Earthquake activity in
April:
Although the main reports here refer to Greece, following the
devastating Haiti earthquake in January, February brought a second devastation, this time to Chile
(Read
wikipedia Summary).
March brought a third 'quake, this
time with a magnitude of 6.0 Richter to the Basyurt area of eastern Turkey,
killing 42 villagers and injuring at least 60 on March 8th -
USGS report.
There was only one earthquake of note in Greece
in April.
21 Apr: 4.3 Richter Scale,
06.19am. Zakinthos. Undersea epicentre 35km from the
island.
(item 5)
Link to Story.
Earthquakes are a common feature of life in Greece and
it is unusual for deaths, injuries and or damage to buildings to occur.
The author of a ten year study at the National Technical University of
Athens says that Greece is sitting waiting for the next major
earthquake without doing anything to mitigate it's effects. (Our italics).
Link to Report.
There are certain existing buildings considered to be at risk from major
earthquakes. Link
to story. These buildings, which include a number of schools, are being
investigated with the objective of safety.
Link to story. Engineers have also called upon the government to
institute checks on old bridges in Greece.
Link
(Item6.)
_______________________________
A Little Extra News....
And as usual. there are always new happenings to talk about...
April brought a new visitor and now good friend to Astratigos -
Ioanna Knoop,
a weaving enthusiast and proprietor of the 'Shorn
Sheep' weaving and woven goods shop in
Mithymna on
the Island of Lesvos - about as near to the
Turkish coast as one can get without reaching for your passport. Ioanna was
on a mission to meet weavers and view Cretan weavings/weavers here on Crete.
Attracted by our weaving pages, Pam's weavings, looms, tools et al, and also
by the possibility of visiting Rokka carpets and other shops in Chania
selling woven goods. She also had a strong the desire to visit the
Rethymnou village of Anogia. The latter was renowned until recent times for
it's operational weaving cooperative and wool mill. We were hoping to go to
Anogia with her as it had been about five years since we had last been.
In Chania 'Saita' the Cretan popular art shop of Ephi Paraskevoydaki where
it is still possible to buy genuine hand made Cretan carpets, weavings,
laces and other art items at reasonable prices. But we really wanted to
visit Rokka Carpets, a well known fountain of genuine Cretan woven good of
all descriptions. And to watch the weaving and perhaps chat with Mihalis
Manousakis or his wife as one or the other worked. Unfortunately for us
Rokka was not open when we visited - perhaps a little early in the season -
so after telephoning without success and making local enquiries we moved on
to Top Xanas - the shop of Kostas Liapakis in Aggeiou Str. There was indeed
a fine selection of woven carpets on sale and we received a warm welcome and
generous display of the goods - including carpets from Turkey!
From there we went to the Folk Museum next to the Catholic Church just off
Halidon. This is well worth a visit containing much to attract the weaver.
Looms, tools, finished items and mock-ups of the inside of a genuine Cretan
house and contents. The items are all genuine, but it is a museum - one can
only look. The only items on sale were books. The highlight was the ongoing
(live) embroidered picture making of artist Aspasia Bikaki who graciously
allowed our photographing her latest (as yet unfinished) work.
Interactive link. A touch of Cretan
magic.
Our planned joint visit to Anogia had to be re-planned as a solo visit by
Ioanna - who had to catch her flight from Iraklion on the following day. The
logistics just didn't fit a return to Astratigos on the same day, so we said
our personal farewells on day three. And off went Ioanna alone - armed with
suitable warnings about remote villages and motor vehicles! Plus an A3
canvas print of the Lyra playing (at the time of the photograph) Yeorgios
Skoulas of the Grillos Folk Museum in Anogia. O Yeorgios was apparently
somewhat excited when he received the gift and sent a profuse vote of thanks
via Ioanna. This had apparently become the highlight of a somewhat
disappointing trip to the village for her, for she found only the remnants
of the original weaving cooperative, no wool for sale, and a village of men
driving black pick-ups with tinted black windscreens and windows!!
It would seem a sad fact that weaving is a dying craft on Crete - even in
villages like Anogia where it was once a mainstay. However, the area is very
close to the Psiloritis mountains, birthplace of Zeus. It is the also the
birthplace of singer Nikos Xylouris and is the
village razed by the Nazis in WWII after executing all the men they could
capture. The razing was a reprisal - the villagers were believed to have
been involved in the kidnapping of German General Krieppe.
A hard place. But we really can recommend the barbecued lamb and
the views from the Hotel Aristea are absolute magic at sunset
view here.
Kalos Ithate Stin Kriti.
WB. Cretanvista. Bringing the sunshine, keeping the rain off!
________________________________
Messages. We receive some brilliant
messages - really -
and they are very welcome. We will ALWAYS reply so
please, if you have sent a message and not received an answer - resend
the message - we either 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.
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.
________________________________ |
Site Content:-
Notices. |
We are still undertaking our upgrade of the site.
Changes here have left some pages outdated - new houses; hotels;
supermarkets; roads and all. But it all takes time; please
bear with us.
Contacting Cretanvista..
We have now discontinued all direct email
links. You can still reach us directly using our
new
Contact
form, and will still receive direct replies,
but if you see an email address please ignore it. |
Photo
Galleries...
Calendar Photo Galleries:
A new one every year for the past decade! The 2010 Calendar
gallery is complete and online now.. The 2009 calendar topic was 'Wild
Flowers of Crete' (after our wild flower galleries) and the result was
superb! Which is why we followed up the theme in 2010. Because
of our success we have already produced our 2011 wild flower calendar format
(and our other themes continue). But we can reprint any issue with next
year's dates - whatever year that happens to be! Have a look at the 2010
wild flowers calendar Link.
Wild Flower Gallery -
Now at 288
different wild flower photographs -
plus dozens in preparation - Gallery 11 is not far from uploading...
We have added more
reference information on redesigned pages -
with more photos of each specimen to follow soon. Please note also that All
flower galleries have now been successfully re-coded to eliminate a
bug which affected some Firefox browser versions. All the information will remain
online at Cretanvista. With the advent of ipods, Blackberry's and other
gizmos it will be much easier to take Cretan vista on your field trips - and
all the information that goes with it. |
Wildlife Gallery - the first two
pages - 48 unique photographs, including
some
rare specimens of
the Cretan fauna. Some is quite beautiful, some a bit scary/creepy, but
all now add to our wildlife page and the ornithology gallery pages.
Remember that it is always worth checking where you walk or sit before you do!
Start here.
Chania Photo Gallery.
Our Chania photograph galleries commenced with a presentation from Klaus
Dieter Thill, whose photographs of some old buildings in the area of the
Venetian Harbour show a little of what we all sometimes miss. Have a look -
it's worth it. Start here.
Miniature Chapels of Crete Gallery.
Klaus-Dieter Thill - author of
Minaturkapellen auf Krista,
a printed photo album detailing some of those enigmatic roadside shrines of
Crete, has now contributed the first page of his Chania on-line gallery.
Cretan Art and crafts - Weaving pages...
Weaving is in full swing and natural dyes are being made up and the
photographs taken to add to this section. We will be adding our
pages on our new looms, equipment and new projects started as soon as we
can. The weaving tends to take the time right now..
Our very first nature gallery...
Contributed by Anastasios Sakoulis, whose book on Cretan wildlife
Moments of Cretan Nature is
also on our site as a book review.
Anastasios contributed 18 pictures of birds for addition to a
gallery some time ago now. We will attach these to our bird-watching pages
as soon as possible.
GENERAL: There
are now 20 galleries featuring aspects
of Cretan life, including sunrise and sunset pictures; Souda Bay War
Cemetery; the gallery of magnificent wild-life pictures by Anastasios
Sakoulis; our own wildlife gallery; the wild flowers; Chania; Mhlia (Milia)
traditional village; etc.. etc...
Our improvements continue. We sincerely hope
that you notice little - apart from increased enjoyment and ease of use.
Keep visiting - your presence is what make all worthwhile.
________________________________
|
Living in Crete
by Carol Palioudakis
OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK!
Price £9.50 GBP
|
Amazon.co.uk & Selected Cretan bookstores |
________________________________
UK Nursing History - Schools of Nursing
Readers who have any
interest in the history of the UK nursing profession might well
be interested in looking at:-
www.schoolsofnursing.co.uk
There is a main site detailing every pre-university school of
nursing, the hospitals used for training and badge awarded.
A forum covering all aspects of nursing history
A 'National' nursing badge collection containing more than 2000
photographs.
Badges, nurses, hospitals et al
Web space for your own nursing related photographs.
*Membership is Free
*Membership is necessary to
use the forum and photograph Gallery areas.
Related Sites - also free.
'nursingbadges
historyofhospitals |
________________________________
|