if it falls before the beginning of May, since the TOs don't schedule flights in April anymore.
But how to get around the giant TOs stranglehold on flights, and enable people to visit when they want,even in winter? The answer maybe lies with independent flight companies like EasyJet. There is at present a campaign in Corfu to try to persuade EasyJet to schedule a year-round weekly service. If you would like to support this campaign you can e-mail the person at EasyJet who is responsible for new destinations, assuring him that he would get your business, in the winter as well as in season. Here's the address: easyjetocorfu@yahoo.gr.
The Internet also provides a means to break the TO's stranglehold. EasyJet owes its success to the Web. And, to arrange accommodation, the Net enables clients to book direct with small local companies. This trend is sure to grow, at the expense of the giants. Could the Internet be the straw that finally breaks their back? Here at pelekas.com we have been able to put room owners in direct contact with those looking for rooms for the first time. With a bit of luck and persuasion, it may also soon be possible to book your winter flight to Corfu online as well!
A recently discovered postcard of Pelekas in the early 20th century
(With thanks to Cali Doxiadis)
Pelekas Graffiti Artist Online
The recent Cultural Olympiad held here in Greece included a festival of graffiti art in its programme of events.
Graffiti first appeared in Greece in the mid-Eighties on public transport vehicles as the hip-hop scene slowly attracted fans.
Once a sign of rebellion, this "intensely communicative art form", as culture minister Evangelos Venizelos put it, now serves as a symbol of cultural unity, since the graffiti murals will stay long after the event was over. "It is not often," said Venizelos, "that art forms, sprouting in the margins, in the so-called alternative cultural milieu, find their way into the established art world and create a niche for themselves."
As our contribution we would like to point you towards a new page on pelekas.com The Graffiti Art of Diomedes Papadatos. Diomedes is young local graffiti artist and we are proud to have been able to provide a showcase for his stunning murals.
STOP PRESS
An excerpt from the 2002 Edition of the Lonely Planet "Guide to Corfu and The Ionians". Obviously we highly recommend it!
Weather
Editorial
A recent survey has shown that the UK is the biggest online travel market in Europe, with almost six million people visiting travel sites in January 2002. Germany is next with 5.1 million, followed by France with 2.6 million.
Internet analyst Jupiter estimates that the European market for online travel will be worth more than £12bn by 2006, and that online traffic to travel sites grew by 75% in some European countries last year.
There has been a significant shift in the way we are buying our holidays, with a switch towards direct sales through call centres and the internet. In 1992 75% of sales were through shops, in 2000 the figure had fallen to 62% and by the end of this summer the figure is expected to have dropped by another 10%
Travel continues to be one of the most popular categories among UK internet users attracting more than 30% of the 15.2 million online population.
A Holiday Which? survey of members in 2000 showed that at least 8% of them had booked some or all of a holiday online, and nearly all said that they would do it again.
Feta cheese? It's Greek to you . . . and EU
Feta cheese will be Greek, and only Greek, under a new European Union regulation.
Under the rule, which still needs approval from EU farm ministers, the word ''feta'' will become a protected appellation of origin restricted only to Greek-made feta.
The aim is to guarantee to consumers that they're buying authentic Greek feta, and not a similar-looking product from somewhere else, a commission spokesman said.
Feta -- the word itself is derived from the Greek language -- is a soft white cheese made from goat's milk. It is an essential ingredient in Greek cuisine.
But studies by the European Commission found that non-Greek feta in EU supermarkets was actually made with cow's milk in Germany, Denmark and France.
Brussels took steps in 1996 to protect the feta appellation, only to see them struck down in part three years later by the European Court of Justice.
