Cretanvista Site & Local News - DECEMBER 30th 2003  Issue 12
Christmas Edition

No links to sites with adult content accepted 

DECEMBER WEATHER WAS...
Changeable. The very stormy days (and nights) which had arrived in November continued, although there were, fortunately for the olive harvesting, some good days.  Our fires were lit in the second half of November.
 
 MERRY CHRISTMAS & BEST WISHES FOR 2004

  Cretanvista Christmas and New Year Card 2003/4
     
Above: Stand almost anywhere on the road between Kolimbari and the Rodopos Peninsula with an eastern view at almost any time of the year and more often than not you will be able to savor the magnificent sunrise at the start of another Cretan day...  I think that this particular picture, taken from Astratigos at dawn, epitomises the dawning of another New Year on this magnificent Island. 

Christmas on Crete....
Confession Time - I have spent only two Christmases here in the last eight years.  It is one thing to spend as much time as possible on Crete, but another to disappoint our family in the UK by not spending Christmas and New Year with them. Children are treasures - grandchildren are irresistable!

However... Athens is a Christmas Story..
We always, but always, travel back to the UK via Athens - stopping off at our favourite hotel, the Acropolis View (which it really has) only five minutes on foot from the Acropolis itself.  Visiting our favourite shops, cafes and tavernas in Plaka - only 10 minutes walk or so away.  Winding our way through the narrow streets past Diogenies (Taverna) to Metropolis Square where we visit a Greek friend of several years standing, who really does make his own (superb) leather products. Moving round to the Metropolis Cafe (Zacharoplasteio - Patisserie) where you can sit outside in December - keeping warm under the huge gas-fired heaters whilst sipping a warm drink with, in our case anyway, a free brandy!  Keeps the cold out on the following visit to Monastiraki...  and on to the climax of our visit - Syntagma square.  The huge Christmas tree and at least 20 real live copies of Santa Clause at any one time - some with tiny ponies to keep the children (of both ages) happy.  Music, roast chestnuts, candy floss - the floodlit fountain and the magnificent parliament building overseeing it all.  Whilst through the middle, dividing Syntagma from the main Ermou shopping street, the busy Athens traffic continues to roar through.  Ermou, like Syntagma itself, is always thronged with people loving life at this time of the year - brilliantly lit by both shops and Christmas decorations overhead, lined by street vendors selling just about everything from fast food to Santa hats with flashing lights!

Several hundred yards down on the left is a little street with two pavement cafes - one at either end - and both always crowded, where we refresh ourselves with a warm drink.  Gluttony really, since after the short break we go for a meal before returning to the hotel and a night cap!!

Eat, drink and be Merry, for tomorrow (night) we will be in Luton (UK) - compliments (usually) of Easyjet - at the start of our Christmas in the UK!

BUT THEN... THE BEST LAID PLANS...
Things this year did not go, in typical Greek fashion, quite according to our plans...... 

The taxis were on strike.  The Acropolis view was closed for renovations - 2004 Olympics en-route. Our usual pleasures, including exchanging our annual greetings with staff we knew, a room with a balcony immediately below the Acropolis,  my annual Dimple Whiskey nightcap and cigar - sat on the balcony - mesmerized  by the floodlit spectacle, denied....

Our annual evening sojourn to 'To Pallio Taverna'  complete with live Greek music, turned into a closed and shuttered no-go. Closed on Mondays!

The huge Christmas tree in Syntagma square - I was once able to glimpse this briefly but clearly from about 3,000ft en-route London, after taking off from the old Athens airport (Ellenikon) in a snow-storm three years or so ago - gone!  Banished to another part of Greece by Mayor of Athens...  Dora Bakoyannis.

No 'Acropolis View'. No Greek live Greek Music at To Pallio Taverna.  No dimple and cigar on our usual balcony opposite the floodlit Acropolis (Parthenon). No (returned) Parthenon Marbles... No huge Christmas tree from a departing jet next evening...  And it was wet and cold. Merry Christmas from Athens!  Scrooge unchanged deserved a medal for merriment and goodwill to all men..                

(continued)...  Yes, 'To Pallio Taverna' was closed, and yes, we did miss it, as we did the familiar faces we hoped to see there. But Diogenies was open, had a table and superb fayre!!  And next day we discovered that 'To Pallio Taverna' which we have visited annually for around eight years - was not 'The Old Taverna' to which we had originally been directed by our friends at the Metropolis Cafe!!  We have now visited that one as well - and so we now have two Christmas Tavernas...

Our friends at Metroplis Square?  They were still very much there and gave us warm welcomes - warm handshakes, warm greetings - especially the free brandies at the Metropolis Cafe to go with our warm drinks before our visit to Monastiraki!

Plaka, still open - but the pace at this time of the year definitely not bustling.  Time to savor..  Monastiraki, a slow bustle but not it's usual summertime frenetic self - quite leisurely in comparison. Nice.. even in the soft rain.

The banished Christmas tree?  Well, only the old tree was banished - and only from Athens.  Athens received a new tree - 13.5 metres high and a gift from Vienna - maybe not quite as bright in itself as the old tree, but the re-spacing in Syntagma square allowed two new features..

The first was a touch of absolute magic - a real live full size working carousel - the one from my childhood!  And probably yours - 60 horses whirling around - Wurlitzer Viennese-waltz type music urging them on as they rode gently up and down, round and round...  Bright lights, bright eyes, laughing children - parents pretending to be grown ups!!

And behind it stood, like a tiny village standing before an almost smiling Parliament building - small wooden shops decorated Christmas style and full of Greek sweetmeats!  The 'embodiment of Greece's first museum of confectionary art', we are told..

Bright eyed children, spell-bound elders  gazing through the windows as if in some bygone era...  The crowds, and the carousel wurlitzer, played on...

For us, a last day in Athens before flying to England awaited, as did our children and first grandson.

Treasures, irresistable, Merry Christmas.

    Visit www.christmasinathens.com

Accommodation in Astratigos  FOR RENT....
After the holiday season, the first house on the left as you enter Astratigos from Afrata - a magnificent cream and green affair sporting two balconies and a small pool at the front and containing two holiday apartments - is now for rent.  Winter in Astratigos maybe?
Tel: + 28240 222243.  You can see inside at: www.villa-Astratigos.co.uk

Maybe More shortly..  Another local owner has carried out some superb traditional renovation on a ruined house - and is currently renovating what was his own accommodation - maybe for your holidays!

The New hotel  in Kolimbari is open... If you want information visit:-

The Grand Bay Beach Hotel

At Interdynamic's website.

FERRY SERVICES

Both ANEK and Blue Star Ferries have car ferry services between Souda Bay and Piraeus.
  
Although an obvious competitor to the resident Anek Lines the Blue Star service times do not conflict from Souda.

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

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

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Here's another Guest Book comment..........

Remote User:23 Nov 2001
Time:22:15:33
comments:  

It is looking good and lots of info. Wish I was there. Judith.

Kid-safe.
Free.
Unbiased.
Innovating.
Informational..

Cretanvista!

 Cretan Vista Calendars 2004.........
As usual we produced our own calendars and Christmas cards in the hectic preparations for Christmas in the UK..  Being in the UK right now, I am unable to reproduce facsimiles here - hopefully these will be included next month...