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Laskarina Specialist Tour Operator

A bit of a homage to a now defunct company.

Laskarina was a tour operator who provided holidays to unspoilt regions of Greece. We have particular memories of the company as it was the one that first introduced Mr. S and Daughter to Greece. Our adventure to Halki in 1989.

We were particularly attracted to them as they did not follow the pattern of the mass package holiday operators.

We stayed in Villa Rozalis just up the hill from the Byzantine Church and we still have the brochure that we studied during the winter of 1988/89 dreaming of summer holidays.

Here are a few pages from it.

Front Cover

Is it as empty now in the summer I wonder?

Pondamos Beach

Many hours were spent here, swimming reading and snoozing!

Villa Rozalis

We rented the upper studio. It had (still does I guess) a fantastic view over the harbour past the church campanile.

The company alas is no more . It was very much the pioneer of providing off the beaten track holidays without spoiling the charm of the destinations. In fact when we went they were the only tour company to have a presence in Halki and only a handful of tourists each week were ferried from Rhodes by a local fisherman chartered for the job.

The online world of the internet provided many alternative ways for people to travel to out of the way places which were in fact becoming more accessible anyway. So in 2006 they called it a day

They provided wonderful holidays for many like us, so it is fitting that they get a mention from the medium which replaced their services.

It is not all bad news. The spirit lives on in the form of a few smaller companies. So if you fancy a quiet holiday to an unspoilt island ... you still can.

Have a look at Nissia Holidays which is run by two former local reps. They have the same philosophy as the old Laskarina and they specialize in Halki and Tilos.

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Nissia Holidays is a family-run, independent holiday company specialising in the quieter side of Greece. We offer villas, apartments and hotels in Halki, Tilos, and the unspoilt Greek islands.

Part of the Dodecanese archipelago, Halki and Tilos nestle in the south-eastern corner of the Aegean, close to the island of Rhodes. These beautiful islands are famed for their local hospitality, which is as warm as the Greek sunshine. With an idyllic climate, a scattering of sleepy villages where time seems to have stood still, and beautiful beaches lapped by azure waters, they offer a pace of life that defies the 21st century.

Nissia Holidays Ltd. is registered in England and Wales, company No. 05979851, and was formed in October 2006 to offer a new approach to holidays on the idyllic and unspoilt small Greek island of Halki.

We have over thirty years combined experience of Halki and the surrounding islands and in recent years had been the representatives of Laskarina Holidays in the region. Following Laskarina’s decision to withdraw from the market at the end of the 2006 season, Nissia Holidays was created to respond to the demand from regular & newly-enchanted visitors to the island for the unique holidays on offer on Halki to be available for the 2007 season and beyond.

For the start of the 2010 season Nissia  Holidays expanded to take over the operations of Little Island Holidays on Tilos.

Meni has been living & working on near-by Rhodes for over a quarter of a century, all of that time in the holiday & leisure industry, and during that time she has built up valuable relationships with all of the companies & individuals needed to ensure that Nissia Holidays can rely on unparalleled local support to deliver the most stress & problem free holidays on Halki and Tilos. Whether that’s dealing with airport officials, transfer companies, boat captains or just about anyone else involved in making sure you’re holiday has all it needs and more then Meni always knows the right person to ask to make things happen.

As a Greek-Australian she is also fiercely proud of her Hellenic roots so above all else she is determined that every visitor to the islands is able to enjoy the unspoilt and picturesque island to its full potential and then spread the word when the holiday is over for another year.

Triantafyllos, or Daffy as most guests like to call him, comes from a strong hospitality background. Working alongside Meni from a young age and helping with operations for Laskarina Holidays, he is service minded and always happy to help the guests have an amazing and relaxing holiday in Halki and Tilos. He holds a BSc in Computer Sciences from Liverpool John Moores university and has various qualifications from the travel industry.

In 2015 he became the reservations manager for Nissia Holidays.

Our passionate Tilos representative, Ian is friendly and always eager to assist our guests for Tilos. You will find him at Rhodes airport on Wednesdays and then on his beloved island of Tilos taking good care of our Tilos guests or assisting the boats to dock down at the harbour!

Steve started working with Nissia in 2017, striking up an instant rapport with Meni, Daffy and Blendi. Having had his own businesses and working in a corporate environment, he likes to see things from a customer perspective and he was indeed a Nissia client before becoming a Halki resident. He is passionate about customer service and loves Halki. He is a welcome addition to the team, where locally Blendi and he are known as Black and Decker!

George is the newest member of our team and he has already become a vital part of our reservations team. In love with our unspoilt islands, he has gained previous experience in the hospitality industry, working in the travel technology industry and customer support, he's ready to assist our guests to find the best possible options for their holidays.

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Spetses Laskarina Bouboulina

Laskarina Bouboulina, the heroine of Spetses: Laskarina Bouboulina is a Greek prominent historical figure, known for her tremendous contribution to the Greek War of Independence in the 19th century. She was born in May 1771 in a prison in Constantinople, where her father had been put for taking part in revolutionary actions against the Ottoman Empire. However, her father died in prison and her mother, Paraskevo, returned to their homeland, the island of Hydra. Four years later, her mother married Captain Dimitrios Lazarou-Orlov and the family moved to the neighboring island of Spetses.

Even as a child, Bouboulina was enamored by the sea and would often listen to stories of sailormen. She grew up among people talking of a forthcoming revolution of the Greeks against the Ottomans, who had been ruling the country for almost four centuries. Bouboulina got married twice, first to Dimitris Yiannouzas and then to Dimitris Bouboulis, from whom she derived the name Bouboulina (her family name was Pinotsi). Unfortunately, both her husbands, who were captains, were killed during pirate raids.

Bouboulina was then left with an immense fortune from her two husbands as well as seven children to support. She turned out to be a great businesswoman and soon managed to increase her fortune. She went on to become a partner in several vessels and also built three of her own. Her ships included the famous Agamemnon, which was a huge ship consisting of 18 cannons and the largest Greek ship used in the Greek War of Independence.

Bouboulina soon became a member of a secret organization known as Filiki Eteria , which was spreading the idea of a Greek Revolution against the Ottomans. She used her fortune to make arms and ships for her country and collected men to fight the enemies by her side.

On March 13th, 1821, Bouboulina raised the Greek flag onboard her largest ship, Agamemnon, started a naval blockade against the Ottomans and fought until the Fort of Nafplion fell. She also took part in the blockade of Monemvasia, Peloponnese. In the war, she lost her eldest son, Yiannis Yiannouzas. At the siege of Tripoli, the Turkish capital in the Peloponnese, Bouboulina intervened and saved a large part of the female household of the Sultan.

After the Turks were defeated, Bouboulina remained in Nafplion until General Theodoros Kolokotronis was imprisoned. After this, Bouboulina gave up her house in Nafplion and returned to the island of Spetses.

In 1825, Laskarina Bouboulina was killed in a very unfair and unexpected manner, when a member of the Koutsis family shot her. They had come to question her about her son, Georgios Yiannouzas, who had eloped with their daughter. Following her death, she was the first woman to be awarded the rank of Admiral by the Russian Navy. Many streets have been named after her in Greece today, a mark of the true admiration that the people of Greece feel for her.

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An introduction to Laskarina Bouboulina, 1821 heroine

The director of the family-run Bouboulina Museum on the Greek island of Spetses will be delivering an introductory lecture and tour on his famous ancestor, Laskarina Bouboulina (1771-1825).

Pavlos Demertzis-Bouboulis’ tour is centered on the pivotal contribution of Bouboulina – a formidable historical figure and the first woman in the world to hold the rank of admiral – to the 1821 Greek Revolution.

The Saturday, March 13 event is organized by the Greek Embassy in the United States and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation’s Center for Hellenic Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

It starts at 10 a.m. Los Angeles time and 8 p.m. Greek time. To register, click here .

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Historians take a fresh look at 1821

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Best travel company winner

Let's be honest, I knew the Derbyshire-based independent Laskarina had been voted best travel company in the Guardian/Observer travel awards for five consecutive years when I booked a one-week holiday for my friend and I on Leros. It wasn't even the first time that I had used the firm, my partner and I having booked a house on Alonissos through them the previous year.

So I felt more than a little guilty at taking all the credit when the trip turned out to be everything we had been hoping for: a no-hassle, restful break.

If you want to escape from the crowds, a trawl through the Laskarina brochure will take you to places you've probably never heard of, let alone considered going to. If you don't like organised activities and overbearing reps, you will be relieved to find that the Laskarina reps are on call but keep a low profile.

Some of the bigger travel companies go to the same places, but with Laskarina you can chat on the phone to the sales reps for ages, the brochure has a warts-and-all pitch, and the pricing is clear - there's no rooting around in the small print for surcharges.

Best of all is the accommodation. Having booked my holiday to Leros at the last minute, I had a certain trepidation, as my choice had been somewhat limited. But the apartment - set in a hillside, castle-like folly with beautiful gardens - was spacious and tastefully decorated in the traditional style. On Alonissos, it had been even better - a charmingly restored house in the old town, with a corner-style Greek fireplace and antique furniture.

Whether you plump for a classical villa, traditional house or one of the more quirky options, you're likely to have a fantastic view because Laskarina is big on balconies.

Transportation to your property is arranged, usually by taxi. You are warned in advance that you might have to carry your luggage to your door if your accommodation is not roadside. But it is likely to be a short distance. In fact, the only real difficulty with Laskarina is settling on which island to go to next time. See you on Symi?

A brochure from Laskarina Holidays can be ordered on 01629 822 203 ( www.laskarina.co.uk ).

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APELSIN HOTEL - Reviews (Elektrostal, Russia)

Norilsk: The city built by gulag prisoners where Russia guards its Arctic secrets

Environmental activists are frustrated by how authorities handled a diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

International correspondent @DiMagnaySky

Friday 3 July 2020 23:41, UK

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The drive from Norilsk airport to the city takes you past mile after mile of crumbling, Soviet-era factories.

It looks like an endless, rusting scrapyard - a jumble of pipes, industrial junk and frost-bitten brickwork. If you were looking for an industrial apocalypse film setting, this would be your place - but you're unlikely to get the permissions.

Norilsk was built in Stalin's times by gulag prisoners. This gritty industrial city is a testament to their endurance both of the cruelty of Stalin's regime and of the harsh polar climate. There were no thoughts then on how to build to protect the environment, just to survive it.

Vasily Ryabinin doesn't think much has changed, at least in ecological terms. He used to work for the local branch of the federal environmental watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, but quit in June after exposing what he says was a failure to investigate properly the environmental impact of the gigantic diesel spill which poured into two Arctic rivers in late May.

At 21,000 tonnes, it was the largest industrial spill in the polar Arctic .

Despite the Kremlin declaring a federal emergency and sending a host of different agencies to participate in the clean-up, just last week Mr Ryabinin and activists from Greenpeace Russia found another area where technical water used in industrial processes was being pumped directly into the tundra from a nearby tailing pond. Russia's investigative committee has promised to investigate.

"The ecological situation here is so bad," Mr Ryabinin says.

"The latest constructions such as the tailing pond at the Talnack ore-processing plant were built exclusively by Nornickel chief executive Vladimir Potanin's team and supposedly in accordance with ecological standards, but on satellite images you can see that all the lakes in the vicinity have unnatural colours and obviously something has got into them."

Mining company Nornickel would disagree. It has admitted flagrant violations at the tailing pond and suspended staff it deems responsible at both the Talnack plant and at Norilsk Heat and Power plant no 3 where the diesel spill originated from.

On Thursday it appointed Andrey Bougrov, from its senior management board, to the newly-created role of senior vice president for environmental protection. It has a clear environmental strategy, provides regular updates on the status of the spill, and its Twitter feed is filled with climate-related alerts.

But what investors read is very different to the picture on the ground.

Norilsk used to be a closed city - one of dozens across the Soviet Union shut off to protect industrial secrets. Foreigners need special permissions approved by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to enter the region. It would take an invitation from Nornickel to make that happen and, for the past month since the spill, that has not been forthcoming.

Unlike in Soviet times, Russian citizens are now free to come and go. That's why our Sky News Moscow team were able to fly in and travel around the city, even if getting to the spill site was blocked. What they were able to film provides a snapshot of the immense challenge Russia faces in upgrading its Soviet-era industrial infrastructure, particularly at a time when climate change is melting the permafrost on which much of it was built.

Just downwind from one of the rusting factories on the city outskirts is a huge expanse of dead land. The skeletal remains of trees stand forlorn against the howling Arctic winds. Sulphur dioxide poisoning has snuffed the life out of all that lived here. Norilsk is the world's worst emitter of sulphur dioxide by a substantial margin.

"For 80km south of here everything is dead," Mr Ryabinin says, "and for at least 10km in that direction too. Everything here depends on the wind."

Immediately after the spill, Mr Ryabinin filmed and took samples from the Daldykan river just a few kilometres from the fuel tank which had leaked. By that point the river was a churning mix of diesel and red sludge dredged up from the riverbed by the force of the leak. Norilsk's rivers have turned red before and the chemical residues have sunk to the bottom, killing all life there. Nothing has lived in those rivers for decades.

In his capacity as deputy head of the local environmental watchdog, Mr Ryabinin says he insisted that he be allowed to fly further north to check the levels of contamination in Lake Pyasino and beyond.

Nornickel at the time claimed the lake was untouched by the spill. Mr Ryabinin says his boss encouraged him to let things be.

"I can't be sure I would have found anything, but this sort of confrontation - making sure I didn't go there with a camera, let alone with bottles for taking samples, it was all very clear to me. It was the final straw."

Rosprirodnadzor refused to comment to Sky News on Mr Ryabinin's allegations or suggestions that the agency was working hand in hand with Nornickel.

Georgy Kavanosyan is an environmental blogger with a healthy 37,000 following on YouTube. Shortly after the spill, he set out for Lake Pyasino and to the Pyasina River beyond to see how far the diesel had spread.

"We set out at night so that the Norilsk Nickel security wouldn't detect us. I say at night, but they've got polar nights there now, north of the Arctic Circle. So it's still light but it's quieter and we managed to go past all the cordons."

He is one of the few to have provided evidence that the diesel has in fact travelled far beyond where the company admits. Not just the 1,200km (745m) length of Lake Pyasino but into the river beyond.

He says his measurements indicated a volume of hydrocarbons dissolved in the water of between two and three times normal levels. He thinks after he published his findings on YouTube, the authorities' vigilance increased.

Greenpeace Russia have spent the last two weeks trying to obtain samples from Lake Pyasino and the surrounding area. They have faced difficulties getting around and flying their samples out for independent analysis.

They are now waiting for results from a laboratory in St Petersburg but say the samples remain valid technically for just four days after collection and that they weren't able to make that deadline due to the authorities' actively obstructing their work.

Elena Sakirko from Greenpeace Russia specialises in oil spills and says this has happened to her before. This time, a police helicopter flew to the hunter's hut where they were staying and confiscated the fuel for the boat they were using. Then a deputy for the Moscow city parliament tasked with bringing the samples back from Norilsk was forced to go back empty-handed.

"We were told at the airport we needed permission from the security department of Nornickel," Ms Sakirko says. "We asked them to show us some law or statement to prove that this was legal or what the basis for this was, but they haven't showed us anything and we still don't understand it."

Nornickel announced this week that the critical stage of the diesel spill is over. The company is now finalising dates for a press tour for foreign media and for other international environmentalists.

Mr Ryabinin thinks this should have happened weeks ago.

"If we don't let scientists come to the Arctic region to evaluate the impact of the accident, then in the future if anything similar happens, we won't know what to do."

A spokesperson for Nornickel said the company "is actively cooperating with the scientific community and will meticulously assess both the causes and effects of the accident."

Nornickel considers permafrost thawing to be the primary cause of the accident, but is waiting for the end of investigation before making a final statement, the spokesperson said.

They added that the company "accepts full responsibility for the incidents on its sites these past two months and holds itself accountable for any infrastructural deficits or poor decisions by personnel.

"The imperative is to do everything to clean up our sites, instil a stronger culture of transparency and safety in our workforce, and ensure that such situations do not occur in the future."