Once a key attraction, the Island of Dreams or Pezonisi, an islet off the coast of Eretria is now a scary and haunted place. Just a one-and-a-half drive away from Athens, an area of exquisite natural beauty and once fun-filled tourist resort is held hostage by Greek bureaucracy that has turned the dream into a nightmare.

54-year-old Greek American businessman Lambros Apostolopoulos was the latest in a string of people interested in breathing life into the thin strip of land that knew its heyday in the Sixties with a hotel, nightclub and small beach but has now become tangled in a mountain of red tape.

The abandoned restaurant

The Island of Dreams was conceded to the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) during the 1967-1974 dictatorship. The GNTO was given the right to utilize it for 75 years with the aim of giving license for its exploitation to businessman Ioannis Maniatopoulos, but the fall of the junta and rulings of the Council of State and the Supreme Court foiled plans and made the Municipality of Eretria the new custodian of the island in a deal that runs through to 2043.

A balcony view of the sea

The last operator of the hotel abandoned it in 2008 leaving the 52-room hotel with 46 bungalows to fall into decay and become home to squatters, dangerous animals and looters.

Mr. Apostolopoulos expressed interest to lease the island in 2010 motivated by his own upbringing in Eretria though he had been born in Zacharo, in the Peloponnese. He saw the state of disrepair but for emotional and personal reasons was interested in restoring the beauty that the island had held during his childhood. The Municipality of Eretria had appeared encouraging upon hearing his plans to fix the beach and renovate the island and hotel as well as built a theme park focused on Ancient Greece.

Welcome to your room!

Though there were no other contenders as the two previous competitions to find someone to lease the island had proved fruitless, but nonetheless a tender was launched but never issued due to the indifference of the Public Properties Company (ETAD). The matter remained stagnant, stuck in red tape, until Mr. Apostolopoulos simply lost his initial enthusiasm.
Everyone agrees that the prime slice of land has a great deal of potential, but the economic crisis and all the other problems just getting the tender to first base have scared away anyone remotely entertaining the notion of bringing life to the dream.

Bathroom

Where the children once played.

Tennis anyone?

Back in the heyday.

During a cleanup by the residents of Evia –

Back in the good days –