Adio, Ciaou, Hasta la vista and Bonjour!

One of the benefits of being retired nomads is the time available for travel research, This leads - in our case - to serious miserliness about fares. So when, in September Rainer casually mentioned that Ryanair had started flying from Chania to Frankfurt-Hahn we were onto their website like rats up a drain, because getting anywhere sensible directly so that Athens can be avoided has to be a good thing :-  and cheap!

On closer inspection this particular route proved expensive, but the other new one we found is Chania-Milan (Bergamo). So this how we plaaned the migration this time:



... and such a good price!

As time passed in Crete the benefits of missing out Athens became more apparent. The images on the BBC news website of accumulating rubbish as a result of the strike by municipal workers brought to mind the unsavory nature of the streets round the Piraeus port even in strke-free times, and the prospect of roaming around for half a day and then being crammed into a crowded airport bus was not inviting. With no air traffic control strike on the day of travel we thought we had struck(!) a neat solution, with the greatest stress being a very long wait in Bergamo airport.  In reality we were somewhat touched by the Greek troubles. We ran from the Paleo bus to the airport bus at Chania with1 minute to spare. At the airport the departures board showed that every outgoing flight was delayed. Every so often the Aegean announcer made a strong statement about the unjustfiable ATC work to rule. We were told we were delayed by at least two hours:- no problem for us! It was a beautiful sunny day, so we wandered over to the old airport taverna for a beer or two, and found a full charter planeful of Danish tourists on a much longer delay being herded, addressed and fed by their reps. We were in fact three and a half hours late getting away.

Bergamo airport landside is completely dominated by Ryanair and rather uniform, but could clearly be a useful way of getting to Milan (three competing coach firms available for the city centre), and is a serious hub for all Europe. We mooched around, had a fairly good meal and then a long queue for security with the rudest personnel in attendance. Airside is a bit more interesting, and again we saw it for longer than planned as we had a delay of an hour and a half! Still, it all worked and we were in our hotel room within 30 minutes of landing, and it was - after all - very cheap!

Next day it was a pick-up by Margarita and delivery to waiting Yvette, diesel, tyres and over the border in two hours.

So - in 24 hours we had had footfall and sustenance in four nations. Someone has to do it!

Disturbing the Peace...

... Strikes, Storms, a Moving Experience and Things that go Bump in the Night!
First Max returned home, then the weather went a bit dismal, then Chloe went home.. but not as planned!

Through the summer there have been a number of threatened air traffic control strikes, but they were mostly called off having been declared illegal, or were just for a few hours. On October 5th it was to be the full McCoy of a strike and so all Greek airports would be closed. This was the day she was booked to return, and immediately start work. Fortunately Easyjet handled this well, and she switched to the previous day's flight - an early one! It wasn't pleasant feeling responsible for getting her up and to her early airport lift after her very late night at Agios, but it happened and she made it.

So we settled down to enjoy our last ten days and deal with the close-down. A serious storm was on the way. On the Wednesday it was glorious, and we stayed late on the beach, thus capturing Stelios as he fished beside the cantina. On Thursday there was more wind and cloud, but it turned out to be our last dip in the sea for the season,  because the beach was no place to be for the next five days! Friday was dull, windy and (relatively) cold. We sat at the Seagull watching a few hardy souls on the beach, whilst Tomas and Tony dug up parasols and stacked sunbeds in preparation. So Saturday was bound to be the day!

We lurked around in the gloom until early afternoon, and then decided to risk a walk over to the Oriental Bay. Then the heavens opened! We were sitting under their solid-looking thatched roof, and it held for a while, but the water on the floor flooded towards our feet, and then the holes in the roof were found. Thunder, lightning, invisible Crocodile, and a drenching just to get to the loo! This lasted for hours, then we ventured forth, but got no further than the old Coconuts, where we met Olga and Stephen and were caught again - this time inside! The day ended with a meal at The Crocodile which was having its last night of the season (in anticipation of the storms). We had a very jolly (and cosy) time inside with two other parties and Giorgos clearing the decks, then waded home through a deserted village.

On Sunday the main talking point was the state of the sea. It did also rain dramatically in the middle of the day, but dried up somewhat, leading to attempts to go the beach, but the wind, swell and high tide had done a lot of damage:- several strong wooden parasols had been uprooted and were in the sea, and the poor cantina was in a very bad way, despite the sandbags! We speculated as to what might have happened to the sand which has been disappearing steadily through the season to give the worst ever entry to the sea. The answer is - it had got worse, with vast plates of rock newly exposed. Not a great time to arrive in the village, but at last Jim and Susan did - seriously strike-bound en route! We all met at Zygos after the last Scrabble of the season (which included a famous win for Ruth!)

Nor, frankly, a great time to be moving accommodation, but we did!

We have been spending the summers since  September 2007 in a very spacious and well-located apartment in a family house; but were told in July that the owner needed to move back into it by the Spring, so we embarked on a quest for somewhere new. We were told that the best time to look is September, and indeed - on cue -  there was a sudden outbreak of yellow and red notices fixed to posts around the village with handwritten details of various places to rent. They were - of course - in Greek, so we needed some help with calls, and also used the local newspaper and plenty of word of mouth. We looked at total wrecks we could have had rent-free, luxurious tourist places and some dingy hovels; but have ended up renting an apartment on the stony beach side. It is smaller than the current one, but a lot cheaper and still has a sea view. It is owned by someone from one the five main village families but who lives in Athens, and we feel lucky to have found it and done the deal. The idea was to move our stuff before leaving the island but not to actually inhabit until next year. So it was on Stormy Monday that we borrowed a pick-up and driver and did the deed - with help from Jeff and Mick to go up and down the stairs (Ruth's knees and stairs not being a fruitful combination at the moment!) We have accumulated a huge amount of stuff considering that we have been in furnished accommodation! We managed to dodge the rain and have it all done in an hour. Later that day the afternoon deteriorated into an appalling storm. We sat in Cosmogonia waiting for dry spells so we could get home, and were there for three hours. Down at the Skala the waves were huge and parked cars were getting deluged!

We had arranged for a visit by our landlady the next afternoon, and planned on a serious clear-up and clean, but at around midnight there was a crash and Ruth's feet were lower than before, then another and they were on the floor! After more than four years of faithful service the bed had broken, and when inspected we found it is a miracle it hadn't happened before! The landlady agreed! Wednesday was rather better weather-wise! In fact the cinq a sept was spent sitting on a lawn beside a pool with well-tended flower beds and classy garden furniture. Friends are going to over-winter in a pair of adjoining luxury tourist studios and invited us over. From there we went to an oldies night at the Skala, which was a real success! On our last day the sun came out properly and we managed a few hours on the beach. The sea was a bit cold, but the main difficulty was getting into it, so there was no real last swim - just a paddle, and then the summer was declared over as far as we are concerned!