Earthquake
activity in Greece was back to more usual levels in May, certainly very much
less than in April. At the same time Indonesia suffered a devastating
6.2 earthquake in Java which took the lives of over 4600 people. Greece
sent its condolences and 200,000 Euros immediate aid....
Link
to Story. 05 May: 4.6 Richter Scale,
09.16am. Gulf of Corinth.
Link
to Story.
08 May: 4.7
Richter Scale, 01.05am. Zakynthos.
Link
to Story.
10 May: 4.7 Richter Scale, 10.57am. Thessaloniki.
Epicentre between Zagliveri & Poligiros.
Link
to Story.
16 May: 4.6
Richter Scale, 07.22am. Crete.
Undersea epicentre off Agios Nikolaos.
Link
to Story.
18 May: 4.5
Richter Scale, 11.38am. Pieria.
Undersea epicentre near Katerini.
Link
to Story.
26 May: 5.2 Richter Scale, 11.07am. Ionian Sea.
Undersea epicentre 120Km SW of Zakinthos.
Link
to story.
Earthquakes are a common feature of life in Greece and rarely cause any damage.
They are, however, taken seriously, as can be seen from the recent emergency
exercise for rescue workers held in Volos, mainland Greece.
Link
to Story.
The problem is that the earthquakes which do cause damage are unpredictable. Recent Greek research has indicated a continued advance in
methods
of prediction.
At least one
professor (Vassilis Papazachos) believes that there will be at least 4 major earthquakes in the future.
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A Little Extra News....
Behind again.. The story of my life! But then we are not interested in
delivering waffle on time - only the real McCoy, even if it is a little
late.
The delay in the news has been caused almost wholly by myself... I have
spent an extra ten days or so this month preparing my latest picture gallery
for exhibition in Chania. At the Dentist's. The gallery that is,
not the preparation!
Dr Haralambos Manousakis is a lover of art and believes in making his surgery,
reception,.. well, his whole clinic, as attractive as possible for his
patients. In achieving this he provides wall space for budding artists to
display their works. Another magician... Hence my latest efforts are awaiting
hanging.
There is a malicious rumour that Haralambos, better known as 'Dr Bob' really
believes that my pictures will take minds off anything - including the
dentist. I know that this rumour exists because I started it! Not that I
believe it. I have been a patient for around ten years now and I still
have my own teeth rather than someone else's and I have never, and I really do
mean never, felt any pain or discomfort. And just to scotch the
second rumour, no, that isn't because I am dead. If you want pain and/or
discomfort I would suggest trying another dentist....
Anyway, that's why everyone here is late - because of me!
The pictures, well there are two galleries. The first is of Mhlia (Milia)
traditional village. A rebuilt settlement set in a high mountain valley near
Vlatos - from the Topolia road right here in NW Crete.
13 rebuilt Cretan houses on the foundations of the original village houses.
Native chestnut and stone, including materials from the original houses. Peaceful.
Calm. Quiet.. A million miles from the centre of Chania. You can stay
here; you can visit (superb Taverna); but you will have to leave your car on the edge of the village.
The pictures can't reproduce the sounds of nature, the rustle of leaves; the
stream; singing birds and well, I just couldn't hear the butterflies.. If you
can't get there you can maybe reach the dentist's for a look! There is also a
photo gallery right here on site (Link).
The second gallery is of Chania - the harbour area and old town around the
Venetian harbour. It is not here on Cretanvista yet, and only the first
part has been delivered to Dr Bob so anyone wanting to see the whole set will
have a few more weeks to wait.
Please, do remember that the pictures are in the surgery of a practising
dentist - not an art studio. Coach parties (!) will not be welcomed
though (here's a tip) getting your teeth cleaned would ensure admission.
All pictures will eventually be here on Cretanvista and those on display will
be moved to another venue. Anyone wanting to purchase one would have to
negotiate with Bob - we don't sell anything - and the proceeds would go to
local children.
Last month I said that all at Cretanvista get a lot of pleasure out of doing what we
do. I certainly got a lot out of this one - though it is a bit of a
drive to Mhlia and there are more than seven stairs to the dentists surgery!
'But', I asked, 'what gives most pleasure to almost all adults, everywhere? Dare I
suggest the smile to the face of a child? Maybe a sick or
handicapped child? Dare I suggest helping, just a little, to put
it there'.... Go on. Stop me - Buy one! Make a kid grin!
Cretanvista, bringing the sunshine - keeping the rain off!..
Kalos Ithate Stin Kriti
WB.
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Site News.
More additions: But not a lot of site
changes this month. Having said that, the new May diary from Paul Smith
on bird watching went online online early in May; photographs for new
pages in the bird gallery are awaiting addition; new additions pending to the flower
galleries are still in the queue; preparation of the new
Athanasios Sakoulis nature gallery continues; two further copies of Carol Palioudakis to give her CD book about living
in Crete (June/July issue competition) are on the desk; a new recipe is prepared (and the results
have been eaten)...
So what are we waiting for? The answer to that lies in "A Little Extra
News".... immediately below the Earthquakes report opposite
left.
Books &
Good Reading - Latest Reviews.
No change this month. Our latest book is 'Cretan Runner'
by George Psychoundakis. Ann Lisney,
our reviewer added 'The Cretan Runner'
by George Psychoundakis to her reviews last month.
Read the review:-
Cretan Runner.
George Psychoundakis. John Murray (Publishers) Ltd.
It is very well worth a look, or perhaps even a buy
if the review appeals. Not from us, but details of suppliers are on each
review.
The people behind the books: Every
book review has an introductory paragraph about the author/s. We have decided
to go a little further and where possible, include profiles of not only these
talented authors but also, where we can, of people behind them.
Good examples are 'Patouchas' -
Ioannis Kondylakis (Read
the review) and 'Who Pays The Ferryman' - Michael J. Bird (Read
the review) These profiles will be attached to relevant book
reviews. Watch this space...
Photo Galleries Still
at the MARCH 2006 additions..
Wild Flowers: Stands at 192 different wild flowers. 99% have
been taken right here at the base of the Rodopos peninsula. We are continually
working on these galleries and will soon been adding further pages, including
detailed reference pages and more photos of each specimen. There are now more
than 4,000+ flower photographs in our databases. The galleries will rise to
216 specimens shortly - an additional 24 are still in the workshop! Detailed
descriptions will follow soon.
Bird Galleries. Gallery Page 3
pending...
The first page of our first purely bird photograph gallery
went on line on 26th March 2006. Colin Turvey (see
February News) has now added a second page and we are now working hard on adding
page 3 - more of Colin's bird
photographs - a big plus for Cretanvista.
And More - Athanasios Sakoulis, who contributed the magnificent gallery from his book
on Cretan wildlife to our site Moments
of Cretan Nature has now contributed 18 pictures of birds
for addition to a gallery. We will attach this to Paul Smith's bird-watching
page in the near future. Something worth waiting for... Just a little
longer, we are very busy right now..
But that isn't all... Anastasios Sakoulis has also
given us permission (and supplied the photographs) to produce a gallery of his
latest book. A book of 20 superb postcards of Cretan wildlife called Naturally...
Crete. Ann Lisney will also be reviewing the book in the near
future. What can I say - another first en-route, watch this space!...
Special Gallery. A first! Klaus-Dieter Thill - author of
Minaturkapellen
auf Krista, a real photo album detailing some of those enigmatic roadside shrines of
Crete. Klaus has supplied photographs for this gallery which is now on-line here at Cretanvista.
There will also be, of course, a review the book...
Insects.. In preparation..
We have built up - and are still adding to - an extensive collection of photographs from which
we are producing galleries for our wild life page. The next of these
will be insects - about which we have received few queries, but many of which
are supremely photogenic. We have some beautiful reptiles too...
GENERAL: There are now 13 galleries featuring aspects of Cretan
life, including sunrise and sunset pictures; Souda Bay War Cemetery; and the
gallery of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios Sakoulis,
author of "Stigmotipa Tis Kritikis Freesis" (Moments of Cretan
Nature); our infant gallery about house
renovation; and of course our annual calendar galleries containing 60 or so
pictures of north western Crete about to increase by 12 - for 2005. The 2006
calendar gallery is on-line. LINK.
Visitors...
May saw a slight drop on April's 24,277 visitors to our sites.
14,082 to our British
ISP and 5922 to our Greek ISP. We only count a visitor once in any
month. 'Hits' are something else - from the visitors to our Greek site
alone we generated 43,392 'hits'... The figures are nice - 20,044 - they really
mean that our hard work saw over 646 different people a day knock on our door
- anyone for coffee?!!
What gives us a lot of pleasure is looking at the countries our visitors are
in. Where they are sat while (or stood) looking at our site while we
delivered in excess of 46,468 pages...
52 countries! Whilst Europe and the USA are home to the vast majority of
visitors, we have a small number from more distant locations - India;
Indonesia; Australia, New Zealand; South Africa; Taiwan; South America - Peru;
Columbia; Costa Rica; Mexico; and also from the Russian Federation!
Magic - Peru! Columbia! Costa Rica!
Over 200 Universities also provide visitors....
Every single visitor to our site is precious to us. For the most part we
will never know who you are or what you think of us. Those who ask
questions often provide us with new insights into what people want to see, why
they visit Crete. In some cases why they want to live and work
here. One or two get to meet one of our team - usually Paul Smith - our
intrepid bird watching expert. A popular
person!
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