for years in part because they are served by slow and unreliable ferries. In 2015, the government had finally given the contract to a new, efficient company, drawing floods of new visitors to explore the islands’ largely overlooked charms, before the bank controls hit. “It started out as the best season in 30 years and, in one week, became the worst,” said Atzamis Konstantinos, a travel agent in Lemnos who used to earn €15,000 a month as a captain of petroleum tankers and other large ships but came home because he missed it so much. “I always loved this island, even when I was young. I would dock in Piraeus, the port in Athens, take my pay, then get the first boat over. People would say 'You’re crazy. You can go anywhere' but I only ever wanted to come here.” Lemnos has dozens of wild beaches, where even at the height of summer you can swim and sunbathe virtually alone, a small nightlife scene and numerous cultural sites. It is the eighth largest island in Greece so is in line for the first round of tax increases in autumn 2015 but far less wealthy than many smaller ones. It has just over 3,000 beds for visitors, compared with tens of thousands on an island such as Rhodes. Its councillors say that they will fight the tax rise, although none can say how. “We have been suffering economically in recent years and, now, we will suffer more,” said Lemnos Mayor,