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| The June Red Moon! |
It was just ten days that Greyrocks spent in Paleochora before schlepping over to Matala for the Festival. In that time we settled into the new living arrangements:- a tourist apartment with a bit of a deal for the 100 days we would take it! Bliss and Rapture! A comfortable bed, a fairly secluded and spacious balcony (and a second additional one!), proper WiFi, and generally traffic-free! OK, the fridge and cooking facilities are "compact" and there is a throughput of short-stayers with varied patterns of behaviour, but it seems like a very good move.
Within the ten days we experienced the June Red Moon which was glorious and staked our claim on a beach spot using an established
tamarisk tree, the stored and labelled sunbeds and a cable with padlock. In the first few days there were some incidents with "others" who wanted to share the shade. Our friend Rainer came for a short stay and one day was bursting to tell us of an interchange he witnessed when a German-speaking woman had an outburst about our "disgraceful actions" unaware that he would understand.
Here is the update on the village;
1.
Gentrification:
We have an outburst of bars and
ouzeries in Chania style:
a. In the old OTE office one opened last season and lasted at most 10 days. The new one goes right through to where the public phones used to be:- with artificial grass in the "courtyard".
b. The Akropolis taverna and betting shop has closed (latter is now opposite the butcher). The replacement is proving very popular and has an interseting
meze selection.
c. Where Nikos the Jeweller used to be there is yet another which we visited with our Morden-based comrade and sampled the local red wine (An "interesting" experience!)
d. The old Pelican near the Skala- (once run by
the Bhagwan's followers) and more recently a supermarket is now the relocated Bakakais bakers with tables.
e. The lovely Votsalo near the pebble beach has finally been given permission to put decking and more tables at pavement level following the closure of the trendy Mediterraneo next door.
f. There is a similar extension at the Water's Edge.
2.
Council Issues
a. We have new mayor! It is Adonis - one of the brothers from The Palm Tree (somewhat younger than the norm!) - and hopes are high for action after he takes office in September.
b. The statue is back! Following some false starts over the last three years the famous (?) Cretan patriot now looks out again from a new plain plinth. This will delight those for whom it was a "big thing" in raising infants here
c. Two of the three town beaches have been awarded the
Blue Flag. These is of course no sign of tangible fabric flags hoisted on poles (it is only July!) but this is real progress on last year.
d. Safer sea bathing has returned in a second regard! At first sight the shore itself on the Sandy Side looked grim with much exposed rock and an apparently difficult ingress to the sea, but in fact it is much better than last year. In the time Greyrocks has been here there have been two very serious windy spells and more shifts of the sand have taken place:- some for the better and some for the worse, but it's definitely a great place to be!
e. Foliage parasol makers have had a field day! Many have been brought in to replace the standard collapsible fabric ones. Yesterday there was a rumour that they are seven deep at the busy end! At Limnaki
kantina Yiannis has had to employ half a dozen in place of the good wooden structure erected last year as part of a legal crackdown.
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!
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.
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!
