PHOTOS MEL STEEL,TZELI HADJIDIMITRIOU
It’s the end of September and there is glorious sunshine the day we arrive on Lesvos, but everyone knows a storm is coming. It’s been forecast for days and there are worries about how the refugee boats will hold up in the short but precarious crossing from Turkey. The UN refugee agency estimates that 3,000 migrants have died at sea so far this year trying to make it to Europe. The morgue and cemeteries on Lesvos are running out of space for the bodies.
We’re on holiday, although we know that this will not be like any other holiday we’ve spent here before. Eresos, where we are staying, is a sleepy beach town in the remote south-west of the island, best known as the birthplace of Sappho. It’s a good hour and a half’s drive away from the areas most affected by the refugee crisis and, to the casual eye, looks the same as ever.