Cretan Vista News Archive 205

Cretanvista Site & Local News - February 28th 2005 Issue 25
No links to sites with adult content accepted	FEBRUARY WEATHER ... Definitely not funny! Or maybe it was. It was very cold, very wet and, although there were several clear sunny spells which had the spring flowers started, this Crete was definitely for enthusiasts only. Dimitris Vassiliou Acropolis View, Athens Above: Manager of the Acropolis View Hotel, Robertou Gallie, Athens. Five minutes walk will take you to the gates of the Acropolis (Parthenon) by the Herodeon Atticus theatre. Ten minutes (take 15!) to Plaka or Mitropolis square and the Greek Orthodox cathedral. __________________ Astratigos Village life... A Continued Saga.. Dear Brian, Hello and good afternoon from a still bright and sunny Crete - almost all the doors and windows are open. But for the most part the weather has been 'iffy' to say the least. In my last missive I promised to finish my story of the tilers by telling the tale of taking the surplus tiles (no, we didn't break them all) back to their local point of origin, the very grand Terzis tile emporium at Chania. So here we go, or more accurately, there we went. And how!! Mrs Terzis greeted us like new customers... No, we are bringing our surplus tiles back from the last job. She didn't look like a pools winner.. Until we added quickly that we wanted to part-exchange them for more tiles - this time for the bathroom walls. Bingo. No problem!! "Take the returns round the back. Give them to the 'lad'. He will give you a note. Bring the note back here". I comply, edging the car between pallet loads of tiles on either side about twice the height of the car at all angles. Being a 'good driver' I couldn't back out... I made it around the last corner, around an impossibly obstructed entrance and reversed onto the entrance ramp. Unloaded my tiles, got my note and made full circle without problems. No Problem... "Will you take the new tiles in your car" Mrs Terzis enquired innocently. "How much do they weigh", I ask. "19 boxes" was the rapid reply - "you can fit 19 boxes in your car".... Her tone and expression adds, "easily, can't you, or are you a sissy?" I'm no sissy Brian, I can put 19 boxes in my car..... I had a very uneasy feeling that Mrs Terzis had not answered my question.... Accompanied by Pam, I repeat my good driver exhibition. Perfection. I reverse into the loading bay like a real pro. Pam is clearly impressed. I leap out, hail the 'boy', hand over my paperwork and await his response. "You must move your car to the other bay", says he with a big grin. Not backing off I do so. Not a pallet knocked over. "Inside" says he. Inside I go. 19 boxes - boot and rear seat - are loaded leaving only about 2-3 inches movement left in the suspension. "Put some on top maybe", I mutter darkly. "It's OK" says he, "just drive carefully out of the doors!" I suddenly notice a 10 degree ramp which wasn't there when I came in. I edged out over the drop without taking my eyes off the wing mirror, which contained a picture of the boy - hand indicating the seriously decreasing gap between the floor and my undercarriage... We won! I am now able to tell you the answer to my question to Mrs Terzis. 19 boxes of tiles weigh about 302 Kilo's, better known as 668Ibs, 5.5cwt or, one quarter of one ton. I can also confirm that the number of paces one has to take carrying the tiles from my car boot to the vestibule of our house is 45-46. for each box. 32 of them up that 1 in 3 slope, 6 up the 1in1 steps and the remainder on the level - which is an attitude that my car returned to after the event. I was more horizontal. Level level.. Counted out.. Today we are starting the final clean of the big bedroom. We also have a little more stone to clean in the corridor, but we should be able to contain the dust easily in there. The new tiles really do look good, and without taking away the 'village house' feel - although perhaps a 'posh' village house. The real ones have earthen floors. Admirers. Not everyone felt our own sense of a very fine achievement. One of our occasional visitors, examining our super new tiles, said that things here wouldn't be the same for her without the previous concrete floors... Always been 'posh' haven't we? Well, after we first concreted the floors anyway... We are both very well. Katina has returned from he winter sojourn in Chania. Always a good sign of warmer weather. The sheep and goats have finished multiplying for a while - though Easter is approaching and it is not a good time for some of them. The almonds are blossoming, though not half as well as last year, whilst the other villagers here in Astratigos continue life as always, the way it is! However, it is as well to remember Brian, especially when things are going as well as they are just now, that somewhere out there maybe gremlins..... And perhaps even Mrs Terzis!!	Site News. And egg on my 'Webmaster' face!! I know that none of us are perfect (like me) but that was a classic... The link to our 2005 calendar gallery took anyone trying it direct to our food & drink page. Apologies... And no, our calendar does not feature a spit-roasting lamb or Sfakion Cheese Pie! Try the correct link below yourself. Cretan Vista Calendars. The calendar picture gallery went on line as planned by 18th February. Being the creator I hesitate to claim accolades, since the real kudos belong to the people who created the reality - builders to barrel-makers. Books & Good Reading. Still growing rapidly and is now - the new introductory pages are open. Hopefully this style of presentation will make selection and navigation in this area of the site much, much easier. Further books have already been added, the first available 'A Place for Us' - is essential reading for anyone who has read Nicolas Gages 'Eleni':- 1.A Place for Us by Nicolas Gage. Photo Galleries. (Homepage links). The 2005 Calendar gallery is of course already on-line, (Cretan Vista calendars - link above). The 2004 Calendar - a specialist product featuring old cars, buses and lorries is moving forward, although not many of the vehicles featured are moving at all.. Wild Flowers: The next two pages of the flower galleries, another 24 wild-flowers will be next, followed shortly afterwards with a further two pages. The galleries of our Athens visit at Christmas and New Year will follow soon afterwards. We now have 13 galleries featuring several aspects of Cretan life. A very nice gallery of sunrise and sunset pictures; the Souda Bay War Cemetery; and a gallery of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios Sakoulis, author of "Stigmotipa Tis Kritikis Freesis" - (Links below - bottom right column); our infant gallery about house renovation; and of course our annual calendar galleries containing 60 or so pictures of north western Crete. Some of them good! A total of around 180 gallery quality photographs of Crete. Have a look. All our site photographs (more than 800 in all) are the result of much hard work and we hope of interest to our visitors. We know that some of the general pictures can be replaced with better ones - watch this space.... There are of course many other developments going on all the time - including new ones which I have to bite my tongue rather than reveal until opening day. Are we listening, do we hear? We are and we do. The continuously increasing numbers of visitors and complimentary e-mails seem to show that our visitors - 21,000 plus individual visits in our best month last year - appreciate our efforts. In previous months I have confessed to being at a loss to understand the motives of those who bombard with rubbish spam and viruses the e-mail of a free site, which diverts any offered finance to sick and handicapped children, a bit difficult to understand... Much of this has now stopped - Thank-you. But.. I still find it difficult. We do not compete with commercial sites and we don't abuse the work of other people. Why then do some individuals continue to add garbled rubbish to our guest book? Please, help us keep our site tidy - put your rubbish in the bin. Please. If necessary, we will complain directly to the ISP's hosting the sites abusing our work. WEBMASTERS PLEASE NOTE. If you have any of our work on your site without our consent - we will be contacting you shortly. You may not know that it is ours, but you still need our consent to keep it. __________________ MORE FUN & SERIOUS PLEASURE PLEASE! To our visitors who have taken the time to tell us that they have found our site enjoyable/ informative/ helpful/ or otherwise complimented the site - very many thanks. We are trying very hard and it's really good to know that you like it". Besides, my wife notes that many of you are ladies! Please don't stop!! GUEST BOOK LINK NB. Please don't use the Guest Book to place website links - any URLs - or contact style messages, are automatically disabled/removed in the interests of minors. Questions can be sent to us privately at: cretanvista.gr
House FOR SALE... Cretanvista is a free site. We accept neither cash nor gratuities and sell nothing. We don't carry paid for advertising. But we do try to give you information which you might want to know about. If you are looking for a house in Crete here is a private sale in SPILIA by an English couple - a house and an attached apartment suitable for holiday letting. No Agents involved. We know this couple - have a look around the house and area on the following link.. www.crete-house-sale.com Accommodation in Astratigos - NO LONGER FOR RENT.... The first house on the left as you enter Astratigos from Afrata - a magnificent cream and green affair sporting two apartments two balconies and a small pool at the front and containing two holiday apartments - is now for sale. Live in Astratigos maybe? You can also see inside at: www.villa-astratigos.co.uk TWO HOLIDAY VILLAS... .. Another local owner has carried out some superb traditional renovation on a ruined house - and has renovated what was his own accommodation - maybe for your holidays! Book and check availability at:- Holiday-rentals.com In Kolimbari - right on the beach near the tavernas:- The Grand Bay Beach Hotel Visit Interdynamic's website. ______________ www.provencebeyond.com Well worth a visit if you are interested in France, especially the southern parts.
FERRY SERVICES Blue Star Ferries no longer servicing the ferry route between Souda Bay and Piraeus. The original resident ferry line, ANEK LINES schedules are unaffected by this change. Anek currently leaves Chania at 8.30pm Hellas Fling Dolphins will commence two sailings per day from June 17th 2005. LINK. WEBSITE LINKS
Moving to Crete - Practical Advice.. 'Notes on Greece' is a British Embassy publication which gives information on matters relating to Greece. Obtaining a copy first hand from the British Consulate in Iraklion (Heraklion) will ensure that you have the most recent edition - and professional contacts with up-to-date and wide ranging knowledge on matters relating to Crete. Contact the consulate via:- : crete@british-consulate.gr An e-mail copy is available as a Microsoft word file - a very fast email of very useful information. COPYRIGHT All material on the site is strictly copyright. Any use in mass distribution - in print or on websites for example, needs our consent. Please respect! ©13062001

Earthquakes. Wobbling Still.....

Earthquake activity in Greece continues as usual. There were only two reports of note during November.

31 Jan: 5.1 Richter Scale 03.05am. Zakinthos. The undersea epicenter was located to the south west, 340Km west of Athens in the Ionian sea.

31 Jan: 4.0 Richter Scale 03.15am. Zakinthos. A second shock followed the initial 'quake.

As usual no damage or injuries were reported but local residents were reported to have vacated their homes in favour of the town square for the night. Link to story.

Earthquakes are a common feature of life in Greece and rarely cause any damage. The problem is that the ones that do are unpredictable. However, at least one professor believes that there will be at least 4 major quakes in the future.

There has of course been much debate about the possibility of tsunamis occurring in earthquake prone Greece. The general consensus is.... Not before 2050!
Story Link.
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A Little Extra news...
Nice dirty-work, but mind that you don't get it... Greek police recently arrested an artist who set up a scam website claiming to be able obtain public sector jobs and plumb university posts, plus being able to have legalized illegal buildings by greasing palms....

The website is said by police to have received thousands of visits and complaints had been received from dissatisfied clients who had provided their credit card details....

There was a pricelist between 500 and 2000 euros (though no reports of abuse of card details) and also a small button leading to a notice declaring the site a scam. The artist involved Dimitris Fotiou, 34, was defended by other artists, including one who had once offered human beings and their organs, as an art form and rejected the rights of police and press to decide what is and is not art! The site was off-line today...
Read Story.
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COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
All of the material produced by Cretanvista is copyright and belongs to someone who has spent time, effort and money to produce it. We are often willing to allow the use of our material for personal (non-commercial) purposes. For example our calendar photographs can be used to reproduce the pictures for your own individual calendars, or to hang on granny's bedroom wall.

We will however, take action against anyone we discover using our materials in any mass distribution exercise, especially for financial gain, unless specifically authorised by us and we are acknowledged as the source in the reproduction.
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In the News...

Greece gets New President....
The presidency of Greece is an elected by parliament office which can be held by one individual for a maximum of no more than two five year terms. The current president, the omni-popular Costis Stephanopoulos will have reached the full ten years on March 12th 2005.

His successor, President Karolos Papoulias will be within days of the official start of his term of office by the time we go online, but needless to say we wish him well and are full of admiration for the outgoing president. Link to Story.

Taxi Fares rose by 8.5% on Feb 15....
Arrivals should remember that the flag charge is now 85 Lepta; 30 Lepta Km; and that night time rates are also up. There may be additional charges for baggage...        Link to Story.

Crime Crackdown affects Crete...
A major crime crackdown across Greece led to Chania, Crete leading the arrest league table - 28 arrests in this city alone...   Link to story.

Cargo ship sinks off Crete's south coast..
The St Vincent registered container ship 'Sea Ray', en-route from Turkey to Egypt, suffered engine failure in Gale force conditions 160Km south of Elafonnisi, Crete on February 14th, and subsequently sank. Rescue efforts involving C-130 Hercules, Super Puma helicopters, and naval ships succeeded in rescuing 8 of the 10 crew members.
                                                       Link to story.

Rio-Antirio Bridge Problems... Under control...
Fire broke out in a suspension cable on 27th January, followed by the cable snapping and the bridge been taken out of use whilst the cause was investigated. The fire was generally attributed to a strike by lightening. Repairs are in progress and two lanes will be operating for another month whilst repairs are completed. Link to story.

40 year- old dam plan stirs controversy on Crete. A plan to finally build a new dam serving the population of Iraklion (Heraklion) has stirred major controversy regarding the high environmental costs; violation of EU laws; and detrimental effects on tourism without any guarantee that it will solve the water supply problems it is aimed at. Link to story.

And Another Vote....
He may be too busy to listen, and may judge other things more important, but yet another country (Sweden) is to return a bit of marble from the Parthenon to Greece. The return of the Parthenon Marbles may be worth another vote, or two, in the next general election. I for one am wondering who for. Which politician will start me 'a return of the marbles'... Do I hear Labour? Conservative? Maybe another party?....     Link to story.

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Well, that's about it for now.....

But not before I have had my own personal few words - in the undoubtedly false belief that a true maestro will always have an encore demanded of him. Or 'her' if he happens to be female!!

Please don't let me mislead anyone into thinking I am a male chauvinist hog - having spent almost all of my working life surrounded by ladies I learned very early on that they are definitely superior... Here on Crete the same thing happens, the women making the men think that they are in charge....

One item of news which almost escaped - tea bags!! In great demand by the English in a land of Lipton's yellow label. I bring as many as my better half can carry every time we travel from the UK. And beg others who are making the same journey to bring us more.

Tetleys; Yorkshire; even supermarket own brands - Asda, Sainsbury; Tesco et al. And of course PG Tips. Remember the monkey adverts? You don't find any of these brands in IN.KA or Marinopoulis supermarkets in Crete. I would give gold, yes even diamonds for a good cuppa, especially when the last tea bag has been used twice!

Well, here is my big chance. Big chance that is if some kind soul will loan me 11.000 euro's.... Read Story.

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E-Mail Requests..
I receive some brilliant e-mails - really - and they are very welcome. But sometimes there is no acknowledgement that our answer has been received. We don't mind, but worry occasionally that someone may not have received an answer from us and think the worse of us! We will ALWAYS reply to e-mail so please, if you have mailed us and not received an answer - resend your mail - we didn't get it or have somehow overlooked it. Our response time is usually within 48 hours.

Personal Information..
We have been asked in the past to help locate people. We would love to be able to assist but regret that are unable to do this. There is fuller comment in previous issues of CV News.

Questions and Answers..
Quite a lot of questions are received here at Cretanvista and, as with e-mails and other forms of communication, we do our best to supply valid answers. We never respond "Off the Top of our Heads" but always research the answer - even if we already have one (things change) before passing the information on. We provide links to appropriate alternative sources where we have them. The answers are given with the proviso that recipients are responsible for any action taken by them.

Guest Book. E-mail links are accepted. Website URL, Bulletin board and chat-room style links are not. Website links are removed automatically to prevent inclusion of sites without agreement.

Book Reviews.
Because each book review is original - we steal nothing from the book covers or the reviews of others - it takes a little longer to deal with each. No point our reviewing the reviews when what readers really want to know about is the content! 'Books and good reading'.

View Cretanvista Calendar Photos 2003
(2004 Calendar Photos en- route and links on the home page for other years) We have still not yet decided this years format or theme. Certainly we have enough photographs to choose from - and we are also, in addition, trying to build a specialist calendar of birds - photographs are always welcome. (Please email us first).

Bird Watchers.
Paul Smiths' bird watching diary page remains very popular and hopefully Paul is well into his March 2005 diary. We are sincerely indebted to visitors who have supplied photographs. We will be displaying these in CVNews, please don't lose heart. Hopefully we will receive enough to start a gallery of Cretan sightings. His February 2005 page will be on-line shortly.

mailto:Webmaster@cretanvista.gr

Book Review News. Most Recent Books..
Greece On My Wheels - Edward Enfield. You may have passed him on the road - he might even, on his bike, have passed you as he cycled from England, due south, to cross Greece. Join Harry Enfield's famous father in a super travelogue about Greece. Read the Review.

Angel Tree - Alex Dingwall- Main. Here the author of Luberon Garden accepts a commission to search for the oldest olive tree - and where else can he search but Europe? France; Spain; Italy; Greece - including Crete, all come under scrutiny. Although Dingwall-Main may not know it he missed the goal - the oldest olive is right here on Crete. Everyone here knows that! Read the Review.

Recently completed.
'Who Pays The Ferryman' - Michael J. Bird - vintage 1993 maybe, but, like the TV series from the book and fine wine, what a vintage! A first rate story based on Crete, love and the Cretan vendetta. Read the review.

*'Eleni' by Nicolas Gage. Published by Harvill - (ISBN 1 86046 346 0) first published 1983. Reprinted.

This is his true story of a son seeking to avenge his mothers murder by ELAS Guerillas during the Greek civil war. Real. Compelling. Harrowing in the extreme. Revealing the Greek psych as nothing I have ever read. But, unless you have no feelings, it could haunt you forever...... Read the review.

*'Patouchas' - Ioannis Kondylakis. Kondylakis died in 1920 but his story of the rites of passage from uncouth shepherd youth to civilised villager has become a classic. Cretan throughout. Read the review

Making a Garden on a Greek Hillside - Jaqueline Tyrwhitt - Isn't this just what we all want to do?! Superb plant detail. The story of buying a plot; building a house: moving in; making a garden; Greek life - feastings, fastings, festivals and name days are a real bonus. Read the review.

Land of Crete - George Meis. Brilliant photography, superb artwork. Beautiful photographic genius from George Meis. Read the review.

Still the Best Nature - 'Moments of Cretan Nature' by Anastasios Sakoulis, (ISBN: 960-91979-0-6) "Stigmotipa Tis Kritikis Freesis" in Greek - is a super book with some magnificent photographs. Our review is accompanied by a small photo gallery - our first review to do so. Our site pictures (from the book - with permission) are, we think, nice! The printed pictures in the book are in almost all cases very much bigger, nicer!

Can this be you.....or yours?
Every so often when I am out and about taking photographs I come across someone who could be you - or something which could be yours (or theirs!!). Maybe passing in the opposite direction on a full tandem bicycle (yes, that happened); an unattended car with foreign plates; something which catches my eye and leaves me not knowing......... Either there was no one to ask or they were moving too quickly! I thought that perhaps site visitors might like to see or be able to help identify one or two 'unknowns' which have left me wondering who, or what, I have missed.   Is this you?



                          Burano - Venice - Italy
           Walking in the Sunshine - 18th June 2004

Until next month, best wishes. WB