The private market for small islands in Greece is not new, since over the years they have been purchased by financial magnates and the super rich of the Jet-set world. However, the debt crisis has apparently also soured the super wealthy, or the owners of these islands, who are now being squeezed to pay up or ship out from all the tax increases so they have decided to sell their small little paradise to the best buyer.
Unfortunately such is the case on Skorpios. The island which in the 1960s hosted the world's Jet-Set community was bought by famous ship-owner Aristotle Onassis for 15 million US dollars. But today Artistotle's granddaughter, Athina Onassis, is doing everything in her power to rid herself of the island.
In the past she had asked for 200 million US dollars and there were rumors that Microsoft's Bill Gates was interested in this investment, while later other reports said that Giorgio Armani was also willing to buy it for 150 million euros.
Luckily, she has not been able to sell the island as of yet and this is because Aristotle Onassis had placed a clause in his will in the case of Skorpio island which stated that unless the island becomes impossible to maintain it, then it has to remain in the hands of the person who inherited it (at the time it was his daughter Christina). Thank the heavens Aristotle did this, because he and all the other members of his family -including Athina Onasis' mother Christina - are buried there.
Athina, on the other hand, who has never associated herself with Greece or has shown any interest in uncovering her Greek roots is trying every trick in the book to rid herself of this island. Some reports claim that her lawyers are looking into ways of by-passing this clause and leasing out the island for a period of 99 years so as to escape the heavy taxation.
Today she lives in a posh neighborhood outside of Brussels, in one of the most elegant homes in that area. She and her husband Alvaro apparently fled from Brazil, where the super rich usually fall victim to kidnappings.
Another case involves the island of Oxia, which is owned by the Greek-Australia Stamoulis family. The island is situated in the Ionian Sea, 38 miles from Ithaca (Odysseus' legendary home) and is quite frankly a nature reserve, but there is a small part of the island that can be used for construction or commercial purposes. The Stamoulis family had initially set the price at 7 million euros but apparently sold it -or is just about to sell it- to an Emir from Qatar for 6 million euros.
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