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SEPTEMBER WEATHER ...
Fabulous all the way. Click on any weather service information link and you will get some super .giff images of a smiling sun, sometimes a cloud or two and temperature readings. Get yourself over here and you can have the real thing - but in August bring lots of sun cream and a big hat! Bathing suit and walking boots.
Deborah & Steve Gilbert
American Visitors to Afrata Above: Steve and Deborah Gilbert on their annual pilgrimage to Crete. Seen here at the Kalia Kardia Taverna in Afrata with their hosts Yiorgia and Kostas. Lt to Rt: Steve, Yiorgia, Deborah, and Kostas. The kournelli
stifado was good too - we should know, we shared it!! Click Picture or here to enlarge.
Astratigos Village life...
Grapes. Staphylia. Fruit of the vine. Fine wines. Good food. A few glasses of the hard stuff - Free! (At least locally). Grow your own. (A mistake if you live in a village). Come the end of September collect your bounty - harvest your grapes. (A task in-itself). Put them all into your 'Patitiri' and, having gathered a few helpful friends, crush them by bare-foot treading in a special arrangement of Greek
dancing in a confined space... Oh, and do remember that you will need to collect the results of your labours and select suitable methods of storage or disposal - as the wine, food and later spirits. Oh, and do remember that the very final remains can be fed to the (Hic!) sheep and goats. (Ever wondered why genuine Greek yoghurt is so popular, Greek cheeses so fine?... for the Cretan equivalents add
'so very fine'). The reason is the 40% proof sheep and goat's milk from which they are made. "No officer, I have not been drinking - a glass of milk maybe...(Hic!)...."
We heard a pick-up in the lane several times very early in the morning. Before 10am anyway. My wife said the trips had started about 7am. It was Adonis, our neighbour Katina's adult son, his own son and a nephew. They were gathering their annual grape crop from the fields and placing them in the press by the house. A concrete box in which they would tread them - and yes, we were
welcome with our cameras. Very welcome. "Take off your shoes and socks - jump in!!" "Better not" I said "my feet will turn your wine sour"... "Wash them first in this" said another visitor "then it is OK".
I didn't know what "this" was but I preferred to keep my feet where my mother first placed them - on the end of my legs! Besides Greek dancing with a camera might provide some interesting shots, but they would probably have been of my feet! What I wanted (and got) was a photo gallery.
The treading went on, and on, and on. The Must flowed into the catchment area. "How much was there"? At the end of the day - "maybe 1000 - 2000Kg" thought Adonis, suddenly abandoning his Cretan farmer disguise for what appeared to be a mad-scientist kit and checking the specific gravity of the wine to be.
His mother and visiting sister meanwhile lit a wood fire between two old rocks and balanced a 25 litre cooking pot on top. They filled it with some of the Must - filtered in - starting to make Mustalevria. A Greek sweetmeat rather like set jam containing Almonds and spices. Very nice - but it would take a while - the 25 litres had to boil down to 5 before the cooks could start to intervene..
It was 5pm before we left. The Must was being first-barreled and would be left to ferment before being racked off. The mustalevria cooks were still boiling the Must. It was a whole day gone. We had our pictures. We had managed to decline the following feast on mis-understood grounds of my rising blood pressure (Fine wines, good food, a little Tsikouthia, maybe a taste of
mustalevria - well, it may be all in the mind but isn't it nice?!) And we still had our own grapes to gather.....
Oh, and "do remember to take with you the grapes (10 Kilos) and wine (2 litres) on the wall by the door - they are for you! The mustalevria will follow tomorrow"...
Picture Strip: We had intended to bring back the picture strip this month and indeed have managed to do so just in time to show a couple of shots of that magnificent if over-abundant fruit being converted into food and wine.
We are assured that we will be included when the remains of the treading are taken to the still to make Tsikouthia! Preview here. |
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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
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:
cretanvista.gr
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Well Met!! All the way
from The Netherlands
Simone and Willem Ter Voert
We met this super couple briefly as they climbed up the track from Balos Bay, on the Gramvousa peninsula. We e-mailed the photo's - hope that you have them.
Click Photo to Enlarge.
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Here's another Guest Book comment..........
Remote User:20 OCT 2003
Time:19:49:28
comments: .....Nothing, there were no comments!
Signed: There was no signature either....
*Well..... Isn't it quiet right now!! 'Schhssss'...
Schhssss? Maybe it was someone from Schweppes!!
(Sorry!- But I really enjoyed it...WB)
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Maybe not so funny for the captain....
But well, you do have to grin maybe just a little when you read that the captain of a Romanian registered ship carrying corn crashed into a Greek hillside. Because the captain was on the 'phone......
I've heard of big telephone bills, but one as big as a sea-going corn carrier must be enough to make even the insurance company wince - especially when the captain admits that he was not paying attention because he was on the 'phone!!
But he had put the ship on auto-pilot while he made the call... Link to Story |