Celebrating a long life, another new knee and the seventies!

A typical last minute post to record the month of November for Greyrocks, and what a month it was!
It opened with some visits to the capital in preparation for the knee replacement which had been scheduled for the 17th, and some health centre visits for us both and some peculiar blood results for Bob. The knee job could have been earlier but for the funeral of Ruth's father and the flights that entailed. In view of everything we decided that only Ruth would go. She was off the island for 47 hours.

A Lancaster as flown in as navigator by Vic

"Continental" friends were astounded at the passage of almost a month between death and funeral, but it was a well-organised "do" following Vic's wishes entirely.Although cold it was dry. His squadron (153) and the local Aircrew Association did a wonderful job with a guard of honour of eight veterans, several flags - including one on the coffin, representatives of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and a very detailed and warm tribute by a friend who had used Vic's log book as a reference. (It was Remembrance Day which seemed fitting!) 

Then David made a tribute as grandson, which was also very moving, and humorous in parts! Penny and George had prepared a glorious slide show to music with a wide selection of images. Afterwards most went on to the wake in a local hotel. This was also where the same had been done for Ruth's mother eighteen months before. All other offspring and partners were there and it was quite a family reunion. In particular Ruth had met up with Chloe at the station beforehand and also spent time with her when her train back to Bristol was delayed! Ruth flew back next day, having got very wet walking to the station, but with a pheasant from Waitrose. At Gatwick she discovered she had left the Spanish mobile in the hotel, causing all sorts of difficulties, but sister Penny posted back the SIM and it arrived yesterday morning, thus rounding off a significant summer and autumn's family rite of passage!

Ruth's home for four days

Once returned thoughts turned to the operation five days later. Plenty of people have two prostheses, but no-one Greyrocks knows, so this was uncharted territory in terms of expectation and fear. It was the same (brilliant) surgeon and team, the room was a neighbouring room and less noisy, the food was equally disappointing and the nursing and domestic care just as good as last time. Ruth stayed four nights in the hospital and then moved to the hotel for another three. Bob had been at the hotel all week. Physiotherapy started on the day of "release" and all the professionals say progress is very good indeed. At present Ruth is moving round the apartment slowly without aid, uses one crutch for short walks outside and we have a  rented wheelchair for a month for longer distances.

Being away from Corralejo meant that Bob's 70th birthday was a strange affair! There were appointments with the surgeon and for physiotherapy, but around them we managed a very fine tapas lunch by the Playa Chica, where a tiramisu with candle appeared as a birthday surprise, a shopping trip for new sofas, where a discount was granted on the same grounds, and a delightful dinner at the current No. 1 Trip Adviser restaurant, where a cheesecake with candle was offered! Not bad pickings, Eh?

A birthday reminiscent of Dead Ringers' "The Lone Yachtswoman's Christmas Party" spoof of Ellen MacArthur!! (Link being sought)

In fact the three days in the Puerto hotel were a astronomic treat. In addition to the birthday meals we had two dinners at El Bounty - about which Greyrocks has raved but is now No, 2 on TA, and a posh tapas lunch at a neighbouring Play Chica place. 


Yesterday - bang on time - the two sofas arrived and were assembled. The 14 year old old suite was taken away without ceremony, and last evening Greyrocks discovered that it is much easier to fall asleep in front of the TV on the new seating! 

"Hola!" and "Adios!"

R.I.P. Vic 1924-2016

Greyrocks arrived home in the evening and it was drizzling, but all was well in the apartment and we went over to La Luna for a drink and take-away pizza. It was much busier there than anticipated, and it had been changed drastically,  but that's another post on the subject of tourism levels! At four in the morning a mobile rang. Ruth got up and in a stupour grabbed the UK one, saw a missed call and dialled the number. It was the British Gas engineer who had visited our UK property the day before! Profound apologies! The call was in fact on the Spanish phone and was from Ruth's sister to say that their father had passed away. This was not unexpected, and in fact he had survived several weeks longer than thought possible given his weakness from inability to eat, Ruth had made five day visits in July and then in September and seen that he had little will to live in his condition. The funeral is on November 11th and has been planned by her other sister who lives nearby and had - with her husband - borne most of the responsibility for visits and support during his illness and move into residential care.

At her sisters' request Ruth wrote an obituary for the local paper of the town where he had worked for eighteen years..

He was a hard-working, intelligent and principled man who had enjoyed life right up until his wife's death and now hated his growing frailty. He said he was "ready to go" 

The Best Laid Plans....

In the final week on Crete we organised two dinners for friends to celebrate  - rather in advance - Bob's big birthday coming up in November. On both occasions the weather and shortening of daylight meant it was barely fit for fully al fresco eating:- especially with the removal of much wind protection as documented in the preceding post! Nonetheless two good times were had by all!

A week or so before departure Ruth was being careless after a shower and fell down on slippery tiles breaking a little toe. This week she explained this to the Spanish surgeon and he said this injury is known as a "bed leg fracture" as it often caused by nocturnal stubbing of the toe en route to the loo! The pain of walking put paid to some intended activity, and the beach had to be accessed by car for a few days.  Greyrocks managed some sunbathing, but no entry to the sea, which was itself rather frisky and some windy days had shifted the sand again.

Departure day involved tight packing of Yvette, loading the bikes and then taking her for a car wash and dropping in on the cantina to say farewells! We then drove to the Nea Chora in Chania, had lunch in the usual place, slept it off for a while on the beach and went to check in early for the 9 pm ferry and consume gyros on the top deck before turning in!

In the morning we set off in the dark determined that we would not - yet again - miss the Corinth turn; but owing to having berthed in an unusual place we did go wrong at exactly the same inadequately marked junction! Next time, eh? Thereafter it was straightforward, except that an even greater length of the National Road was one lane each way with road improvement work.  It will be great when it is finished ;- there is some impressive civil engineering around, but meantime there is the legendary Greek driving which does not observe either speed limits or overtaking bans. We suffered a lot of impatience because we did! We had a stop for breakfast and another stop at a very pleasant beach-side taverna, then hit Patras with a plan! We had hours to kill, so parked up near the marina aiming to kill a few of them in a very pleasant restaurant we know. It was permanently closed! We tried another place nearby but it was expensive and with silly WiFi arrangements, so went ridiculously early to the ferry port and enjoyed a very sunny afternoon until joining the queue, where we sat for around an hour being ignored. Never mind, we had a good cabin and adequate cheap WiFi for the voyage to Ancona, which takes around 24 hours! We also found good quiet places to sit in one of the lounges, and - for the first time - ate dinner in the a la carte restaurant. Sheer luxury! We slept through the stop at Igoumenitsia, and so spent the day without much idea of where we were, but with a sense that we would be late arriving as we had been last time (two years ago). We were, but still beat the Minoan to the berth and disembarkation was fairly well organised, so we were out onto the autostrada fairly quickly and into insane and aggressive Sunday evening Italian traffic!

This year's A to B migration

Greyrocks' planning for the passage to Barcelona was a refinement of 2014 in that we wanted only one night in Italy, so it was booked for Emilia Romagna  - giving a slightly longer drive after the ferry, and we picked a hotel with a restaurant and close to the autostrada. We found it with only one error caused by a road closure, and it looked perfect, and it was time for dinner. Best Italian: "When does the restaurant open?" Oh dear! "No restaurant tonight - it's Sunday!" Best laid plans! So we ordered a Moretti beer - something we do like about Italy - somehow ended up with the strong one and sat alone in the bar area. Out came a plate of meat and cheese with bread. We ordered another beer and out came an even larger and more varied tabla! No need then for a restaurant!

The next day saw three serious stints of driving (in Greyrocks terms, that is!) with very good weather and less feverish road conduct by others; and this took us to the next stop of Nice. We had the printed plan and it all looked pretty easy to find the Kyriad, but we became confused by its position relative to a Leclerc supermarket and arrived frazzled after the typical navigational errors complicated by urban dual carriageways. When we had an incident with a pump at the petrol station the tension was palpable! After check-in Bob took himself off for a beer! Kyriad hotels lie on a continuum from basic to fairly swish. With this one being the cheapest chain hotels in Nice we should have predicted at which end this one would be! When we went down for dinner - almost forgetting that we had crossed a border and dinner is taken earlier in France - Ruth was the only female diner, the others being large groups of manual workers tucking in heartily from the three buffet areas. Even the main course was help-yourself with a choice of two dishes, so our plan for a gourmet first meal in France was scuppered in favour of wholesome standard fare but washed down with nicely cheap wine!

10 Grands Hommes (including one Femme!)

And so to Lattes and an intended  nine day stay without migratory driving! The weather was remarkably good for half of it. too; and Bob cycled each day. Ruth tried too on the second day, but the broken toe made pedal pushing impossible, so our trips to the sea at Palavas and Carnon were courtesy of Yvette! Another plan abandoned, but we also discovered on the first evening that a reliable restaurant helpful after a run round the Carrefour had been replaced by an Orange store and we had to resort to the Buffalo Grill! We made two tram trips into Montpellier, but didn't visit the cinema as usual because there were no VO films that appealed. One was to Odysseum  - a huge shopping and entertainment mall where we found the above statuary, described thus:!

"Il y a une place dans le style d’un petit amphithéâtre où l'on peut s'asseoir et se détendre entre les achats et les activités. Il est entouré de statues de personnages célèbres de l'histoire: Mao, Nasser, Golda Meir, Gandhi, Mandela, Lénine, De Gaulle, Churchill, Roosevelt et Jaurès."

The second half of the stay saw a real deterioration in weather and we took to going out for lunch and snacking in the evening chez nous! One  plan had been to share a plate of fruits de mer beside the sea in Palavas - preferably in sunshine, but by the time we got round to it indoors was the only option. The chosen plate arrived looking good, and the prawns, oysters and whelks were; but the big mussels were largely closed and those that opened contained only shriveled red vestiges. We said nothing but got out quickly very disappointed!

Other than this we very happy with our little "holiday". We had been upgraded to a very well-appointed and brand new mobile home, and the WiFi was excellent enabling us to make necessary business calls, and what turned out to be Ruth's last call to her dying father (see next post)

However there was one last - and major - change of plan to come. Staff at the campsite drew Bob's attention to a printout from the meteo, indicating that the whole area was on orange alert for torrential rain and flooding from Wednesday evening through all of Thursday, which was our planned day for driving over the Pyrenees to the next port of call. Serious deliberation followed and we eventually decided to jettison the final night in Lattes, go out for a brasserie lunch,  book an additional night in Roses and make a dash for it from mid-afternoon. The sky blackened as we drove south and we were just into Spain when the storm started for us. It was indeed torrential and contributed to a missed turn close to our destination and yet another navigational mess!

and no better in the Girona area!

We arrived in Roses in the middle of a huge downpour, and when we wanted to go out to eat we were lent a large umbrella by the hotel and got to one of the places we know as quickly as knees and toes would allow! It poured all night and we heard that at least one person died in the storms of the region. Through Thursday and part of Friday we dodged rain  - often in bars - and avoided huge puddles, but then the sun came out beautifully and we realised once again what a very nice place it is - particularly its wide prom with plenty of space for cyclists. We took Yvette for a thorough waxing before driving on the Sunday morning to Girona to settle her for the winter. We then took the two hour coach journey to Barcelona airport and sailed through all formalities and onto a problem-free (subsidised) Vueling flight back to Fraggle Rock, which we had left just over six months earlier!

Here today:- gone tomorrow!

The first half of September has - as is frequently the case  - been a series of short-lived phases!

On the first Saturday night we met Janine and John and he suggested we went that very night to look at a sight that would be gone by morning! Near the Lito apartments is a large cactus, which we now know  - thanks to gardener John - is an Echinops. For one night only it had three glorious blooms like this. By morning there were just three dangling dead things. How fleeting are some pleasures!

Fleeting too was the visit of our friends from the North! Six chums from Kalives near Chania took their little break down here and we met up with them twice:- on the second occasion it was an evening sampling the finer points of the village as it gentrifies. We met in Monica's Garden - the newish wine bar - and then ate at Finikas, where the food was exquisite and wine expertly selected, but the service dire! Plenty of time for chatting! The first encounter was a little soggier!Soon after driving down through some funny weather conditions they came down to Zygos where Ruth was playing cards. Bob arrived later and we chewed the fat for a while. As we got up to leave the heavens opened. The area has been suffering through the year from drought, but this was a dramatic downpour that lasted all of twenty minutes!

There have also, through September, been short-lived but severe wind episodes, heavy swelling tides and rain showers, with the resulting shifts of the sand on the beach and a mystery daily over where the safe entry point to the sea might be!

The first week in the month as usual saw the "flushing out" of tourists :- primarily Italians, families with school-age children, camper vans and Greeks! There was a lull, with peace reigning on the beach, but fresh sunbeds and umbrellas arriving in anticipation of the great silver influx of mid-September. And that is how the village is now:- busy on the beach but fairly civilised,  and with the quality eateries having a field-day. In fact it has only been in the last few weeks that Greyrocks has had attempts to share their tree!


Paleochora Art Week came and went but was much more than a week! There were a few new artists and Dutch Antony erected a geodesic dome near Methixis. One again we eschewed the underwater exhibition, and we managed to miss both opening and closing parties, which was an oversight!

Meanwhile Greyrocks saw a repeat of last September's party season. Within ten days we went to a 60th birthday celebration at The Wave, a 26th at Pantelis, an early other birthday in Kandanos and a 66th at the lovely Hamous in Grammenon. This last occasion was missed by Ruth, who had to spend four days (extended to six) in UK where her father is very ill, Bob had booked two nights in Chania to include returning with her from the airport, and took them anyway returning alone. Ruth's rearranged return flight was over three hours late and compensation is awaited! She arrived at Cosmogonia and the welcome party at 2.40 am. and within a day was suffering a very heavy head cold which - unfortunately - is not showing signs of a quick turnaround!

Finally we note the sudden removal - two days ago - of any form of canopy or pergola from tavernas and shops the length of the Stony "Boulevard"! This is the latest development in the Port Police enforcement of national law and has led to hefty fines for some. Controversy wages on Facebook over what is seen by some as savagery of a ridiculous and inconsistent ruling, and by others as indicative of the Greek tendency to ignore the law!! Hmm. (Greyrocks has been frantically searching the web for a link on this and has failed. Facebook never!)

Twelve days " en famille"

Chloë and Jack had a two week holiday on Crete this month. They flew into Heraklion and had a night in each of three cities as they worked their way westward. They particularly liked Rethymnon, as do many! There are details and photos on Chloë's Facebook page.

We met them from the Chania bus on the second of a series of very windy days. As there were several more it was some time before we were in the sea together, and that was on a day out with car seeking shelter. Killing three birds with one stone we visited Houmas, which is strictly in Gramenon. This has worked its way up in just a few years to being Number 1 for the town on TripAdvisor, so we were happy to have a long and delicious lunch on their terrace. It is a serious contender for the nuptials so we cased the joint, and it has sunbeds round a sheltered sandy bay, so we snoozed, read and swam through the afternoon.

Loutro: pretty but not deserted in August!

They sometimes joined us on Limnaki beach, especially at the cantina for beer, lunch and tavli, but also liked the stony beach, and at a weekend took the boat to Loutro as they did last year. Whilst there they enjoyed (as did Greyrocks in Paleo) a beautiful red moon, but they returned saying "Never again - or certainly not in August". It had been heaving! Back here they were staying at the other end of the village and did their own thing on a number of evenings, but we re-visited old favourite restaurants with them and they met up with some of Chloë's friends from childhood.

Monika's Garden

Their presence in the village was an excuse to visit two wine bars for the first time:

Monika's Garden is in its second season and becoming

popular. It turns out that a very old friend in the village is associated with it as his daughter will soon marry Polydoros. The courtyard is beautiful, but it was a very hot evening and it ended with Ruth suffering her first ever bout of heat exhaustion which continued into the next day!

and Castro - (not with a K as in the last post), where we enjoyed the stunning view at sunset.

Castro

 Otherwise they joined us for drinks at the usual haunt: Cosmogonía, where the size of multi-national groups of friends has been steadily growing through the season, and "home time" has been similarly advancing!

Chloë and Jack departed on Thursday by bus. Greyrocks recovered and are getting ready for a busy but cooler September. Last night we noticed that the first sculptures have been installed on the stony side prom (now designated a "boulevard") in anticipation of Paleochora Art Week 2016 (which is of course longer than a week!)

"Ch.. ch.. ch.. changes!"

Spoiler warning: If you want to discover for yourself abandon now!

Greyrocks is halfway through the Paleo stay and at a krassi/tsikoudia/musical evening at Monica's a few days ago we met resident James, who introduced himself as a reader of this very blog! (Are we into double figures now?). He reminded us that the annual update on the state of the village has not been published, so here we go:

• "Grands Projets"

The new "prom" at the July Red Moon

"Someone should sort this!"

Most striking of all the changes is the construction of a low wall the length of the stony-side promenade and a widened and  (rather oddly) delineated pavement. It is a thing of beauty giving the possibility of sitting comfortably all the way along and great for children to walk along. There are little gaps at intervals and some water taps. The street lamps are, however, rather "over-speced" so the low rate of operational status is probably a good thing! It means that the site of Ruth's great downfall last year is no longer evident!

Much less welcome, and allegedly a consequence - in some convoluted way - is the enforced removal of semi-permanent canopies from restaurants and bars along the same thoroughfare. It has been overseen by the Port Police, involves serious fines and is deeply resented by (obviously) the owners, by many tourists who feel the nature of the area has been spoiled, and by the mayor who has tried to intervene.

In the town itself there have been paving improvements in several side streets

• Catering casualties

There are definitely fewer than reported last year! Only the combined premises of Balladeer bar and Glaros restaurant comes to mind. The site is key (adjacent to the ferry) and the whole lot had been demolished when we arrived. There is now mysterious construction work in train. Watch this space! Following on from last year we can report that Dionysos remains firmly closed and the short-lived trendy place next to Votsalo has become a shop (see below). Papagallo has fallen from grace with Greyrocks following the sudden departure of Suzie as chef. She is now back at Atoli and that is working well. with the Thursday buffet a great feature!  

• New catering ventures

We have a completely new traditional taverna in the Old Town (close to where the pelican once lived), It is named Aunt's Taverna and as yet is is not being much used!

At Akrogiali (Stavros) there is transformation! Greyrocks has been eating there since the first visit in 1988. The heir apparent - Stelios - has left for Cyprus and now a new owner oversees a new team whilst Stavros stands in the street for a few hours each evening greeting. The interior has been modernised and the menu tweaked. Consensus is that it is not as good as it used to be, and the "ambience" is different - largely as a result of the serving of gyros and other pitta.

Pantelis has a new raised courtyard and is full most nights.

The ouzeri with a strange name in the main street between pharmacy and small supermarket has also considerably expanded and has tables in the evening up to the crossroads.

Finally and at last the old Fortezza has re-opened as the Kastro! The place has a dark history and was also open for a few years as the Variety bar during which there were tragic incidents. Now members of the original family have invested serious money and intend to have a bar on one level and a restaurant on the other, The views are spectacular, but it is barely finished and reports are mixed.

• Beach Life

There has been little change since last year, except that on the main sandy beach there is an expansion of tables and chairs as annexes of the tavernas across the road (Palm Tree, Veggera and Atoli), and attempts have been made to contain sand drift and clouds with a fence (which was itself brought down recently by wind!) 

The Blue Flags arrived in mid-July. This year only the two large beaches in the town got the award (Pacchia Ammos - the "Sandy" - to the west, and Chaldiki - the "Stony"- to the east) One again Limnaki (Greyrocks' beach) failed for lack of amenities, such as lifeguards, toilets and disabled access. To mark its boundary with the awarded section a rather amateur wood and card notice was been placed near the shore and it promptly fell down and lies on the sand!

The flock of Chinese masseuses has increased and from the frequent blasts of the aroma of embrocation they are getting business.

• Street Life and Events

"The Club" near the campsite is operating seriously this season - as Pearl Cavo - with live music twice a week. Veggera has also had some bands and a couple of beach parties, and Greyrocks has been to three rock gigs at Atoli which were excellent! The Jetee has hosted some significant acts aimed at Greek youth and in the distinctly "naff" zone. Combined with causing traffic chaos and charging ludicrous prices for beer they have endeared themselves to neither residents nor punters.

The Chess Tournament happened again with a few days' notice, there was singing and playing and dancing by the community groups down by the Skala, and a British wedding with eighty guests (or rather the associated hen party!) caused a stir!

Lula is classier than this!

Out on the streets there is nightly music by a strolling duo - Athenian we think - of skill and good manners. The Romanian accordionist is regularly about, and there have been few other musicians. (One Argentinian impressed Greyrocks but disappeared!) Some young Cretan dancers in normal dress and with impressive leaping have been about from time to time.

Whilst in Chania Bob had seen an act that had delighted Greyrocks over several years and he asked if they would be coming down South. They said they would and duly did, although the main dancer is in fact the sister of the original! Unfortunately there is no photo, but this is the idea (The female dressed as a male tango dancer performs with Lula, a full sized doll tartily dressed and attached to the legs with Velcro!) Ingenious - but to some a bit freaky!

• Shopping

Most significant is the retirement of Mr Vlisidis and the transfer of the supermarket to the Cretan chain INKA. It means somewhat more stock and two tills but it is rather cramped. Greyrocks has their loyalty card and thus visits to Petrakis are a rare event!

One of the Chinese clothes shops has closed but on the stony prom a new-  apparently good - women's clothes shop has opened. Other boutiques have been smartened up and we now have a pet shop! 

• Tourist flow and traffic issues!

The village seems to be having a good year in terms of tourism. During Greyrocks' first few weeks you couldn't move for Norwegians and we heard tell of regulars who said they wouldn't be back because they were fed up with hearing nothing but their own language. Of course they are good spenders! The next wave was Italians and then Greeks, which is just about to wane. German, Irish, British and French numbers remain stable and less prone to fluctuation.

Traffic problems continue to grow: the main ones being un-silenced two-wheeled things being ridden madly by youngsters, and Greek cars being parked absolutely anywhere the drivers fancy! The police do nothing and there is allegedly a torrent of complaints about it on Facebook!

But: Hey mustn't grumble!

Footnote on Knees

Just to round off July:
Yesterday Ruth mounted the bike and rode up and down the prom several times without pain!
The physio has loosened up the operated knee and the cortisone has eased the one in waiting.
This was the first ride in Paleochora since the Great Fall exactly a year ago!

A new phase opens.