"Please don't take my signs away!"
but no longer any mention of Crete's first aquarium
"Aquaworld's derelict signs lying useless infront of the aquarium."
"Suggested new signs - which Aquaworld has to pay for!"
Now, these are undoubtedly very attractive signs, and my respects to Lefteris who has wasted his time producing them. You might notice the fundamental flaw - they don't mention the word "Aquarium" or its Greek equivalent "Enythreio" anywhere! They could be directing people to a water park, an aquarium supply shop or, as more than one person has suggested, a scuba-diving centre!
The second problem with these suggested signs is that they are definitely not the correct colours for directing visitors to places of interest. These are clearly, legally defined throughout Europe, and Greece is no exception. You can see the rules if you go to http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road/publications/trafficrules/reports/signs_signals/signs_signals_greece_en.pdf
Pages 24 & 28 clearly show that all "touristic" signs MUST have a brown background, Greek lettering in yellow, and the phoenetic, or English, lettering in white - almost exactly as the "illegal" Aquaworld signs are, in fact.
I have tried on several occasions to get my Aquaworld signs - as they are - legalised, but keep on coming up against seemingly insurmountable walls - "It's not possible" (an official of the Hersonissos council) and "It's too difficult" (a member of the local community police). Since he obviously has the know-how, I have asked Mr Pantazoglou for his assistance on this one. Yet again, no reply as yet.
Now, call me naive if you will, but I still believe that the CretAquarium team are not actively out to scupper Aquaworld, but not one of the many local people I've spoken to believes this. They see a deliberate and calculated campaign to reduce the profile of Aquaworld to zero and to make it all but invisible to visitors to Crete.
What do you believe? Please vote "Yes" if you think there are too many coincidences and that Aquaworld has been targeted:
2 comments:
Hi John,
I just had to vote "Yes" since I believe that the CretAquarium management are interested in only one thing - cash!
I have visited Aquaworld for several years running now and have only ever had to pay once a year - great value! Over those years you have taught me an enormous amount about local sealife and reptiles.
I went to CretAquarium this summer - great aquariums, but nobody to talk to. When you look at CretAquarium website, they say that they are concerned about conservation - nowhere does it come across to the visitor though (did they just paraphrase the words from your site, I wonder?)
They don't advise people of other animal conservation organisations like you do.
They can't even be bothered to weed their gardens - the place is brand new and at the European taxpayers' expense, but it already looks old and worn out.
Keep going, John. I'll be back every year to support you.
Cheers,
Marcel.
Wow, hits from all over Greece today - almost as many as the day that ERT made the Aquaworld site the "Hot Site" of the day!
And why, all because someone going by the anonymous avatar name "Differndworld" (did he/she mean "Differentworld"?) posted an entry on the Abyss Club forum - http://www.theabyss.gr/forum/viewtopic.php?p=21549
What Differndworld said is: "Gia rikste mai matia sto
http://aquaworld-crete.blogspot.com/2006/10/aquaworlds-signs-gone-at-inter-aquaria.html
Kapios eglezos malon exi valthi na mas pisi oti to enidrio teli na ton klisi.de to nomizo mia ke exo episkefti ke tus 2 xorus.Apo tin mia enidiro apo tin alli diamerisma me enidria san ton spition mas.....
Sti de psifoforia safestata psifisa NO....to de sxolio tu anonimou ligo stimeno mou fenete."
Now, that may look very strange to you, but it is in fact Greek written using the Latin alphabet. This is something I've seen poorly educated Greek people do and foreigners who are not very sure of how to spell in Greek getting around the problem, or a method used by people who can't make their keyboards come up with the Greek alphabet. Whatever, I'll do my best to translate:
"Have a look at [1] Someone, probably an Englishman, [2] has made up his mind to have us believe [3] that the aquarium [4] is trying to close him. I don't think so. I've visited both places [5] from the one aquarium to the other apartment [6] with aquariums like we have in our homes [7]...
I voted NO on the poll... the comments of the anonymous person [8] seem a little fake to me..."
[1] This blog entry
[2] I'm Scottish - read the website!
[3] I didn't say that, but every Cretan I've done business with here in Hersonissos for years DOES say so...Read the text, please.
[4] Which one? Rhodes, CretAquarium or Aquaworld? I suppose CretAquarium because this thread - last entry before this one way back on the 27th July - strange - is about CretAquarium. (Absolutely superb images, by the way, Nikos and fivos.)
[5] Did you read any of the thousands of favourable comments in the Aquaworld Visitors' Books? They're in Greek as well!
[6] Aquaworld is in two former apartments. You can read the whole story, as anyone can, at http://www.aquaworld-crete.com/about.html for English and http://www.aquaworld-crete.com/aboutgr.html for the Greek version.
[7] I wonder how many home aquaria hold 8,000 litres and how many "homes" protect a Nile Crocodile and can accommodate a 4m python!
[8] Marcel (he signed the comment) is a Dutch visitor who has been coming to Crete for many years and is well-known throughout the entire Hersonissos/Malia area. He'll be here again next year and I'll be happy to introduce you :-)
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