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JANUARY
WEATHER.....
Unreliable.. Changeable.. Sometimes
absolutely awful with high winds and rain - stormy isn't the word -
sometimes freezing with snow on the White Mountains opposite, and
sometimes stunningly warm with superbly bright sunshine...
Current Chania
Webcam
Current Cretan Weather
Link
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ANEK Lines 'Pax Corragio' en-route.
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BIG. Maybe bigger than it looks, imagine a
full-grown adult on the bridge and you get some idea of scale - read below.
(ANEK Lines
brochure photo). |
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Astratigos Village Life.... Travelers Tales.. XVII
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.... I like boats. They used to remind me of the pram I used to ride
in when a small child. Later, as an adult riding forever more modern
boats, of the smooth golden sunsets slipping idly by as one sipped a
drink, or enjoyed a superb meal in the restaurant as a gold-flecked
sea slipped idly by under a blue Mediterranean sky. Soft music
and swishing waves - marred only by the view of the lifeboats
outside the windows.... Lifeboats!! Did I say 'Lifeboats'?!.... |
'Sailing on....
And here we were, having almost just got over our last trip and enjoyed
a quiet Christmas and New Year on Crete for a change, planning our next
'road' trip to the UK - and of course back here again afterwards. And back
again to - well, a little like yo-yo's - or perhaps gypsies (!) - or Romany's,
to and fro, hopefully without rocking too many boats - especially the
new to us Ro-ro we have booked for our trip back to Patras from Venice - new to
the ANEK fleet.
Ro-ro's are 'Roll (drive) on, Roll (drive) off ferries, where you drive
onto one end of the ship, and when you reach the destination, you simply
drive off again...usually. Wheels all the way. Good theory, but I have often wondered, not
being an expert, if it were not possible for the sea to do the same!
Whether those huge doors through which everyone drives on and off could
let in the sea, which would probably result in everyone, and everything, getting very
wet...
In my mind's eye I can see the pictures of two previous Ro-ro's - both
lying on their sides - one outside Harwich - just off Felixstowe in the
UK in 1982 - the 'European
Gateway', then owned by the British Townsend-Thoresen company, sank off
England's east coast near Felixstowe after a collision with another
ferry... Six people died; and another just outside Zeebrugge, Belgium -
The 'Herald
of Free Enterprise' - which capsized and sank
90 seconds after leaving the port on the night of 6 March 1987, killing
193 passengers and crew.
The European Gateway lived to fight another day, in fact she was last
noted to be owned by a Greek Cypriot company
and moored at Salamina (Greece-2011). The Herald of Free Enterprise did not. In spite
of being refloated no-one wanted her, unsurprisingly, and she was
eventually scrapped in Taiwan.
But then, ferry disasters in Greece are really not that common. Well,
not very common anyway... Perhaps the worst in Greek maritime history
was the loss of the 'SS
Iraklio' which went down on December 8th, 1966 at around 2am with
the loss of an estimated 455 lives - out of over 500 people thought to
have been on-board. There were only 45 survivors.
The ferry was en-route from Souda
Bay (Crete) to Piraeus - almost halfway to it's destination... The route
we ourselves almost invariably take....
"In the aftermath a few hundred of Cretans
(traders, free-lancers, pensioners, farmers) following a
proposal by the Association of Economists of the Chania
Prefecture and the generous support of the Metropolitan of
Kissamos and Selinos, Irineos Galanakis, implement their bold
idea to found the first multi-shareholder shipping company
worldwide with modern, comfortable and decent ships".
(Wikipedia). ANEK lines was born - safety first!...
To be fair ANEK lines have never
offered us a strictly Ro-ro boat before, and the boat we will take from Venice to Patras has a good history including prior ownership by STENA Line - with
whom we usually travel between the UK and Europe. They run Ro-ro's, and
I don't give it a thought.... It's just that
'Pax CORAGGIO' looks a little
different to the STENA boats - more like a commercial vehicle carrier. It was acquired for use by ANEK after a fire on Kritti II (an old
boat but one which we know and like) was put out of action in late 2012.
Getting on and off an ANEK boat is usually a bit testing as they have
not, until now, been regular Ro-ro's. A garage and a little maneuvering is usually involved
- as all vehicles must of course get off the way they got on - through
the stern or side doors - and the bows do not open at the front!
But then, that does not seem to have
made any difference to the MV Princess
Victoria "one of the earliest
roll-on/roll-off (Ro-ro) ferries. Built in 1947, she operated from
Stranraer to
Larne. During a severe
European windstorm on 31 January 1953, she sank in the
North Channel with the loss of 133 lives". Giant waves had apparently
breached the stern doors....
And so on. I almost get the idea that perhaps aeroplanes
are a better bet, although anything big enough to take our car would
definitely not be affordable. And, we have other very enjoyable
trips by sea to compare with - Danish Seaways 'Dana Anglia' and 'Dana
Regina' to Esbjerg in Denmark - Ro-ro's supreme - although sitting on
the front row of a raised car-deck as the deck-hands knocked out the
cotter pins and lowered the deck to an angle which must have been
35o
was an experience! British Railways to from Belfast to Heysham was an
experience and a-half as the ferry grounded - being stuck in a force 10 gale
outside Heysham harbour was definitely unusual. People could be seen walking
along the sea wall, it was that close, but there was no way anyone could
have reached us, or vice versa! Eventually tugs managed to fire rocket lines and take
us in tow to get us off the rocks and into the harbour... And the Isle
of Man car ferry to Liverpool was an experience we would not want to
repeat - a bit like sailing a giant roller-coaster, but then it didn't
get stuck or sink...
We have also, like millions of others, have taken the bus in Venice, one
of our favourite stops - the water bus or 'Vaporetto' that is... Rather different from
the 38.000 ton plus ANEK El Venizelos which brought us home from Piraeus
to Chania at the end of our last trip!
The boats we are booked to travel on this time include ANEK Lines 'Elyros'
from Chania to Piraeus; 'Hellenic Spirit' from Patras to Ancona; Stena Hollandica
from Harwich to Hook of Holland; ANEK Lines
Ro-Ro 'Pax CORAGGIO' from Venice to Patras; and then back
to Chania from Piraeus on 'Elyros'.
And yet here we are, gleefully, albeit a little anxiously, about to
Ro-ro at least part of the way between the UK and Crete. Part of the way
on ANEK Lines (non ro-ro ferries) and part of the way - including the
English Channel and from Venice to Patras - by genuine Ro-ro!
Who's afraid of Virginia Wolfe? Not
I...
It's the Ro-ro's that have me a little worried!
But then, we are going home again, both ways! We are (taking perhaps a
liberty with Rod Stewart's lyrics), "sailing'... Link 'Sailing'..... |
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In the News
Reviews...
And a good start to the New Year....
For the police in Iraklion as they seized over
€300.000 worth of stolen jewelry in
a raid on a pawn shop. Two employees were arrested and a warrant issued
for the arrest of the owner, who was absent at the time of the raid....
Link to Story.
Constantinos Mitsotakis..
The 94-year-old retired
Prime Minister of Greece and the honorary president of the New Democracy
political party, underwent successful hip surgery after suffering a fall
at his home in Chania, Crete. ..
Link to Story.
A Cretan family who cannot afford their son...
"A family drama with protagonist an 18-year-old boy is currently
taking place on the island of Crete" says a 'Keep Talking Greece'
internet report. "A family with several children showed the exit door
to son Nikos and left him to seek his own fate on the streets,
apparently unable to feed him or to provide him with even a roof over
his head".
Can it really be this bad? Teachers at his school think so...read the
story....
Link to Story.
Undocumented Migrants...
78 migrants without documents were reported by local fishermen off
Elafonissi, south-eastern Crete, and detained by coastguards before
being taken into detention at Souda Bay... They had apparently been
trying to reach Italy...
Link to Story.
Ed: Looking at the photograph of their overloaded boat they were
perhaps fortunate to have been detained..
Kalashnikovs reign - well maybe not...
As Chania police arrested three men suspected of involvement in a gas
station robbery in the Cretan port of Chania. One of the men reportedly held
up an employee with a Kalashnikov assault rifle whilst the second assaulted
him to obtain the cash from the register. The third man is suspected of
driving the getaway car...
Link to Story.
An Iraklio police checkpoint car chase...
Became complicated after officers chased two
teenagers, one 16 and one 19-year-old who had tried to evade a police
checkpoint. Both reportedly suffered serious injuries as they tried to evade
the checkpoint on their motorcycle. The situation became complicated as a
witness reported seeing one of the officers kicked the motorcycle whilst it
was in motion. Both officers were arrested...
Link to Story.
And as a result...
Police associations on Crete requested a full investigation of the case.
A witness was reported to have the police that one of the officers in the
squad car 'had kicked the motorcycle after pulling alongside it, leading it
to veer and crash'..
Link to Story.
Plus it was not good news...
For a 68-year-old Iraklion man after falsely claiming
€30.000 from his mothers pension between
January 2008 and October 2011 - after she had died. He was sentenced to 8
months jail and ordered to repay €16.000...
In a second case a 'local woman' was sentenced to six-months in jail for
collecting the pension of her dead sister between March 2005 and October
2011...
Link to Story.
But having said that - Epiphany...
Started with winter gaining a tighter grip as the weather worsens.
Whilst hundreds of the Greek Orthodox faithful were reported to have
gathered at ports and harbours and lakes to celebrate the blessing of the
waters, many dived into freezing waters to retrieve the cross thrown in as
part of the service. Crete was hit by snow, sleet, rain and strong winds...
Link to Story.
And the weather continued to worsen
...
As heavy snowfalls around Athens made life extremely difficult,
closing roads, schools and Athens authorities opening homeless shelters....
Link to Story.
Even city trees are being felled...
As illegal tree-felling begins spreading to the cities - including
Athens as austerity struck Greeks seek to heat their homes...
Link to Story.
Whilst decreases in pensions...
As part of austerity measures have resulted in reductions of between 5
and 20% dues to come into effect during January. Some Greeks who declare an
income from other sources at or above the level of their pensions will see
them abolished altogether...
Link to Story.
However, a 'welfare levy'...
On electricity bills will be imposed on people who consume more than
2,000 kilowatts of electricity per quarter from
€11.77
to
€15.50
- towards social welfare....
Link to Story.
But at least one Greek website...
'Keeptalkinggreece.com' has carried a story which seems to contradict the
beneficial effects of 'social welfare' when seen against the light of
possibly unjustly penalizing "employees and pensioners"...
Link to Story.
Which tends to confirm that...
There has been a rapid rise in the 'nouveaux pauvres' within the Greek
population...
Link to Story.
And also that...
The number of job seekers (registered unemployed in Greece is close to
100,000. Not really unexpected news...
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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