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JULY
WEATHER.....
Became an absolute scorcher on Crete with
heat-waves which sometimes reached 400C. There were also days on
which it was extremely windy, bringing with them the not uncommon risk
of bush fires - some of which have affected the island....
Current Chania
Webcam
Current Cretan Weather
Link
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Constitution Bridge - Venice - Italy.
But the Constitution Bridge can be a little
disorientating - although that goes for many other bridges in the
world...
Click Picture for report |
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Astratigos Village Life.... Travelers Tales.. XVIV
.... This is, (Locanda Herion), I promise, one of the best and reasonably priced hotels we have
ever stayed In... To find it in Venice is absolutely amazing. And no,
Cretanvista does not pay anyone for our opinion. It is given freely - and
this time with
our heartfelt thanks... |
'Lonely Planet' III....
And onwards to Crete.... The weather was still scorchingly hot and the
humidity something to remember to avoid on subsequent visits as we said
our goodbyes at the Hotel Locanda Herion in Venice and set off for the
car-park, the docks, and our ride home down the Adriatic to Patras.
The short walk to the hotel started the next test! Towing out two small
cases through the streets, and over a couple of small canal bridges left
us very warm before we reaches the monolithic but very modern
Constitution Bridge. Ultra-modern. 94 metres long. Constructed of glass
steel and stone (mainly glass). It cost around
£4 million. It opened on
September 11, 2008. Personally I do not like the appearance -
at all -
but it provides a direct link between areas on the railway side of the
Grande Canal with Piazzale Roma,
a car, bus and
ferry terminal on the opposite side of the Grand Canal. Using it is very
handy if you want that side of the canal, but it is known as cause
pedestrian accidents
- and has a suitcase weight limit of around 20Kg....
But no, it wont fall down if you exceed that limit - but you well might
and end up in hospital. Not recommended if you have a ferry to catch. Take a water bus if you have
heavy bags, suffer vertigo or just don't like glass floors or walls. Or
all....
Having said that, back to the car park. Very hot; very humid; full of
people cramming into very large lifts. For us, very high - ten stories.
If you don't like lifts; suffer from claustrophobia; vertigo; fear of
other people (!); spinning top syndrome (!!) don't do this! You have to
Maypole dance your car back down and might not like it! Especially as
the exit lane is a very narrow spiral, has glass windows and people can
stick their own car noses out on every full circuit as each has an
exit... If you are already very hot and very bothered because of your
initial trek to the car park, well, you should be doing something else.
But, perhaps you can get a taxi up, cutting out lifts and people, but
you will still have to get your car back down. The reality is that
hundreds of visitors do this every day. I haven't heard of any bent or
dead ones. Go for it - your floating palace awaits!!
Well, almost. We were about 40 minutes early and ANEK Lines Kriti II was
still on the way in, and describing Kriti II as a floating palace is
taking a very long liberty. The fact that we came up on it on the way
out to the UK made the idea of re-boarding a little less 'demanding' -
at least the thought of it was - but the reality was that it is a very
old boat, loading is always going to be far more exciting than the Stena
Lines Ro-Ro, drive on easily (with your money), drive off equally easily
(without a ton of it!) - but where's the excitement in that? No, give me
the excitement any day. Kriti II - don't move a muscle, we'll take a run
at it. The upper-deck garage that is..
Done this before. Here we go. Enough gas to lift our fully loaded Honda
CRV up the 30/40o painted steel ramp and plant it on the
level at the top. Oh' the best laid plans. About 4 feet from the top the
car which had gone up in front reappeared, sideways-on and halted -
directly in my path! There was nowhere to go. We stopped! The loader was
shouting and gesticulating madly at the offending vehicle. He
couldn't make the turn into the space they wanted him in. We were both
leaning forward into the opposing force of gravity, unable to see the
flat floor which I had to believe was in front, when miraculously the
blocking car moved out of the way, and a second loader directed me onto
the garage in the opposite direction to the car in front. Round in a
loop and we were in. Getting out was a completely different story!
No sweat, we were in! The Grande Canal exit and cruise down the Adriatic
was in. We could relax. We were, in effect and for all practical
purposes, home and dry - or at least we would be when we reached Patras.
Whatever happened now we could reach Crete easily. A nice feeling after
a long trip. We acquired our (sea-side) cabin, cleaned up a little and
headed for a beer...
For an old boat, Kriti II is surprisingly smooth and quiet with space
for 1600 passengers and 1200 vehicles - and long - 191 meters long - and
you can walk almost from stem to stern inside - quite a long walk. But
why walk - sit still and watch Venice in the comfort of one of the
lounges with a beer as the facade of the Grande Canal slips by in the
early evening sunshine. Wave at the tourists in a multitude of smaller
vessels - they mostly wave back, for this is Venice and you are quite
obviously leaving on a voyage - albeit aboard a rather large an somewhat
aged car ferry. It looks like a ship - wave, wave... Corfu, Igumenitsa
and Patras lie ahead.
In the event we saw only Igoumenitsa - through the cabin port-hole.
Having made the trip regularly over past years the routine of
docking/unloading/loading vehicles in the early hours has lost a little
of it's magic - especially when the boat docks in Patras very early and
sleep competes! I like to be wide awake when disembarking - the thought
of all those disembarking, possibly sleepy drivers make me nervous!
Off at Patras, a quick coffee (when the cafe opens), top up the tank and
off along the coast road until Corinth, where we rejoin the National
road for the excitement of the early evening dash into Piraeus and our
ferry home on the ANEK 'El Venizelos' - a first for us. We had been on
the whole ferry fleet, but never the El Venizelos.
The drive into the port becomes, as usual, progressively more exciting
as the evening traffic builds up into a hot, fast moving, varying 3/4
lane road on the outskirts of the harbour. Which is OK - I know
the way - including the side-street shortcuts...
I avoid gate 3 (because it is always closed) and cajole and sometimes
bully my way to gate 8 - which has always worked for me. The port
police officer glances at out ticket and says, in fluent Greek, 'you
want Gate 3 - you can't enter here - go back out and around the harbour'.
I paled as I looked at the grid-locked but moving Piraeus traffic that I
will have to cross and join to get back to gate 3!... (continued in August).. |
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In the News
Reviews...
Lady Gaga may come to Crete...
New York born and bred Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
- better known to fans as 'lady Gaga'
is reportedly panning to build a 12 million euro home on Crete. The
singer/songwriter's Monster Ball Tour became one of the highest grossing
concert tours of all time. She is also one of the best selling music
artists of all time, with sales of 23 million albums and 64 million
singles world-wide...
Link to Story.
And - the Aegean Rally...
The annual race for yachts, not cars, commenced on Saturday 14th July at
Faliro (Athens) and will travel to Chania (Crete), Milos island, and
back to Cape Sounio at Athens....
Link to Story.
Plus - 'British interest in package holidays
to'...
Greece is reported to be soaring - including those
to Cretan destinations, which is very good news and well worth noting by
anyone wanting a real holiday...
Link to Story.
Including Knossos...
Where it is said that a million visitors arrive every year to see
the ancient Minoan palace complex - and remain in ignorance of the fact
that there is much more to see than just the palace - but hopefully all
that will change with the opening up of much more of the site...
Link to Story.
On Crete tourist arrivals at Chania...
Chania among other airports - including Corfu and Cephalonia - saw an
increase in tourist arrivals - which has been mostly attributed to increased
activity by low-cost carriers, such as the British 'easyjet' and Irish
carrier Ryanair. High charges at Athens International Airport may well be
encouraging low cost airlines to use the cheaper Greek destinations.
Link to Story.
Plus further good news for Crete...
As 'Economic cooperation between Crete and US
develops'. The US Ambassador, on a visit to Chania has stressed that he will
consider various proposals put to him, including those aimed at boosting
tourism and the promotion of Cretan products in the US...
Link to Story.
But some are still uncertain...
About visiting Greece in the current economic climate. Germans in
particular are cited in an Athens News report as believing that there are
severe shortages, including of food and medicines in Greece - which are
cited as being 'absurd'. Greece's German tourism figures have fallen
by 135,000 in 2012 according to market researchers GFK...
Link to Story.
And all that glitters...
May or may not be gold - it all depends upon which side of the tax
evasion line people stand! Athens News reports that there are record rate of
tax evasion on Greek Islands - including Chania (87%) Iraklion (78%) and
Rethymno. Other islands cited in the report are Santorini, Naxos, Corfu and
Mykonos...
Link to Story.
May not be gold - but...
A second report from Ekathimerini said that checks carried out around
the Greece by SDOE (Financial Crimes Squad) 'around the country's holiday
resorts highlights that the problem (of tax evasion) had spiraled out of
control'...
Link
to Story.
And bogus sick leave
...
Also helps drain the Greek economy to the tune of thousands of euros...
Link to Story.
Crime of a different sort...
Child pornography, also continues. Fourteen people are reported to have
been arrested on the island of Crete, 'including an army officer and a
British tourist', after police from the electronic crimes squad
arrived on the island to investigate information about a child pornography
ring...
Link to Story.
And Cretan police were also faced...
With yet another wild-west situation as they raided a cannabis
plantation on the outskirts of Rethymnon. A 24-year-old
Albanian man was take to hospital with a gunshot wound to the thigh after an
exchange of gunfire with police...
Link to Story.
Which wasn't the end of the story...
As just a few days later a shooting incident at the village of Tymbaki
left three people with leg injuries as a 44 year old man opened fire...
Link to Story.
As livestock breeder shoots two...
When they refused to stop video-filming a fire raging in the area of
Viannos, Crete. The livestock breeder reportedly asked the two men to stop
filming the fire. He shot both when they refused. One six times, the second
once. Both were being treated at the University Hospital of Heraklion..
Link to Story.
And if that wasn't enough...
Three members of the Italian crew of an Italian flagged fishing boat had to
be rescued by coast guard officers - after their boat was hijacked by three
other crew members, an Egyptian and two Tunisians, off the Cretan island of
Gavdos...
Link to Story.
But there was more excitement...
As tourists on a Rethymnon beach had a nasty surprise when a sewage pipe
broke...
Link to Story.
Plus the many recent fires on Crete...
Are suspected to be the result of arson 'in the wider area of southern
Rethymno', a fire brigade chief is reported as saying...
Link
to Story.
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Amazon.co.uk & Selected Cretan
bookstores
Living in Crete
by Carol Palioudakis
OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK!
Price £9.50 GBP |
Amazon.co.uk & Selected Cretan
bookstores |
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