Cretanvista Site News & News Reviews - January 2007  Issue 47

No links to sites with adult content accepted. 

JANUARY WEATHER ... 
Apart from a few rainy days in the first week, January has been mild and dry. Some days the sunshine has been almost been warm enough to burn unprotected skin!  Nights have been cooler, of course, and when the wind turns to the north it gets quite chilly. 

Latest Crete Weather Link.

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            Blooming marvellous         
 
                                 Copyright Richard@cretanvista.
The almond trees on Crete are struggling back after a disease killed many of their number. January sees the trees bursting into new life...

                             
Village Life...

Although Wilf and Pam are back from the UK, we are breaking them back into the routine gently, and Richard and Ann are guest editors again this month.

Spring is galloping in early this year. The almond blossom is well into flower (see above) the orchids are beginning to poke through and the dainty anemones are dancing to a silent tune in the olive groves. (Please excuse the purple prose – I think the sap must be rising!)  It would be unusual for us to escape with such a mild winter, so we are half expecting a sudden cold snap to bring us to our senses.

Ups and downs

On a recent trip up to our flat roof to check the level in the central heating oil tank, we discovered that it was several degrees warmer up there than at ground level, and sheltered from the chilly north wind. We have previously made the ascent by ladder, but immediately decided we would get a metal staircase fitted so we could use the roof as another sitting area.

We asked our local hardware guru if there was anyone local who made metal staircases, and he immediately got on the phone to a friend. The friend arrived an hour later to measure up, phoned us that evening with a quote and turned up two days later to fit the finished article!  Let no-one complain about delays and poor service from the Greeks in our hearing!

As a result Richard has had a happy few weeks constructing a handrail around the area – not strictly necessary, but one of us (me!) has become accident-prone recently and has taken a number of purlers resulting in an aggravating inability to do heavy digging and grubbing about in the garden. Very frustrating, as the weeds won’t wait, and there is some concrete to break up and trees to put in…..

Feeding the five thousand

On one of the very few dark and wet days early this month, I had a telephone summons from Mama in the village. “Ela,” she commanded (“Come round”.) “Thelo to voithia sou” (“I want your help”). As she had recently been laid low by a very severe cold, I scooted round not knowing what to expect. I needn’t have worried. Far from being pale and wan, she had decided that today was the day to make kalitsounias (little pastries packed with horta), and that I could be her assistant.

Now Mama’s kalitsounias are legendary. When the rumour runs through the village that she is making them, people she hasn’t seen for months will suddenly turn up on her doorstep. As a result, she generally makes between 60 and 80, and everyone gets a plateful.  But making industrial quantities of anything when you are 85 is hard work, which is where I came in.

I have started to compile a photographic record of the various plants that go into kalitsounia horta. One day I shall have a little picture book which I can keep in my pocket so I can go out and collect my own in the hedgerows. But for the time being, I have to go accompanied by an expert so I don’t collect deadly nightshade or datura leaves.

Fortunately all the horta-gathering had already been done by others on this occasion and there was already one plastic washing-up bowl full of chopped horta mixed with a little onion, and another washing-up bowl full of embryo pastry (flour, a little oil and some water to bind).

We duly mixed the pastry by hand, broke it into segments and pounded and kneaded each section on the table top until it was the required elasticity. Then they were passed in turn through the rollers on a pasta machine until about five feet long and the right thickness.

The ‘somba’ – the cast iron stove in the kitchen – was coaxed into life by adding wood and almond shells, and everything gradually got a fine covering of flour and fine ash.  Due to the rain outside, it was now well past twilight indoors and Mama grudgingly agreed we could turn the light on so I could see what I was doing.  And what was I doing?  I had to pile little mounds of horta onto the strips of pastry, fold the front end over, seal the pastry around the horta and make a semi-circular cut with a pizza wheel. Result? A little pie the shape of a Cornish pasty.  This was then laid on a large floured board to await its turn on the top of the ‘somba’.

Into the middle of this hive of industry came the man who had been asked to quote for a new kitchen door. He got short shrift. Mama had been waiting for weeks for him to call, but she couldn’t possibly stop what she was doing, and he was just told to get on with his measurements and leave.

Eventually the ‘somba’ was at the required heat (no thermometer – just Mama’s experience told her), and a cast-iron sheet was laid on the top, and the pies set out in rows on the sheet.  After a few minutes, each had to be lifted to check its underside, and flipped over if judged to be ready. The browned side was then brushed with a flick of oil. After another few minutes, it was flipped back over and the other side brushed with oil.  The pie was ready when it made the right noise when tapped with a knife.

Strangely enough, as soon as the first ones were coming off the production line, people started appearing at the door. Chairs were de-floured and bottoms were settled into seats, and the salivating guests were each presented with a plateful of delicious pies. Richard, of course, having been there with his camera to record the proceedings (see photos below) was the first to taste, and duly pronounced the kalitsounias to be well up to scratch. I couldn’t possibly tell you how many he ate, but it was more than six and less than eight!

I discovered later that Mama has a cunning plan…. She thinks that after her eventual demise I will be able to take up her apron and make kalitsounias for the village. Not exactly what I had in mind for my twilight years, but never mind!

In the News ....
Getting into hot water...
Rising sea temperatures could have a devastating effect on sea life, according to a Greek study.                       Link to Story.

Open all hours ....
Doctors at public hospitals are still working more than 58 hours a week, despite a presidential decree.               Link to Story.
                                         
Garbage piles up as dump closed...
Athens' only operating landfill has been closed after becoming dangerously full.
                                            Link to Story.

High jinks with flag end in arrests...
French sailors with no 'savoir faire' took down a Greek flag from outside the cathedral in Hania. Only they were amused.
                                            Link to Story.

An end to the beach wedding... 
Mobile phone use and chewing gum during wedding services has led to a Church clampdown on outdoor wedding ceremonies.
                                             Link to Story.
                   
Named and shamed..
Those who dodge military service in Greece can now be named.                Link to Story.

Forged notes in circulation on Crete ...
More than 30 fake 200 euro notes have been discovered by banks in Hania.
                                             Link to story.
                                            
Tipping the doctor is still the norm...
More than one in three Greeks still pay backhanders to hospital doctors.
                                             Link to story.
                                           
US Embassy hit by missile...
Far-left militants were blamed for a missile attack on the US Embassy in Athens.
                                             Link to story.
                          
                              
Greeks take to their beds with flu...
A particularly nasty strain of flu arrived early this year, knocking out thousands of Greeks for up to a week.
                                             Link to story.

In the moods for luuurve...               The warm spell has turned northern Greece's male ostriches frisky much earlier than usual.                             Link to story.

Tiger, tiger...                                          A rarely-seen smalltooth sand tiger shark, usually found in tropical waters, has been netted off Crete.                    Link to story.

'Varsity reform rally ends in violence...
Students, teachers and lecturers took to the streets in protest at education reforms. Petrol bombs were thrown and violence flared.                                   Link to story.

Knitting nuns cast off after incurring debts...                                        55 nuns who were running a knitwear business from their monastery in northern Greece slipped a stitch and cast off after incurring half a million euros in debts.
                                            Link to story. 

Toxic pesticides still in use...      Illegally-imported low-grade and toxic pesticides are coming into Greece.
                                             Link to story.

Warm weather threatens crops..               Temperatures three degrees above average could have devastating effects on the country's agricultural sector.   Link to story.

Rhino fossil discovered...                        A farmer in north western Greece found the fossil of a rhino's jawbone in a large piece of coal.                                  Link to story.

Balcony collapse injures two...                 A passer-by and a workman were injured when a balcony collapsed in Heraklion.
                                             Link to story.

Costly used car scam...                            A couple in Hania were swindled out of almost 7,000 euros by a man who offered to import a car for them.            Link to story.

Greek heirlooms sold at Christies... 
The Greek government has warned that Greek royal items sold at Christies may have been taken out of the country illegally.                                 Link to story.

A nice warm feeling....                 Russians are queuing up to buy Greek furs, with five flights a day arriving in Thessaloniki from Russia.       Link to story.

Cancer 'cure' de-bunked....                     A TV story claiming that the leaves of olive trees could help cancer sufferers almost led to a frenzy, with olive leaves selling for up to 60 euros a kilo. Unfortunately, health authorities say there is no evidence to support the claim.                  Link to story.
             
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             The Cretanvista Review of
       Carol Palioudaki's  'Cool Guide to
                   Living in Crete'  
         (A gold mine of information)
       is, like the book, available now.

                     
                Out Now - Get it at 
                 www.livingincrete.net 
                            
                          
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          COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
All of the material produced by Cretanvista is copyright and belongs to someone who has spent time, effort and money to produce it. We are often willing to allow the use of our material for personal (non-commercial) purposes. For example our calendar photographs can be used to reproduce the pictures for your own individual calendars, or to hang on granny's bedroom wall.

We will however, take action against anyone we discover using our materials in any mass distribution exercise, especially for financial gain, unless specifically authorized by us and we are acknowledged as the source in the reproduction.

              ________________________

FREE...
Cretanvista is a free site.  We accept neither cash nor gratuities and sell nothing.  We don't carry paid for advertising.  But we do try to give you information which you might want to know about.

House FOR SALE... 
If you are looking for a house in Crete here is a private sale in SPILIA by  an English couple - a house and an attached apartment suitable for holiday letting.  No Agents involved.

We know this couple - have a look around the house and area on the following link..

www.crete-house-sale.com

Accommodation in Astratigos - For rent/Sale again....
The first house on the left as you enter Astratigos from Afrata - a magnificent cream and green affair sporting two apartments two balconies and a small pool at the front and containing two holiday apartments.  Live in Astratigos maybe? 


. 

TWO HOLIDAY VILLAS...
..  Another local owner has carried out some superb traditional renovation on a ruined house - and has  renovated what was his own accommodation - maybe for your holidays! Book and check availability at:-
Holiday-rentals.com

In Kolimbari - right on the beach near the tavernas:-

The Grand Bay Beach Hotel

Visit  Interdynamic's website.

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www.provencebeyond.com Well worth a visit if you are interested in France, especially the southern parts.

FERRY SERVICES.
SOUDA BAY - PIRAEUS (Chania-Athens).

ANEK LINES operate daily return sailings.
Souda     -    Piraeus 
21.00Hrs         05.30Hrs
Piraeus     -    Souda 
21.00Hrs          05.30Hrs

Hellenic Seaways  commence daily return sailings from Monday 17th April 2006
Souda     -    Piraeus 
21.00Hrs       01.45Hrs
Piraeus     -    Souda 
15.45Hrs          20.15Hrs

PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU SHOULD ALWAYS CHECK TIMETABLES WITH THE COMPANIES OR THEIR AGENTS.

WEBSITE LINKS

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

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Earthquake activity - nothing at all this month!
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Getting the bird 
Don’t tell Paul Smith or Colin Turvey, but we are a bit ‘off’ birds at the moment. In the middle of the month our back doorstep was besieged by a pigeon who decided the light above the door was the ideal place to lay its eggs.  On several mornings I opened to door to discover a huge pile of guano and a gluey broken egg all over the doorstep. Mother pigeon would be gazing dolefully at me from the wire on the pergola ….”Coo, I can’t understand it!”  

It took her a number of attempts to realise that a round light fitting was not the best place on which to lay an egg. I understand now how the phrase “bird brain” arose.

Living history
The archaeological museum in Kastelli opened late last year, and Richard and I were extolling its virtues one evening in the kafenio. None of the locals had visited it, so we decided to round up a posse of elderly ladies and take them to have a look.

Now a visit to town (4 kilometres away) is a real event to our village elders. Few of them own a car, and for one or two the favoured form of transport is still a mule. So, when we loaded up the car and set off for the museum, we were unsurprised to learn that there were one or two other errands that they would like to do while they were in town.

Richard went off to visit his favourite hardware store and I took the ladies firstly to the health centre to have their prescriptions renewed, and then to the pharmacy to get all their pills and potions. Now everyone knows everyone else, so what with all the chat with the doctors, the receptionists, the pharmacist, the pharmacist’s mother, this took some little time. Then one of them remembered she had to pay her telephone bill, so off we zoomed to the OTE office, then while we were in this end of town we might as well pay our electricity bills as well….

Some of the party were flagging a little by this time, so we adjourned to a café for a pick-them-up. While we were sitting there, I glimpsed Richard walking past outside, so rushed out and flagged him down to join us for a coffee.

Coffee and cheese pies downed, we headed on our way. Naturally enough, the man on the desk turned out to be the son of the brother of the best man of one of my companions, so much kissing and news exchanging had to be accomplished before we even got through the door.

Many of the exhibits had been discovered in Polyrinnia, near Kastelli, which was where one of the village ladies had grown up. Her eyesight was not good enough to read the captions, but in most cases she knew exactly what the exhibits were, and was able to explain what they were used for, and how many of these things were found in the fields when she was a girl.  We generated so much excitement that the curator came in to see what was going on, and my ladies explained that one of them had lived in Polyrinnia as a girl. The curator asked her family name, and it turned out that many of the exhibits had actually been donated by members of her family.

Everyone marveled at the mosaic floors and exclaimed in wonder at the magnifying device that enables you to examine the coins in close detail. But the highlight of the visit was going in the lift to the first floor. It must have seemed like a space shuttle to my friends, as their eyes grew huge and round as we started to move upwards….

A Little Site News - Photo Galleries.

Bird Galleries.  NEW Gallery Page 4 Online...
The first pages of our bird photograph gallery went on line in March 2006. Colin Turvey's Cretan Bird-Life photograph gallery (see February News) has now added a third page. We are now working hard on adding page 5 - another 12 of Colin's bird photographs - which will bring the number up to 60 so far. A big plus for Cretanvista.

Wild Flowers: NEW 216 different wild flowers.
99% of photos have been taken right here at the base of the Rodopos peninsula. We are continually working on these galleries and will, as soon as practicable, be adding further online pages, including detailed reference pages and more photos of each specimen. We will be publishing our book - but all the information will remain on line.

Cretan Countryside: The basic page is already on-line - has been so for some time.  In the background we have been busy collecting more photographs and will very soon be publishing the first gallery. There really is some superb wild life on Crete.

The warm January has brought the Cretan countryside to life very, very, early. A recent walk presented at least a dozen different wild flowers in bloom, birds - raptors in full swing and at least one snake slithering past the camera pointed at a giant orchid!!!

And More -
Anastasios Sakoulis, who contributed the magnificent gallery from his book on Cretan wildlife Moments of Cretan Nature to our site,  has also contributed 18 pictures of birds for addition to a gallery. We will attach this to Paul Smith's bird-watching page in the near future.  

But that isn't all... Anastasios Sakoulis has also given us permission (and supplied the photographs) to produce a gallery of his latest book. A book of 20 superb postcards of Cretan wildlife called Naturally... Crete. 

E-Mail Requests..
We receive some brilliant e-mails - really - and they are very welcome.  But sometimes there is no acknowledgement that our answer has been received.  We don't mind, but worry occasionally that someone may not have received an answer from us and think the worse of us!  We will ALWAYS reply to e-mail so please, if you have mailed us and not received an answer - resend your mail - we 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.

Guest Book.  E-mail links are accepted.  Website URL, Bulletin board and chat-room style links are not.  Website links are removed automatically to prevent inclusion of sites without agreement.  

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The Cretan Vista Calendar Photos - Birds.
We trying to build a specialist calendar of birds - whilst we are building our own library photographs - contributions are always welcome. They will always be acknowledged and copyright will remain your own.

(Please email us before sending pictures).

Note: The Cretanvista website calendar for 2007 was published on time and the pages will soon be published to the on-line gallery of previous years.

Bird Watchers.
Paul Smith's  JANUARY 2007 is now on line here and at all Cretanvista URL's.  

We remain deeply indebted to Han and Inger van der Lelie, 3815 PV Amersfoort, who enabled us to publish the June 2005 page of Paul's now unbroken series.

Best Books..
Check out our easy to use 'Book Shelves' containing all our book reviews. Just point the mouse and left click in the boxes below..

Latest Book Reviews...

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And finally….  
On our regular walks, Richard and I have taken pleasure from a clump of giant orchids that have just come into bloom on the roadside near our village.  We had been looking out for them this last week, having spotted them at the same time last year.  Several days ago, I noticed (to my horror) that one of the elderly ladies in the village had a vaseful of the flowers in her kitchen. I asked what they were called, trying not to show any disapproval, and she asked me if I liked them. I said I did, but said that “I preferred to see them growing in the ground.”

Stupid me. A few days later she turned up at the door with a clump that she had dug up for me, to plant in the garden. Yes, it was the ones we had been enjoying on our daily walk. I could have cried. How do you explain to people here that the English have destroyed the wildflowers in their own country by overpicking and herbicides, and that they must take care of these treasures before it is too late?