From a distance, everything looks just as it should. The teeny,
white-washed Agios Ioannis chapel is perched 202 steps up a winding
path on top of a rocky outcrop that juts into the sea. It appears
windswept, isolated and beautifully peaceful.
But close up, things aren't quite so tranquil. For starters,
the concrete car park below is overflowing. Cars are backed up down the
dusty lane and the nearby cafe is doing a roaring trade.
The steps are alive with a constant stream of visitors, huffing and puffing, and singing Abba songs rather badly.
Romantic idyll: Dominic Cooper and Amanda
Seyfried embrace in the surf in a scene from the film - but are
tourists ruining this unspoiled hideaway?
And the church? Well, on closer inspection, it isn't quite up to
scratch either. Indeed, something's so wrong that the moment most
visitors pass through the heavy wooden doors, the singing stops and the
recriminations begin.
'It's very pretty, but it's all wrong,' says Carla Stone, 23, from Australia. 'There are no pews, and the altar's weird.'
'It's tiny!' says Sophie Goodson, 15, from Godstone, Surrey.
'There's barely room for Meryl Streep, let alone the three dads and all
the wedding guests.'
'We've seen the film eight times and have come all the way
from Warsaw especially, so this is very upsetting,' says Karl, 28.
'They must have used a film set for the inside.'
Even the visitors' book is brimming with disappointment.
'A very nice place, but not the church from Mamma Mia!' reads one entry.
Oh dear. Perhaps I should explain. I am on Skopelos, the tiny
Greek island once known for its scented pine trees, olives, dried white
plums and peace and quiet... but now more famous as the place Mamma
Mia! was filmed.
Just in case you've been shut away in a wardrobe for the past
year, Mamma Mia! The Movie is a film based on the fantastically
successful West End show of the same name, and stars Meryl Streep,
Piers Brosnan and Julie Walters.
The premise is simple. A raft of Abba hits worked into a
cheesy plot about a girl who tries to uncover the identity of her
biological father - her mum (played by Meryl Streep) was quite a goer
in her day - by secretly inviting the three candidates to her wedding
on the un-spoilt fictional Greek island of Kalokairi.
Abba magic: Hollywood's most successful musical, it's the highest-grossing film and fastest-selling DVD of all time in Britain
It is just over a year since the film was released and, despite a
steely determination that their island will 'never do a Captain
Corelli' - nearby Kefalonia, where Captain Corelli's Mandolin was
filmed, was mobbed in the wake of that film's release in 2001 - it's
clear that life will never be quite the same again for the 4,969
Skopelites.
The islanders' official policy has always been maximum
friendliness and minimal Mamma Mia! publicity - so there are no Mamma
Mia! T-shirts, postcards, fridge magnets or bus tours. There is no
Hollywoodisation of the island, in fact, no tasteless tat at all.
The only exception is the desolate Mamma Mia! bar, run by a
lugubrious man called Demetri - who was Brosnan's driver during the
filming - and dismissed as 'tacky' by many locals.
Oh, and
a smart signpost at each sacred stop on the Mamma Mia! trail - the
church, the bay where the cast danced on the jetty, the trees where
Sophie enjoyed a picnic with her three 'fathers'.
'Skopelos is about more than Mamma Mia! - we don't want our
island to change because of a film,' says mayor Hristos Vasiloudis, who
is sitting in his sunny office in a pink, short-sleeved shirt and
jeans.
'We have culture, architecture, ancient history and pride. A film comes and goes, but we want our island to remain the same.'
This all sounds impressive and, had it been any other film, he might just have got what he wanted.
But as well as being horribly cheesy, Mamma Mia! is Hollywood's
most successful musical, and the highest-grossing film and
fastest-selling DVD of all time in Britain. It has also spawned
millions of fans around the world - an awful lot of whom seem to be
making over-excited pilgrimages to the island.
Despite the fact Skopelos can be reached only by a choppy
50-minute ferry ride from the airport in Skiathos, visitor numbers have
skyrocketed.
Paradise invaded: Jane Fryer on the crowded beach now
Hotels
have been booked up months in advance, the bars and restaurants are
buzzing and every couple of hours an enormous ferry disgorges another
batch of Mamma Mia! fans on to the quayside in picturesque Skopelos
town, often in full song. Until they realise it's not quite as it was
on the big screen.
'It was a bit disappointing at first,' says Diana Staveley,
40. 'In the film, they arrived at a pretty bay in a tiny boat, but we
came on a giant ferry into the port and there were people everywhere.'
While
increased custom - even by Abba fans - sounds like good news, it's had
a big effect on the island's much-prized tranquillity. The narrow roads
are teeming with cars reversing and spinning tyres in the dust. And
there's barely room left to sit down on some of the beaches.
'We've been coming for years and this time it's different,'
says Christina, 34, from Athens. 'There used to be four, maybe five,
people on some of the beaches and now they're completely full. It's so
busy you need to be there early to get a spot, so we don't bother.'
And then there are the weddings... For months, fans have been
flocking here to get married Mamma Mia!-style in the minuscule church
on the hill - only to discover it's off limits unless you happen to be
Greek Orthodox.
Instead, they're tying the knot in the town hall, on one of
the beaches or on a yacht and then diving into the clear blue water in
their wedding finery.
'There was one Swiss couple who were going to convert to Greek
Orthodox and come back,' says Marion Fester, who works for Thalpos
Holidays. 'Given that you'd fit only about six people in the church, it
seems a bit extreme.'
A bit? Just how silly can you get? Very, it seems, judging by
the stream of fans traipsing into Marion's office to pay homage to a
pair of Piers Brosnan's flip flops - 'They're only size seven, which
was a bit of a surprise' - retrieved from his villa and now firmly
nailed to the wall and draped in fairy lights.
'At first, it was just a few children and women with their
daughters, but two days ago there was a whole group of British tourists
- all here to see the flip flops. The men looked embarrassed.'
And does anyone try them on? 'Oh no! They're nailed down. Though we'd love him to come back and prise them off.'
It is credit to the Skopelites' determination and lack of greed
that there is still only one organised Mamma Mia! boat trip from
Skopelos a week - because there must be ten times the demand.
Competition for the 58 places on the Odyssey is feverish and,
occasionally, bordering on the violent. Jonathan Stone, from London but
resident in Greece for seven years, leads the trips.
'They are unbelievably obsessed. We had one Swedish woman
who'd seen the film 198 times. And she was upset when we didn't play it
during the trip.'
And music? 'The moment you put on the soundtrack, everyone
starts dancing, so thank God the engine makes the CD slip so we can
play it only when the boat stops. If it didn't, we'd have to listen to
Abba all blooming day. They get disappointed that they can't drink in
the beach bar and jump off the jetty [which were built specially for
the film].
The suitors: Colin Firth (l), Stellan
Skarsgard, and Pierce Brosnan in a scene from the hit film. Tourists
now come to pay homage to a pair of Brosnan's flip flops
'I swear they expect Meryl Streep will be there waiting for them, sunning herself on a sun lounger.'
It might sound like harmless fun, but the film has had a more
worrying effect on the island. Prices have shot up in the bars,
tavernas and even supermarkets. 'Taverna life is being eroded,' says
Neil Durham, 64, from Bangor, but now a resident.
'The Greeks like to spend their evenings eating and drinking
together, but since Mamma Mia! food prices have gone up by 50 per cent
and the locals can no longer afford to eat out.
'Mamma Mia! is also destroying the Greek culture. Even the TV
adverts have changed to cater to the tourists. These days, they're all
for Danish cheese and German sausages.'
One furious local, known for obvious reasons as 'Hairy
George', has built a mock taverna in a lay-by to protest against rising
bar prices.
Development is booming, too. Property posters flutter in the
wind around Skopelos, the island's first five-star hotel will be
completed next summer, and building sites are being carved out of the
empty land between the lemon trees and the olive groves as foreigners
fight to buy a slice of the Skopelos dream.
Prices start at about £120,000 for a traditional townhouse, and from £200,000 for a villa with sea views.
According to local estate agents, interest has been increasing
steadily since the film came out and properties are being snapped up
within days of going on the market.
'There's no faffing
about - they see something and buy it. They know that if they don't,
someone else will,' says one estate agent. 'There's no such thing as a
recession in Skopelos.' So what do the Skopelites think about all this
interest in their beautiful green island?
There are a few
commercial types who think the mayor's mad not to milk Mamma Mia! for
all it's worth. Generally, however, the locals aren't interested.
Particularly outside Skopelos town, where eyes roll at the mention of
the film.
The locals do, however, have fond memories of the
filming. As well as spending huge amounts of money on the island - 'It
was like manna from heaven,' says local restaurateur Nikos Stamatakis -
the cast and crew were happy to mix with the locals.
They shopped in the gift shops, drank in the bars, danced on the tables and had a brilliant time.
'I had them all in here: Mrs Streep, Mr Colin Firth. Mr Brosnan
was my favourite - so natural and handsome,' says Peggy, who runs a
jewellery shop in Skopelos town.
'He was in more than 12 times - my poor husband was working flat out to make all the jewellery.'
And many locals appeared as extras. 'It was so exciting and
brilliant fun,' says Sabrina, a 38-year-old travel agent, who spent
three days traipsing up and down the 202 steps to the chapel in the
rain.
There were, of course, a few hiccups. The set builders upset
everyone by adding a false front to the chapel, and a vicar officiated
in the wedding scene instead of a Greek Orthodox priest.
But generally, the shoot went like clockwork and the locals
have nothing but praise for the stars - particularly Brosnan, who did a
lot of late-night drinking with them, charmed the whole island and
wrote lovely thank you notes afterwards.
To be fair, the film company did go to enormous lengths to put
everything back as it was when they arrived. It seems the only thing
they couldn't do was restore the peace and quiet.
As Nina Koukovinas, 79, puts it: 'If only they could turn the
clock back to when things were more normal and people had better
manners.'
Speaking of which, back up at the chapel, things are less
civil as an elderly couple from Macclesfield are shooed out of the way
by an Indian woman brandishing an enormous camera.
'Old lady - get out of the way, please! I've come from India for this picture and I don't want you in it.'
Goodness. As the story goes, the film's producers looked at more than 25 Greek islands before plumping for Skopelos.
'Apparently, they chose our island because it was so green and simple and peaceful,' says one local.
Poor old Skopelos. It's still a beautiful island, but I wonder
if the producers would choose it now? And if they did, whether they'd
be welcomed with such open arms.
