Cretanvista Site & Local News - May 31st 2005 Issue 28 |
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No links to sites with adult content accepted |
MAY
WEATHER ... _____________________________ Village life Tradition not dyeing out: Another of the nice traditions about Easter in Greece (May 1st) is the dyeing of hardboiled eggs. These are usually bright red (signifying the blood of Christ), but can be decorated any way you like. I thought I'd be really clever and do a marbled effect with onion skins and flower petals. I raided the garden for small flowers, stripped all our onions of their skins, and laboriously tied flowers and skins onto some nice white eggs we had been given. To make sure the marbling was nice and dark, I added coffee powder to the water and duly boiled the lot for about fifteen minutes. With a degree of anticipation I looked into the pan - to discover the thread, flowers and onion skins had all slipped off in the boiling water. The result? Nice brown eggs - but no marbling. Another partial success! Village 'At home': Because Easter is THE big event in the Greek Orthodox calendar, it is the time for visiting, gift-giving and general feasting - much like Christmas in the UK. So the week after Easter Sunday we had a stream of visitors bringing Easter biscuits, flowers, wine and - yes - marbled eggs! Flower power: May 1st is also the day when wildflowers fear for their lives - traditionally, they are picked and made into a wreath to hang above the door. This was our first attempt! Under pressure: With the warm weather has come the familiar drop in water pressure as the farmers start to water their olive trees. Because we have a storage tank on our roof we do at least manage to keep a trickle going, providing we don't waste it. So if you are thinking of coming to Crete and plan on having a swimming pool, washing machine and dishwasher, you might want to think again.... Veteran's return: We were lucky enough to get the chance to meet up with Mr Ronnie Milne, (84),from Royton, near Oldham, who was with the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War. He told us the story of how he had been on a ship on its way to Alexandria in Egypt in 1941 - it was bombed and the ship pulled into Crete. He and his fellow medics were attached to the hospital at Souda and slept at night in nearby caves. After the German invasion, they were captured in the caves, and taken by ship to the mainland, then on to prison camps in Germany. He told us sadly how he had been separated from his great pal, Jimmie Stewart, from Renfrewshire - and had never managed to make contact with him again. Mr Milne - see picture below - has the African Star medal, the 1939-45 campaign medal, the Victory medal and the Veterans' badge. Mr Milne and his son were visiting Crete through the 'Heroes' return' scheme operated by the Royal British Legion. Also making a pilgrimage of remembrance this month were many war veterans and dignitaries who attended the annual wreath-laying service at Souda Bay War Cemetery (see pictures below) |
Site News Here we are again.... Ann and Richard are babysitting Cretanvista again this month but Wilf will be at the helm for the June edition - we hope it won't take him too long to put right our blunders! Thanks for dropping in; we hope you have enjoyed our stay as much as we have. Just to remind you ...... Don't forget you can access this website via several different spellings of our site name. So if your typing skills are a bit 'iffy' you can still find us. We also use different ISP's and domain endings to ensure continuous access. Try it: www.cretanvistas.co.uk really is no different to www.cretanvista.gr - except that you receive them from different parts of the world.
Books & Good Reading
The latest actual review on the site is great for wild flower enthusiasts - 'Wild Flowers of the
Mediterranean' by David Burnie. Essential reading for anyone who
intending to seek wild flowers on Crete:- Wild Flowers of the Mediterranean. Are we listening, do we hear? 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:
COPYRIGHT |
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House FOR SALE... TWO HOLIDAY VILLAS... |
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FERRY SERVICES |
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Moving to Crete - Practical Advice.. An e-mail copy is available as a Microsoft word file - a very fast email of very useful information. |
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They came to remember ....64 years on (Click any picture to enlarge) |
Earthquakes. Wow, what a wobbly month! Looking at this lot, you would think we
were living in a state of continuous tremor. In truth, we were unaware of any
of them. 4 May: An undersea quake measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale occurred off Heraklio. Link to story. 10 May:
Minor tremor on Crete of 3.5 on the Richter Scale. No
damage or injuries reported. Link to story. 23 May: Another tiddler on Crete, measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale. No damage or injuries reported. Link to story 30
May: A slightly larger quake measuring 4.6 on the Richter Scale was felt
in some parts of Crete. No damage or injuries reported. Link to story. A Little Extra news... There's a rumour that Stelios Hadjionannou, the founder of Easijet, is planning to fly to Crete. Mr Hadjionannou is quoted as saying Athens airport is too costly and asked for bids from other Greek airports. Apparently Crete airports proved more cost effective and flights may start soon. When you get here, don't forget to pick up a new tourist map available in Chania. Get it from Olympic and Aegean airlines, ANEK lines or the citizens' cultural centre. It is in Greek and English and contains information about cultural events during the summer. |
In the News... Older buildings at risk.... It is estimated that approximately 80 per cent of all Greece's buildings need to be reinforced to meet earthquake regulations that have been in place since 1985 .... Link to story. Running out of puff.... A shocking 50,000 young Greeks are taking up smoking every year.. Link to story. Sparkling clean seas... 99.9 per cent of all coastal bathing areas in Greece have just met the mandatory EU cleanliness requirements... Link to story. Bad news for those Marbles... A UK High Court ruling on looted Nazi artwork seems to have plugged a loophole which might have helped Greece get back the Elgin Marbles .... Link to story. And good news for tourists ... As from the beginning of June, museums and main archeological sites will stay open until 7.30 pm. .... Link to story. I drove all night ... A routine police check picked up that a coach driver had been at the wheel for 17 hours without a break ... Link to story. Drowning tragedy ... A popular teacher died in a flash flood near Knossos after her car was swept away ... Link to story. |
Book Reviews. The
Cretan Vista Calendar Photos - Birds. |
Best Books..
We will be updating the appearance of this page too fairly soon - particularly
the Icons
leading directly to the bookshelves (maybe prettier than the ones above!) and perhaps the current new
book review.
Only the books previously displayed on this page are below - the bookshelf links contain all current books.
'Who Pays The Ferryman'- Michael J. Bird |