Fuert - Advent - ura!

Festive decoration at the marina

 Greyrocks has been busy through the month of December! The weather was mostly dreadful until the offspring arrived on 26th, and there then followed three days without discernible wind and with very hot afternoons. Just what she (and we) needed. Now as Greyrocks works on a last-minute panic posting to round off the month (and year) the wind is howling and no-one wants to go to the shops! Not the best November and December on record!

Nonetheless decoration of various sorts has taken place throughout the municipio, and a few jolly japes have been slotted in between storms! This includes an afternoon at Pescaditos for a RNLI fundraiser. Local hero David had been an award-winning bosun of the Port Isaac crew and had asked that after his death in January his possessions be sold to raise money, so the Sandies spearheaded the project, and it was a huge financial and social success. Greyrocks cleared out stuff for the sale, but came back with nearly as much clutter from the raffle.






El Cotillo artwork of the Milky Way

And then there was the bus trip to El Cotillo on a windy Saturday. The good news is that the village has had a new lease of life since the last visit - probably two years ago! Several new restaurants have opened near the old harbour and Greyrocks had a fine (and remarkably cheap) tapas lunch in one of them. The bad news is that the Greyrocks knees were having a bad day so the rest of the village remained largely unexplored. Bob did however make a short tour and came back to report on a beautiful work of art:- a "mural" on textile taking up all of one side of a building. We have since been told it is one of a series, but have no first-hand knowledge. There is developing there a relaxed and bohemian vibe that is very appealing!

Warm yer cockles at Blue Rock!

"Who is that (wo)man?"

As Greyrocks has remarked previously the festive decorations in Corralejo can be installed absurdly early and always before the puente Bank Holiday (6th to 8th). This year Claire at the Blue Rock organised her helpers for a launch by the 1st. When the theme was revealed it was clear why! Along with the "blazing fire", lights and trees were 25 numbered windows in the style of an advent calendar and each evening at 6pm the appropriate one was opened to reveal a bar punter. Some folk were tastefully captured and then there were the silly ones:- most notably Ruth (number 5) shown (pre-weight loss and in Carneval costume from 2011) just between the two toilet doors!

Very silly then, and worse now!

Christmas afternoon has never seen really bad weather in Greyrocks' experience, and to everyone's delight this year was also a corker! Down at the Rock there were the traditional roast rolls and potatoes. Greyrocks went down there after brunch chez Eileen and Chris and met up with the whole gang. There was no rush to be back for the evening as we had done the Spanish thing and consumed goose the night before. This was a bird that had made a surprise late appearance courtesy of Eileen and Lidl after orders had already been placed locally for pheasant and duck. With meals at home for just two and then three this has been a challenge Greyrocks is still facing and the freezer heaves. We assuaged guilt with a donation to Fare Share!
Our low key festivities continue tonight with dinner at Caracoles and for the first time we will be joined for this by Chloë, who has made a late change to her return flight following a hiccup in the start of her new West Country job. Watch out for details of Carlos' surprise menu in the next post.

A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL 2015 TO OUR SMALL BAND OF READERS!

 



"Four go mad in Jandia"

 Today November ends and it has been a month of terrible weather, except - amazingly - for most of the five day stay of Greyrocks' old friends Chris and Penny from York who were en route to Malaga, and have never been to the Canaries before. What luck!

 

(Chris was "best man" at Greyrocks' wedding 29 years ago, so "old" is the right word!)

 

The weather was good enough for some sea swimming from Waikiki beach, some tapas lunches and plenty of exploration of the town. In the evenings we went to some music venues, a humiliating Mad Mik quiz, to Caracoles and - twice at Chris' request - to the wonderful Slow Boat Wok. We didn't make it to the Grandes Playas, but we did plan and implement a major day out by bus, which has rapidly become a thing of legend and the subject of a Chis water colour!

 

 



 

MJ:- impressive beach -not much else!

Getting to the Point

They wanted to see the full extent of our long island, and Greyrocks hadn't ventured beyond Morro Jable - and that was several years ago, so we went for it, starting with the 8am bus from the port, changing at P de Rosario onto the No 10 which was almost empty for most of the journey but became chaotic in Costa Calma:- an inappropriately named resort from which clearly many tourists wished to escape!  We arrived in Morro Jable at 11.15 and asked about the arrangements for the big onward push that would take place in the afternoon! The attraction of the place is the remarkable expanse of wide sand. Other than that it is a rather brash and badly maintained colony of Germany. As we proceeded down to a spot on the beach it began to rain, so it was off to bar for shelter! Another feature of MJ is that it is set between steep hills, so four folk in their sixties trailed up one in search of what was called the bus station, but was new and not yet open. Never mind we found the bus!

 This service has only been operational since August and serves both Cofete and the lighthouse at the end of the island. As is evident it is an all-terrain vehicle with 21 seats, and it needs to be - this is a rough ride, not helped by hire cars being driven where they should not be! Greyrocks was confused by a recent route change so at Cofete, where one can almost see both sides of the island and the beach is glorious and almost deserted, we paid again and continued to the Punto. Whoops:- lighthouse and cafeteria closed on Mondays and it was Monday! The driver slopes off for refreshment and then we make the return journey via Cofete, which was no less knuckle-whitening! Since then Greyrocks has researched the legend of a landmark we passed:- Villa Winter. Now there is a conspiracy theorist's dream!

Journey's End: Faro de Punto

 

 The driver was a very jolly and helpful man! We asked about where - given the dubious status of the bus station - we could get a No1 bus back, and he told us so we retired to a bar and returned for the 18.15 bus. In a farcical incident it indicated and pulled in a little late to a distant point and didn't stop! Four wrinklies ran after it to catch it on the other side of the road. Now normally Tiadhe drivers are tolerant and respectful. Not this one! He shouted at us that the "estacion" was "over there!" and sped away empty. Grrr! Not trusting that we would ever successfully get a bus from this location we set off steeply downhill in search of a labelled bus stop. Every one we found was out of service with no information whatsoever about buses! Eventually, with the aid of a taxi ride we caught a delayed and rather full 19.00 bus, which made good time so that we made it onto the Corralejo bus with a minute to spare and were back in town in time to catch a scratch supper. There was talk of complaints to Tiadhe, the council in MJ, the press etc etc, but time has mellowed Greyrocks and it truly was an adventure!

Black Friday in the Canaries!

 Next day warnings were around of an impending storm but all that happened was an unfortunate incident involving Bob's glasses and the sea! Chris and Penny took the bus to the airport on the Wednesday morning, and the storm started in Corralejo at noon! Phew!

 

Greyrocks was due to have two nights in Caleta de Fuste for Bob's birthday. Through the days leading up to the weekend the weather was intermittently foul. We woke up on the Saturday to a power cut, which we eventually discovered was only chez nous and could be dealt with, but it delayed us. We would have been happy to pay to stay at the Barceló, but short stays weren't available so we went to a big and slightly dated aparthotel, which was fairly comfortable, and had several swimming pools, which looked most uninviting all weekend. Happy Hours and tapas at El Capetan (inside!) got us through the wet days and the dinners - particularly at our favourite - 15 - were well up to scratch! On Monday it was dry but very cold for our departure, and as we travelled North the oncoming vehicles had their headlights on, and we did pass through rain. We made it home from the port in dry weather but the sea was very, very rough and it stayed that way through the week, culminating in Friday's memorable conditions. Greyrocks managed to get some shopping done, but was largely housebound and speculated about the viability of the planned visit on the Friday by John and Tracey, whom we know from Goa. They were booked on a coach and ferry trip from Lanzarote. To no-one's great surprise and to everyone's relief it was cancelled. The sea conditions were shocking! Yesterday was also bad, but today it is brighter, calmer and time for swabbing the decks! Our janitor has also tracked down the cause of the week's frequent electrical tripping, so Greyrocks is looking forward to a more cosy and restful December. Watch this space!

 

 

 

"Tote that cabin bag (and umbrella)!"

Go for it girls!

November has been eventful  to say the least for Greyrocks! After a non-event of Halloween (staying in for a quiet night but armed with cheap chocolate bars for t-and-treaters who didn't show now that the demographics of the complex have changed) we were up earlyish to wave off the intrepid ladies walking for a cancer charity. There had been talk of Greyrocks participating (with Ruth on the bike) but Bob`s new knee troubles, and reluctance to seek sponsors meant it was just a donation and good wishes. They did very well, though, despite our absence raising over 2K euros and with only one casualty!

In the early hours of the next morning Ruth was awakened by ominous noises outside, and that was the start of some pretty horrible weather that has been around on-and-off for much of the month! The Canarian tourism authorities wouldn´t want publicity for this, but holidaymakers have been looking dejected! On the Sunday in question there were gale force winds and the rain was frequently near-horizontal. A couple of days later things started to improve. Serious consideration was given to going to the Big Beach on the sunny Tuesday, but tasks got in the way, and instead we went on a much less satisfactory day. It was touch-and-go and we didn´t get in the sea (very frisky!) or even sunbathe (evil wind). The man we know at our chiringuito was battening down his hatches when we got there! Still, by getting there at all before February Greyrocks had broken an emerging pattern for the winter season! All one could say was "Well this will seem like good weather by the weekend!"

That was because Greyrocks made a five-day pilgrimage to UK in recognition of Ruth´s Dad - Vic - celebrating his 90th birthday. This presented some logistical challenges as we have only sufficient warm clothes to cover a quick overnight before and after Heathrow-Goa trips, and we had only paid for cabin bags, but it all turned out well and the weather was only marginally worse than we had suffered here on Fraggle Rock!

We stayed at the Premier Inn in Croydon, and this was one of several pleasant surprises. On the Easyjet plane we had bought reduced-price rail tickets and then jumped straight on to a qualifying and very fast train. When we got to East Croydon we saw that there had been major  station re-fit and we could leave by a new bridge that took us straight to the hotel. Gatwick to check-in in 25 minutes! A nearly new hotel, too, and distinctly better that Travelodge!

On Saturday we bought Travelcards and went to visit the Balham house and our old neighbour, on to the local to meet our gardener-decorator and then on a tortuous but nostalgic bus trip up to Waterloo. It was cold, raining intermittently and Remembrance Weekend. Sitting space undercover was in short supply on the South Bank but we met Chloe in the Festival Hall where she wanted to see an exhibition by offenders, and we then walked over a very crowded Hungerford Bridge to the Cafe Rouge in Villiers Street where we managed to negotiate a table and stay for many hours as dripping tourists sought refuge from a storm. Not a bad meal, and great fun seeing the offspring!

The Sunday family "do" also worked well thanks to some tight planning. Neither Vic nor Viv was really up  to going to a restaurant so we cut down the guest list to cover just the two generations and arranged for party food to be delivered by Waitrose and Tesco for a buffet lunch at their house. Lois also ordered a magnificent cake iced in Air Force blue and with a skillfully moulded Lancaster atop. Greyrocks got a cheap but slow train to Havant and was collected at the station. It was a day enjoyed by all, but especially Birthday Boy!

A Turner reminiscent of the Lanzarote ferry!

Now Greyrocks had two full days to play with. Task 1 was to buy a Kindle and set it up, then, after a bit more shopping we went to the flicks. There was all of a dozen in the audience for Mr Turner but rather more comfort than at our (now) most frequent venue of the Palolem outdoor cinema, and it was warm! We greatly enjoyed the film and it gave us a mission for the next day.

We took the bus again, this time passing through Brixton where Greyrocks had not been for many years. We hissed at Bob´s former place of work, at Stockwell station, at County Hall and at the Houses of Parliament and Downing Street for a range of reasons and then went to a pub near Trafalgar Square to shelter from the rain. We paused to look at the strange statue on the fourth plinth and the Great War installation in the centre of the square.

The main focus of the afternoon was to see the supposed nine Turner paintings in the National Gallery. With some help from staff we discovered that two were out on loan, five were located in two different rooms and the rest eluded us! Making the link with the knowledge gained from the film the previous day made for a rich experience. On our way out we stopped for viewings of Canaletto and Hogarth - on the themes of water and London. And on the subject of links Bob then went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the collection of Turner prize-winning Grayson Perry:-  a little rushed, given the hour, but admired! It was then another bus  - this time down through Walworth Road and Camberwell to frighteningly trendy East Dulwich to meet Chloe for dinner until thrown out and a late bus back to Croydon.

And that was that:- easy journey home to Fuerte and preparation for the next event!

 

Oil, Water, Wheels and the Home Again Blues

Why Bob had a daytrip to Gran Can!

Greyrocks is now settled in the winter home, but the weather has been almost entirely glorious so that it feels like it is still summer. One day last week it reached 42°C in the afternoon outside The Blue Rock, but there has been no time for full day trips to the big beaches:- it has been repairs, health checks and jabs, haircuts, re-stocking, intricate financial tasks, ICT changes and renewals of acquaintances! Phew! And then there was the jolly jape (and expense) of Bob having to fly over to Las Palmas for a five minute meeting at the British consulate in order to extend his passport sufficiently for an Indian or Cuban visa. What a farce - and all because of the privatised mess back in UK!

But enough! Let's do the annual rundown on what has changed in Corralejo since the Spring.
The first thing that strikes the returning semi-resident is the relentless inward swell of surf! Yet more schools and camps have opened, each with vans all over town and at beaches, and the punters are evident everywhere. Ruth sat next to two such middle-class Brit women on the flight from Barcelona. Possibly related to the trend is the outbreak of maniacal skateboarding, which, along with new motorised three wheel scooter contraptions for hire is causing some stress in the pedestrian bits of town! At least it looks as if some action has been taken over dog poo, of which there is now definitely less!

And should you want a cup of coffee... well this continuing trend has made it to the complaints pages of the English press! Italian coffee shops are everywhere - many with pavement seating on the high street, but popping up just about anywhere. (An interesting one is the veggie place on the kids' square) There are rumours that Italian settlers are now the most numerous in the municipality. Some have tried to run restaurants and failed spectacularly, but there is some resentment about the take-over of the old town, and when Mike at the Casbah closed down there was huge relief that the replacement is a genuine tapas bar run by a Canarian. (Not the best in town by several, but not bad, and Richard - yes, not Ricardo! - is a great host) It is now pointless to chart the openings and closings of every establishment - especially all these small places, but three key restaurant sites are unoccupied at the point of writing:

• Just down from Hiperdino the former Colombian place has clearly been opened and then closed again in our absence. It is something to do with licenses. As Hemingway´s several years ago it was fairly nice! It is now up for rent again!

• Between Fazz´s and the Antigua del Puerto down at the harbour there is a corner site that has been in Greyrocks´memory Spanish, Chinese, Greek, US style roadhouse, 3 different tapas bars, and most recently a promising-looking grill with cheap fish. It closed suddenly just before we left in April and is still hors de combat although some new plate glass went in yesterday!

• In a lovely position overlooking the bay is what was for many years Castaway. It became "On the Beach" with glorious white and blue floaty decor and a price list to make you wince - possibly to pay for... Well - we also think it may have had something to do with a troublesome neighbour of Greyrocks, so few tears are being shed about that loss. It´s just a shame that such a nice spot is empty. Next door the Sidreria and Banana Bar have melded and emerged differently, too!

Elsewhere all credit to the Council for some improvements in the cycle paths, revival of the mall at Campenario, which looked like it might be a white elephant, and some really interesting events since Greyrocks returned. None of these has - of course - been adequately advertised in any language, but heh!



2014 International Blues Festival

So first was a "manifestation" taking place simultaneously on eight islands in the archipelago to protest at Repsol´s prospecting for oil off the coast. The issues are pretty clear. If you can read Spanish here is Repsol´s side and the other!

One Satuday we woke to a noisy helicopter circling for hours. It was part of the annual swim from Lanzarote to Corralejo. This is a serious swim :- at least five hours, but we missed the key moments like the arrival of the guy with one leg! Next day the swim was only from Lobos to Corralejo and we did see the aftermath with hundreds of youngsters partaking of lunch at the Nautical Club.

Last weekend we were told of multiple serious cyclists and we ourselves had seen a few practising. It turned out to be the 8th North to South ride organised by an infantry regiment in the Spanish army but open to others. 150 gruelling kilometres! Here is some footage from last year!

And finally - with its usual lack of publicity we had - last weekend - the Blues Festival. Somehow we managed to miss the street events on Thursday, and the Saturday evening when eight of us ate at La Plaza for optimal viewing was a bit disappointing, but the Friday night was a stonker! Greyrocks watched the first act (Brits and an Irish guy we know) from the front barrier thus wrecking three out of four knees for several days, but well worth it for a brilliant performance. We then moved to the German bar nearby and paid a fortune for sullenly served wine and an unceremonious closure. The middle act - from Scarborough - we thought good, though others disagree, and then on to some amazing stuff from Malford Milligan  - so good we behaved like groupies and went backstage to shake his hand. Related downloading has since then taken place!

Oh, and now it´s Halloween and the Day of the Dead!

.. and A to B Part 3 - Bulls and Roses!

What a lovely stretch of coast!

 Resuming the account of the more static (and drier) aspects of the migration!
There are several seaside towns between Montpellier and Barcelona that are on the Greyrocks list, but a must is the bit near Lattes, so with thirteen nights to play with - the last of which needed to be near Girona - and some places due to close for the season - and the dreaded storm brewing - the decision was Lattes 10, Roses 3 (leaving out this time Agde as being a bit grim with bad weather)!

Lattes is within striking distance of the edge of the Camargue. On the Sunday before the storm we drove to Le Grau du Roi, just over the departmental border into Gard. With the sunshine and what we later discovered to be the morning event it was heaving, and restaurants were very full. As we wandered round looking for a simple bar we began to notice heavy barriers and cowpats, then something was revealed by a notice on the bridge! We had arrived too late  - or was it too early (?) to see the Camargue bulls being driven through town to the beach or whatever else horses, bulls and males do in the streets or on the beach. Extensive research since with Monsieur Google has failed to distinguish the abrivado from the encierro, or the fete votive or re-vivre; let alone establish how much mindless cruelty is involved versus local cultural heritage! Here is some YouTube footage of something similar last year.

Neatly dodging this moral dilemma Greyrocks settled on eating - rather than running with - bull! After the French Sunday lunch rituals were over we went in search of ours and found a beauty on riverside. Click for the Trip Advisor link.

Either side of the big storm we made trips to Palavas - twice, Carnon, and Perols by bike and to Montpellier by tram. With Ruth's knees feeling the effect of a previous day's trudging through mud, on one of these occasions - actually her name day in France - the afternoon's activity was a jolly trundle through the historic bits and banlieues armed with a network map. Very good value and further confirmation that public investment works!

"Yes - there is an R in October!"

Then it was a straight run down the autoroute and over the border to Roses in Catalunya. We stayed for the third time at the same hotel and were given a particularly nice room. The sun shone most of the time, but with a chilly wind, so bike rides were a bit short! In searching for a launderette we saw more of the backstreets of the old town, and were tempted into a modest establishment by a display of oysters. A delightful lunch, and having been given a rose by the jefe a French lady next to us emptied a wine bottle, filled it with water and handed it to us! But next day it was clearing and repacking Yvette (in the rain) for the closedown. Space was tight so the rose was left in Roses!
 

La Grande Inondation de Montpellier 2014

And where is Montpellier?

After the rain on Greyrocks' arrival day there was a let-up and we were able to cycle down to the sea on one day and go to the cinema on a slightly wet day; but it  was only a matter of time. All the talk was of what was to come on the Sunday or Monday. The warmer the weather over the week the worse the forecast for the coming storm. Thus the glorious Sunday when we went to Le Grau du Roi (more of that later!) was both an unexpected delight and a foreboding!
In the early hours of Monday morning the rain started and it did not stop for almost 24 hours. Greyrocks had a plan: cagoules, drive to the Carrefour car park, tram to Comedie, long lunch somewhere nice and a V.O. film to get us through the afternoon!
It started OK, torrential rain as we waited for the tram,, but when got off at the station to either change lines or take a short walk it was worse! We stood for 10-15 minutes in a bit of shelter at the tram stop and watched as water poured down the slope of the tram line and cars elsewhere were going very tentatively though increasingly high puddles. All we could do was run across to the Brasserie de la Gare, which had closed off a few tables and just run out of its plat du jour! It bore some resemblance to a transit camp, and as we slowly ordered and consumed a reasonable late lunch the clientele was being moved into a smaller and smaller space as the outer room went underwater and a couple of waiters attempted a Canute or Hans Brinker with brooms! A waiter said it was only the second time on fifty (or was it fifteen) years that this had happened. Eventually there was some easing up and Greyrocks got to the cinema. They watched  Mick Jagger's' "Get on up" in version original in the presence of one other punter. It held the interest whilst we now know all Hell was being let loose outside!
Believing that the hypermarket where we had parked would close at 8pm and in need of supplies we scuttled down to the station. The tram track was now like a river and the digital display gave ominous warnings about the inondation on our bit of the line, but after about 20 wet minutes a tram arrived. It went a few stops and we could see that  road traffic was at a complete standstill. Soon so were we and we were all thrown off at a major station with no trams going anywhere at all. So we had to walk!

Part of our campsite! One tent is out of shot!

This started off OK on a broad modern boulevard between carriageways and with good lighting, but we new from numerous rides that the cycle path and walkway would soon deteriorate after going under the A9! The map shows one is close to the river Lez and it was this breaking its banks that had led to the city being put on Red Alert at 4pm. In increasing gloom and decreasing path width we trudged along in our shorts/cropped trousers and sandals and decide to go the other side of the road for greater ease at road junctions. We came to a fence and had to go back across the completely jammed road traffic to the other side. The path went down to nothing and we were wading. Coming the other way was a group of women in work clothes and shoes. We had a discussion about viabilite and one of them promptly fell into a hole and went over completely. When we got back to the car all businesses on the site were firmly closed but a thousand cars were still in the car park - including Yvette. With great difficulty and several times in the wrong direction we got out of the flooded car park and by back roads to the campsite entrance, which was blocked by a towed caravan and a couple of cars. This was eventually resolved and we hunkered down in our comfy mobil-home with a scratch supper. The events were now national news! Montpellier was the centre of it all and had come to a complete halt. Here are some relevant links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjZ_g1JlZuM
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/galeries-photos/photo/20140929.OBS0599/photos-inondations-spectaculaires-a-montpellier.html
http://www.weather.com/news/montpellier-france-flash-flood-vigilance-rouge-20140929

Things were more or less back to normal by Tuesday morning and the rest of the stay was an Indian summer. See next post for how Greyrocks spent it!
 

From A to B (Ancona to Barcelona) Part 1: ANEK plus Ancona equals Angst!

The idea of entering Italy at Ancona rather than Venice was to avoid hanging about in Patras until midnight and the unpleasant ships now on that route. Our French friends from Kandanos had done this but reverted telling us of disembarkation difficulties in Ancona. Greyrocks should have listened!



We had lunch and a beach afternoon on Chania's Nea Hora, followed by some time-killing near the port at Souda, easy embarkation and a fairly pleasant overnight voyage. En route from Piraeus to Patras there was a navigational error. This shouldn't have happened after all these years. We suddenly found road signs for "ferry port", but it was for no ferries that we knew anything about. Greyrocks are SatNav refuseniks, but the new Hudl has GPS, and it was brought into use for the rescue. We had wasted about 9 miles and half an hour, but there was no urgency - other than to find out the result of the referendum which was by then imminent. We stopped at a service station on the Corinth road only to find their WiFi was down. A little later we stopped at a roadside bar in a medium-sized town and got the news. Needless to say there followed an extensive post-mortem including some rich language with us surrounded - we thought - by non English-speakers. Suddenly a woman at a neighbouring table said "Excuse me, are you from Sydney?" Bizarre!
We pootled along towards Patras - making a detour to a town with a little train up the mountain, a line of a dozen motor-homes on its little beach and a massive traffic diversion because of railway construction. This was, in fact, a feature of the whole day's journey:- long lengths of roadwork on both National and parallel minor road, lengthy and barely adequately signed detours and the sudden appearance unopened stations with no evident track. It was good to see some investment in infrastructure in Greece, but frustrating to be metres away from a better road with no way of getting to it!


It all seemed so simple at this point!

 In Patras we found the cheapest diesel in Greece and filled up in the hope (fulfilled) of not needing any in Italy. We had beers in bright sun at the marina and were given several plates of mezes. We checked in and repeated the procedure at a bar on the port complex and got through security to a small queue. We were siphoned off because of the bike rack, but still got on quite quickly and when we were given an upgrade to an outside cabin we thought things were going really well. It was a good ship, with plenty of public space and a decent cafeteria, but then we stopped - somewhere near Kefalonia. Nothing was said but it was clear we would be late into Igounemitsa. Ruth was awake when we did, and next day Bob went ask and was told that we would be something like two hours late. This really mattered as we had planned a hotel that we expected to reach in daylight. We sent a warning email to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the voyage.

Good old ANEK (blue and yellow corporate colours, you note!)! A ferry from Greece to Italy with a huge German-speaking passenger base and plenty of French, has unscheduled announcements in only Greek and English! In this case it was that only the driver could go down to the car deck. Ten percent of people understood this leading to remarkable chaos all over the ship as folk with all sorts of luggage, buggies and cool boxes were re-directed down two flights of stairs to wait the eventual arrival of their vehicle. The delay meant that the competing Minoan ship was already berthed and one poor man in hi-vis was trying to regulate the merging of the two queues of HGVs, private cars and coaches, with school groups and elderly coach parties tried to get themselves and baggage into coaches that were in said queue, and families tried to locate and re-join their cars with children, dogs, etc! Ghastly! The whole procedure took us two hours, culminating in the complete closure of the exit whist a train went across the level crossing. A "never-again" situation!

By now it was dark. Route-finding was straightforward but we sat in a long tailback from the major road whilst a team dozen rally cars roared up the wrong lane. Welcome to Italy! Still, we settled onto the autostrada and thought we might still make it in time for a much needed beer. We were to stay at a well-rated simple hotel with a Forli address. We had a thumbnail map and a set of access instructions in Italian, but it was very dark. We had not set up the Hudl for navigation. We thought we knew where we were going, but at the junction no signs seemed to relate to anything! It took four difficult conversations with (slightly drunk) punters and staff in various bars, several U-turns in the middle of deserted industrial estates, and nearly an hour and a half of frustrations and - yes - recriminations before we found the place - and not an open bar in sight! This was an evening that was probably a seven-year nadir for Greyrocks!

Next day's 250 mile drive to Arenzano on the Ligurian coast was a doddle after that, and the motel were to use was visible from the autostrada. We made a trip down to the seafront and had a very good meal. Phew! And the next day we got over the border to Menton before buying cheap diesel and finding our chain hotel in Aix-en-Provence. Through all these days there was beautiful sunshine, but on the last leg - to Lattes - there wasn't, and it was touch-and-go on the rain front; but we made it to catch Reception before lunch, got installed and did a supermarket run before it started. Some good luck, but the meteo was not promising for this week and indeed yesterday Greyrocks was part of climatic history! Read on!







The End of Summer

Enjoying late summer sun at Limnaki cantina

Greyrocks is now in Lattes, near Montpellier - again!
We left Paleo on 19th September and not a great deal happened between Chloë leaving us and our own uprooting!

 September started during her stay and the consensus was that it was "October weather", but it still made for a pleasant ten days for her in her new gainfully-employed but holiday-deprived state. There were several days with serious wind so we drove to Grammenon or Gialaskari beaches. The former was a pleasant surprise. We had heard that the fairly new taverna there was giving the highly-rated one across the road a run for its money, and having had some time on their sunbeds - run by Albanian Arnesti, who used to do those on Limnaki - we took lunch there. It now a has a name - "Homous" - and it is very similar in style to Methixis in Paleo. Ruth may well give it its first Trip Advisor entry. As an escape from Paleo wind and for shallow sandy bathing it is a winner - plus the food!

And on that subject Greyrocks worked its way round Chloe's favourite restaurants and tavernas doing no good at all for Ruth's diet! On less windy (but sometimes cloudy) days she joined us under "our" tree with a hired sunbed, we played tavli and listened to live music at the cantina, and she joined a Friday Scrabble game. We put her in a shared taxi one evening and by the next morning Ruth was confined to bed -with a filthy cold thus missing a trip up to Kandanos for dinner, and Bob followed on a few days later. Thus our final ten days were not quite as planned.

It was also Paleochora Art Week (all 16 days of it!) This year's event was bigger than last but just as well-organised. On the prom and at the Sandy Beach statue there was a large and impressive collection of sculptures. We went to the opening at the "Town Hall" which was crammed, and were particularly charmed by photographs by Carolina - who works in Cosmogonia. They show poseable figures in key locations in Paleo and around.

As before there was further artwork at points around the village, although in fewer tavernas.

Once we had both recovered we embarked on the big closedown - aiming to dispose of stuff we would no longer need in Paleo. Greyrocks is now committed to the "block rental of tourist accommodation" solution for the summer. It has a few drawbacks as a plan, but is very much better than the annual rental of second-rate flats, which is all there is available now. (Our 2012 and -13 flat has remained unoccupied since our departure!) Hence we have set up the arrangement with Mary for next year's 100 days.

There has been less live music than usual this year in the village's bars and tavernas, but a procession of street entertainers. The depressing Romanian children have done their thing, and the Greek guys who dance came back, and in the early weeks we enjoyed the stilt-walker/fire-eater whom we believe to be Mexican but would only say he came from "Clownland"! Our favourite was, however the modern lyra player from Sitia who played outside Stavros one evening keeping us there for many hours.

How do you choose?

In the final week it was "touch and go" for the beach, and there was rain too (of sorts), but in contrast with past recent years we were able to both sunbathe and enter the sea on our last full day. The card school got back together for a session and Ruth came last, but at Scrabble she had two dramatic wins. We took Yvette for a wash and she got stuck.

We organised supper for nine at The Small Garden and there was a loud and not entirely friendly row about the Scottish Referendum. We set off in Yvette more or less as the polls opened and the rest is history. How would we learn the result? Watch this space!

 

Close encounters of the watery kind

5.7 earthquake on 30th August

Since last posting we have worked up to the crescendo of August 15th and come back down with a shock! It has been very, very hot! The consensus is that there were more Athenians than ever in the village for the long weekend of Assumption. This meant plenty of road and restaurant rage, mumblings by locals and Greyrocks giving any car (or Chelsea Tractor) with a Z or Y at the front of its plates a very wide berth! Early dinner or eating at home was also the order of the day! And then it was over

Four friends resident in Kalives came down for a couple of days. They largely did their own thing during the day but at night Greyrocks took them to two restaurants we thought would be a change for them from standard Greek fare. These were The Small Garden - frequently cited here and Kapetan Dimitris which goes from strength to strength. The main feature of their stay though - apart from hours of great conversation - was the intense heat. Here are the maximum temperatures for August as recorded at Paleohora weather station:

Next Greyrocks had another short break in Chania. The purpose was to take Yvette for her "preventative surgery" (cam belt, fan belt, water pump etc) and when completed to come back with Chloë from the airport. The delightful Danaos was full so we stayed a few doors away at another hotel, which was comfortable enough but we didn't get the sea view we were expecting and it had the usual features of Greek rooms in terms of shower and mattress! We did at last achieve "closure" on the duck front by locating the fairly newly opened China Palace restaurant in the square in front of the big church. Not perfect, but having discovered that it is owned by the much-slated one in Platanias we were very happy with what we chose, the very good red wine and the service! We were also able to watch some amazing break-dancing in the square. The beach was not too crowded, the sea was lovely and we had some good meals. Then C's plane was only half an hour late arriving, and we were soon back here for ten days en famille (although with the offspring lodged elsewhere!)

So, over the last ten days we have said "Kalo Ximona" (have a good winter) to a swathe of friends and "welcome" to rather fewer but still with musical instruments! The weather has gone somewhat awry for the time of year, we felt an earthquake, and Sifis still won't come out of the reservoir!

Snap!

Last week Greyrocks celebrated its anniversary of meeting and of marriage. Not a significant number in either case but marked nonetheless!
In the morning Bob proffered this postcard wittily annotated with reference to expiry of driving licences. All very charming! In the evening the traditional meal was taken at The Small Garden. On the table had been placed by Joep (Sifis) and Liselotte a small gift and a card:- the same one with a message about carrying on down the road together!
Ahhhh!

Meanwhile the other Sifis is still at large! The crocodile living in a reservoir near Rethymon continues to elude transfer to a more suitable habitat and is attracting many tourists and spotters. We sent news of this to various friends who visit regularly and received a couple of replies about Crocs on beaches - the colourful sort that usually appear in pairs!

And talking of things on beaches this carefully crafted oeuvre appeared near the cantina on Thursday - thanks to Noreen and her young French assistant! It's been getting pretty busy down there since August began, with the arrival of many of the usual suspects, but more of that later!

Ruth and Olga have been playing weekly Scrabble, and Ruth has been given the Grand Master a run for her money with newly-recruited Joe rapidly improving. This week saw an amazing score of a draw of 202 each for Olga and Ruth, and Joe staggeringly close behind. Worth recording for posterity, so here is the board at close of play. Snap!

Of Bikes, Flags and the Elusive Duck

Proof at last on the Sandy Beach!

Some of Paleo's most loyal visitors come in May, but καλοκαίρι (summer) seems locally to be designed as July 15th; and so it was then that arrived the bulk of the sunbeds, the opening of the cinema and the two real blue flags. They have been waving a lot as we have also been having weather regarded as "August" in nature:- with more unbeachable days than on Greyrocks' records! 

More days than Greyrocks likes have been put over to "bad weather mode" with lunch replacing dinner. A few of these have been at Oriental Bay, where the daily special is always delicious and good value and one portion shared and accompanied by retsina helps to dull the disappointment! As it is on the Stony Beach side it also provides some shelter from the wind, and a lovely vista. Each year there is yet more eclectic and tasteful decoration there, and the new theme has delighted Greyrocks! This is in part because of the association with Le Grand Depart in Yorkshire. The highlights were watched (thanks to the VPN) and mighty fine it was! 



Meanwhile more modestly we have been pootling around the village and out to the campsite taverna. Ruth's new bike with its mere seven gears (and impressive basket) had seen so little action on the way down that it had been hard to judge its worth; but it has now been cursed four times when the chain came off coming down the hill from the beach parking spot to the Elman.  The jury is still out on this, Halfords!

Greyrocks' mounts at rest in spiti

Off for some paracetemol, perhaps!

And then there was the World Cup! Greyrocks has a lot of reservations about a lot of things with regard to this, but entered mildly into the spirit, and suffered serial humiliation by supporting first Spain, then Greece, then France! (Note the absence of Greyrocks' motherland!) Only the second of these was in accord with the prevailing mood in the village, and only two or three tavernas dared to eschew huge outdoor screens. By the quarter-finals Greyrocks had visited seven of the eight nations involved (not Costa Rica). For the Final we asked The Brothers at the grill if we could watch with some wine but no food and were given it free:- probably to reflect their  (covert) desire for a German defeat! With the large German presence in Paleochora the rejoicing was serious. Then things returned to normal.

The ongoing saga of the statue in the main street had a further devolopment with the patriotic painting of the plinth!

And the Chania collection!

We needed a holiday! When Greyrocks was last in Chania we checked with our favoured little hotel on the Nea Hora for two consecutive nights in a sea view room and homed in on 23rd and 24th July, so Yvette was brought out of purdah and taken for a wash and brush-up in preparation for the 1.5 hour drive over the mountains. En route we dropped off at the Fiat garage armed with vocabulary for "cam belt and water pump", and asked about some preventive surgery for next month. on the sea front the Force 6 wind was making even opening the hotel door almost impossible. Ironically one of the things Greyrocks sought by coming to the North coast was escape from the wind. There was also some cloud!. Nonetheless the sea was beautiful and people welcoming.

Another objective was a Chinese meal with duck, which regular readers will recognise as an obsession when in Paleo. Over the years two restaurants have closed leaving only - we thought - Suki Yaki. We trudged through the heaving harbour area and hearts sank when we saw no paper lanterns at the entrance to their alley. Sure enough, "for technical reasons" they were closed for the season! Grrr! So we eventually settled on a quality Italian where the food was good, service excellent and cost of wine a disgrace. Greyrocks will post on Trip Advisor in due course! Next day Mr Google came up with The Golden Wok in the commercial part of the city. It looked OK! We noted down the address which had come up prominently alongside the listing. In sweltering heat and humidity we walked there and saw the sign, but inside it was a kids' playcentre. Around the corner on another door was the notice saying they had moved elsewhere. We were told it was so far away it was not on the map, and then an old acquaintance from Paleo  hailed us in the street, chatted and confirmed the new location is over by the airport! So a taxi back to Nea Hora and a local pleasant Greek meal. To add insult to injury two days later Olga told us there is a new Chinese beside the cathedral. Double Grrr!

Matala 2014:- The Weekend of Love!

Greyrocks made its annual pilgrimage to Matala from June 19th.  Fortunately we had been told that the date would not be Greek Pentecost (as previously) but the solstice and so were able to book a hotel some time ahead, and it was a good one, very near the stage, beach and restaurants and with easy parking! We travelled straight to Rethymon and had a night booked with Lefteris. In the afternoon we went to the beach (with free sunbeds) and in the evening ate at The Noodle Bar getting in some beautiful duck.Next day we got off fairly early and as we headed south over the mountains the clouds gathered. It did rain:- not much, but sufficient to cause anxiety, but in fact it was wind and high seas that were the problem over the weekend! The date change (allegedly something to do with the election) did adversely affect the festival. There was no "big act" - other than a return gig by Tonis Sfinos, which is amazingly popular with Greeks of all ages, and a complete mystery to everyone else! Other acts were mostly tributes: Doors, Muse, Bob Marley, Police and Beatles, and were of variable quality!

It was arguably not as good a line-up as in previous years and there was less music going on formally in the village itself, but we came across some great busking and went to one of the bars that have developed at the extreme end of the bay. Most time was however spent - as usual - at The Lions where we greeted as old friends, and we were hailed within minutes of arriving at the hotel by B&J from Kalives, and spent a good few hours with them and their friends.

A good few had travelled from Paleochora for the weekend, including three women running a clothes stall. The pavements had been painted shortly before and the themes were predictable. There was a good vibe despite the fizzling-out by Sunday evening.

On Monday Greyrocks decamped and went to the Nea Hora in Chania for an afternoon in the sun and a night at our favourite hotel. It would have been an afternoon on a sunbed but no discount was being offered for our very late arrival so we petulantly walked off to a taverna and spent at least that much on a miso-kilo aspro krassi! We went back there for supper and Ruth enjoyed a section of one of the octopus seen hanging earlier. Next day it was delicacy- and bargain-hunting in the big supermarkets and back to Paleo.