Contents
Out and About
Rethymnon CIC Excursion: Sunday June 27th
Once again Albert van Elst has put together a great programme for this month’s Rethymnon CIC excursion which will take place on Sunday 27th June. Albert writes: ’This month’s excursion is going to be a combination of Water and Nature. We’ll first go to the Omalos plateau for a coffee and to have a look at the entrance of the Samaria Gorge. We then descend to the area of the village of Lakki and visit the botanical gardens (
www.botanical-park.gr ). There will be entrance fee, (€4 according to their website). We will also have lunch here.
The next stop is the village of Agia, the village where Mikis Theodorakis spends most of his summers (his father was from Galatas, near Hania). One of his most famous compositions is Zorba’s dance from the movie Zorba the Greek, quite often referred to as the Syrtaki dance. He drew his inspiration from old Cretan traditional dances.
We then continue to ‘water fun’ at Limnoupolis Water Park near the village of Varipetro, about 8km from Chania (
www.limnoupolis.gr ). Here you can enjoy the water slides, the swimming pools or just a drink,
because it is the end of June and we all want to cool down sometimes! The entrance is extra, but we’ve fixed a friendly price (about €10)! On the way back to Rethymnon we stop at Kournas lake for a coffee or an ice cream. Our pick ups will start from Panormos at 8.30am and then it’s 9.00am at Platanes and Rethymnon. People from Georgioupoli can be picked up at 9.30 am. We hope to get many Hania guests this time because we are coming to their prefecture. Pick up from Hania will be about 10.00 am. The price for the excursion remains unchanged:
€15 for C.I.C members and €17.50 for non members.
The charity that we will receive the profits from the excursion will be selected at selected at our coffee morning on 3-6-2010 in La Bamba Bar on the beach road.
For bookings, contact Albert via email at info@winterincrete.com or by phone on 28310-56641.’
‘In Sfakia’ A Must Read for Anyone Who Loves Crete!
Many thanks to Daryl Ries for providing us with this review. Daryl writes: ‘If you would enjoy a personal and intimate introduction to an area of Crete, its land, people, culture, and challenges through history, IN SFAKIA is the book for you. Published in 2008 by Peter Trudgill, a sociolinguist from England, it is the chronicle of his many trips to Chora Sfakion each year over a 30 year period. While the book journals the experiences he and his wife Jean had on these many trips, you will meet along the way the colorful and inspiring characters who reside in the village by the sea and those who have left their legacy and footprint on the mountain paths and seaside shores. You will be excited with Sfakian lore, with the intricacies of the landscape and the nuances of the language. This book will leave you knowing you must visit this hauntingly beautiful place, to engage with its people and to share in the warmth and hospitality that abound. You will yearn to scramble the hillsides searching for mountain greens, snails, and the elusive Lammergeyers; to sit in the evening in the tavernas listening to stories of the past and hopes for the future; and to take into your soul a piece of this very special Cretan Village.
On our most recent trip to Crete, as is our habit, we returned to Chora Sfakion for a superb lunch at Nikos. Having found “In Sfakia” in 2008 and having read it 4 times, we asked first if Peter Trudgill was perhaps there. “Coming soon” was the answer. Before we left our adopted home, we returned to Chora Sfakion and thanks to the volcanic ash and the cancelled air flights, Peter and his wife Jean Hannah were in fact there! Excitedly we set about to find them and subsequently spent a lovely afternoon by the sea discussing the book and the Village and sharing how very much the book has meant to us. We were excited as the gray cat from the book came by for a treat and several of the main characters were pointed out to us. We discovered that “Stelios’s step” cut into the harbor was in fact one that we had thought we had identified three weeks before. The beauty of Professor Trudgill’s book is that everything becomes an intimate part of your life as you read and you are left feeling that you have shared in his and his wife’s experiences through time. Thank you to Peter and Jean!!’
Daryl Ries, a “recidivist” from Montana, USA
