Silver Lining?

Not many takers on the Stony Beach!

Greyrocks' duties as "parents of the bride" finished officially on Monday 6th, This was only just over halfway through our 100-day stay in Paleochora. Naively we imagined a long run of lazy sunbathing days and relaxed evenings. We had not foreseen the elements that would mean we end August wondering where the time has gone, and how we will handle the brevity of what is left. Those elements are:

1. Short trips to Chania
2. Peculiar weather
3. Wrestling with The Cloud and slow internet speed.

Irish pub - not hospital cafeteria!

1. As mentioned in the previous post, the stay of Chris and Penny was curtailed the day after the wedding, as he had been suffering abdominal pain since Italy. The local doctor said he should undergo tests at the hospital in Chania. We stayed in touch by SMS and on learning that he we would an in-patient for several days we decided to visit on the Tuesday and Wednesday - staying overnight in our current favoured hotel. We took the town bus from the bus station and Penny met us at the hospital entrance. Chris was able to come down to the cafeteria with assistance and his drip, and they told us detail of his diagnosis and admission. We said we would be back next morning and took Penny back into town where she was switching rooms. We checked in and went to the Nea Hora for a swim and to wait for Penny. Later we walked the pretty way to the Old Town and introduced her to The Red Bicycle. Penny went back to her rooms to rest and we visited KaMon - which is the new name for the "Irish" pub and music bar run by Monika (late lamented in Paleochora) and Karl. We wouldn't normally be able to visit when open so this was a treat and we were made very welcome and heard a lot of news. The evening was marred only by an argument with a taxi driver! We returned next morning to the hospital, and owing to text problems and later a long lock-out from the ward we were there a long time before seeing Chris, but when we did it was with the news that he was discharged, so the rest of us had a beer to celebrate and dropped them off from a cab, for some rest, insurance wrangles and flight booking. Greyrocks went for walk round town and took the 4 pm bus back. In the queue we were intrigued by two women who seemed to know us but we agreed we had no idea. Later we discovered they were Juliet and daughter Bethan and we should have known!

Our second trip was two weeks later for a blood test at the private clinic. We used the same buses but had to choose different overnight accommodation - convenient for bus station and clinic and not the most comfortable! We took a long route to the Nea Hora front, took in the newest prettifications and ended up - as usual - with a pleasant light lunch at Akrogiali entitling us to the rest of the day on  free sunbeds. That evening we indulged in that rare summer commodity for Greyrocks:- duck! We found again the only place we know for it: BaoToa on the Kissamos Road. It was pleasant enough, though clearly not properly coated and hung, and the other rice dish was the wrong choice.

"We could stay here, you know, next time!"

The postprandial stroll was a bit disappointing. Any bar in the tourist area was jam-packed and the shopping area had nothing open, so we opted for the bar at the 4* Samaria by the bus station, and had some good wine in a quiet atmosphere (apart from the diesel engines behind the fence!)

Once the letting was done we had most of the day at liberty so we checked out and went for breakfast on the Nea Hora front and spent  some hours on paid sunbeds with frequent swims in very warm and gentle sea, and then in very hot sun walked back for the bus.

2. As August progressed numerous regular holidaymakers of our acquaintance came (and in some cases) went. A major topic for discussion has been the weather. This has always been the case in Paleochora, of course; but this year it has been "something else".We have never had so many days away from the beach for meteorological reasons of rain, wind or high seas:- rarely all at once - but it did happen! Storms shift the top layer of sand and make sea entry difficult. If interested take a look at the stats:

And this is in the context of a heatwave in Northern Europe! So musings happen about the lifestyle for coping being so much better here! Greyrocks can report that today (31st) has been a glorious day with perfect sea and a gentle breeze!

3. August will also be remembered for frustration on the IT front. Our normal internet speed in spiti is nothing to write home about, but come peak occupation in the block and the village it plummets. We have been trying to do things with the 800 stills and six videos  which Stanislav has been drip-feeding following the party. On three occasions we collected an external drive and copied to the laptop, but we wanted to make them available to friends and family and this has been ongoing for weeks as we shoehorn on to free clouds, then pop down to see if there are more (there were just in fact the three sets - things were lost in translation from Bulgarian to English via Greek!), then suffer a power cut, then an internet outage,then discover the allowance on One Drive has been cut etc etc. We still hope to have a short slide show with music ready for next week, and to publish its link here!

A footnote on live music:  After a poor July we have seen an outburst of live music through August - apart from several impressive Cretan concerts the three rock bands form Chania (whose line-ups overlap) have been playing regularly (at Scala or Atoli), and the usual suspects have been jamming at cantina, the old Monica's, Cosmo and Christos, Watch this space for more!

A Month to Remember!

Last night and the previous there were glorious Red Moons, and this brought to mind that the last one (four weeks ago, of course!) was during the Wedding Week, and there have no Greyrocks posts since then. Our regular reader will understand that blogging opportunities have been sparse during August 2018 with its several events that will never be repeated! To date there is an emergent 15 minute video of the "do" itself on - 2nd -  waiting for a soundtrack. (As we are experiencing a rainy few days there is hope for completion) The video is destined for showing to recently-arrived friends next week, and at the September Bristol Party. Here is a link.

Facebook users will find plenty about the week on the group page: Jack & Chloe Paleochora 2018, but this is the parental take.

Palm Tree Pork Shank - enough for 4!

There were some early arrivals - notably Neil and Maggie who would have to leave the morning after the party to go to another wedding and had used Heraklion and a hire car! After initial orientations (and some wine) we largely left them to their own devices through the daytime hours, but took them to selected eateries for the evenings. First it was Red Moon Night so we went to Marias for some typical food and the view, and the next day to Monica's Garden followed by The Palm Tree/Finikas. With sommeliers in the family they had come with recommended quality local wines in mind and both places rose to the challenge :- in particular Valentino aerated and gave a discourse on a very pleasant bottle - a process repeated for the second bottle!

Sunday was A-Day with a fleet of taxis arranged to meet Gatwick and Bristol flights and those who had been overnight in Chania. Ruth was up early to meet one drop-off at Castello. We took some goodies round to the up-market accommodation booked for Chloë and Jack and waved to them from the balcony as they left the minibus. We later went to the welcome drinks meeting at Zygos which had a decent turnout with everyone seemingly happy with arrangements. We then went to Tassos with Neil, Maggie, Janet and Grant and waited until the last bus arrival at about 10 pm to greet Chris and Penny, who had come in from Pisa:- the previous stop in a complicated holiday trip involving Genoa and Marseilles! Getting them into a room at the now-closed and dark Castello was an interesting venture, that left Greyrocks needing a drink at Cosmogonia!

Chloë had planned (and we had on-site facilitated) a series of additional recreation activities for the period. After a planning meeting with key people at Atoli we had some beach time and then prepared fora meal at Small Garden with our two special guest couples, whilst over thirty went for a pizza meal (tightly orchestrated) and then came back to Zygos for Quiz Night. Predictably it started late, but Chris did an impressive job, there was much hilarity, waiter Eleanor worked madly and participated, and we were eventually left to fend for ourselves. Janet somehow managed to get contributions that matched the bill, Our team came last: - with Ruth having fallen asleep!

Other notable daytime events were Felix and Lucas jamming at the cantina, with some numbers from Rainer (and Brazilian Emmanuelle), Ruth teaching George to play tavli, thus starting an obsession, and a scratch game of Pétanque on the beach. Volleyball didn't happen owing to the wind, but Tim led a trip to Elafonissi and posted drone footage on YouTube.

On Wedding (Party) Day itself a team of helpers were around from the point at which Atoli would let us start decoration. It took hours and there were some misunderstandings to resolve with Manolis, but the effect was stunning as can be seen in the slideshow.  Some folk set off to forage for greenery, flowers and free lemons. The latter failed and the greengrocer had to be used, whilst the rosemary (a traditional symbol) was easily solved with a whole bush from Vicky. )The foragers used two baskets - later needed for the "favours" - which had been a headache to source. Having failed to find any in Chania and trying to borrow just a couple of days before, we saw that the Roma had turned up again on the beach road and we commissioned two to be hastily made - later returned as too bulky to travel and thus providing a charitable donation to said nomads!) Charlotte had arranged a programme of hair and beauty appointments for the female helpers, and thus it was that at 5 pm assembly of the beautiful began on the beach. Greyrocks believes the slideshow is document enough of a delightful event! Later on there were two accidents - one requiring a full taxi trip to Chania General - the other a trip next day to Kandanos Health Centre, but details are inappropriate here!

Friday was a day of recovery! A scheduled family (and treat for George) meal at Houmas was abandoned and late in the day we discovered that Chris and Penny would be leaving on the evening bus to go for tests in Chania. Many folk also wanted an early night as they would be walking the Samaria Gorge next day. Taxis and a minibus would be leaving at 7 am. When we woke (as definite non-participants) we received a text from Chloë and Jack and thought the serious wind might have meant no boat back and another plan ditched,, but in fact it was just over-sleeping and caution. Twenty-seven sturdy souls - including a couple of seniors  - had gone. Several parties waited that evening at bars near the jetty for their evening return, and there they all were:- virtually unscathed!

Sunday was departure day for quite a few, but over twenty carnivores shared a whole lamb on the spit cooked especially for us by the brothers at Gonia ton Gefseon, followed by late drinks across the road at Cosmogonia. We went to see off the happy couple as they left next morning for their real honeymoon, and we collapsed. For the aftermath see next post!