Ferry Tales: Pride of Winchester now in Rethymnon!

You can run but you can’t hide. You do a ‘life laundry’ and move to the Southernmost point in Europe, but somehow the British Channel always manages to come back and haunt you one day….

As many of you will already know, here in Rethymnon we are currently trying to float our own boat, having been scuppered by previous trireme owners. Getting our own ship off the ground is obviously going to take some time, and we do need a direct sea link connection in the meantime, but we’re not entirely sure that what is currently on offer is ‘ship shape and Bristol fashion.’

A new weekly ‘DIRECT’ ferry connection between here and somewhere else has just been announced in the local press. And please don’t quote us but according to our understanding it goes like this: ‘The Vitsentzos Kornaros (aka Pride of Winchester) will leave Pireaus every Friday 7pm to set sail to Kythira in the Peleponnese where it is expected around midnight. After a brief stopover the journey continues to Rethymnon with an expected time of arrival at 7.30 am on Saturday. At 4pm the ferry will leave for the port of Kissamos, Western Crete, from where it will continue to Antikythira, Kythira and Gythio. From there it will return to Rethymnon on the Sunday and will leave from here to Piraeus at 7pm on Sunday. We promise you we're not making this up. No wonder Zorba got seasick.

As one might have guessed, the current interim boat is sort of subsidized by the Greek government (our Belgian roving reporter has just explained this as follows: ”It’s like the sponsored bus routes to those Oxfordshire villages that nobody really wants to go to”). Apparently, Lane Ferries has the contract for 8 years with the promise that after 3 years the Kornaros ferry will be replaced by a more modern ferry - it will have reached the age of 35(officially) by then.

And the story of the ship? Originally launched in a fizzy fashion as the Viking Viscount and apparently built in 1976 by Aalborgs Værft A/S, Ålborg, Denmark, it was initially used for the service between Felixstowe-Zeebrugge. The Viking Viscount was transferred to the South Coast in 1986 for the route from Southampton to Cherbourg. Then in December 1987, ownership passed to P&O European Ferries and in 1989 she was renamed Pride of Winchester, and spent some time doing the Dover-Calais run. Singing all together now “There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover and parakeets over Crete….”

Sporting Triumphs

Or perhaps not. Our local (male) football team Asteras are not making life any easier for themselves. They are just above the relegation zone and desperately need to win a few points. “King of the Draws? No applause!”. Krises (our female footballers) are also having a bit of a hard time, but at least they are winning some important games, and, fingers crossed, they might even be playing at national level next year.

Basketball? The story is not nice right now. Rethymnon Aegean are in serious trouble. The previous coach has been sacked, some of the players have had their contracts terminated. It’s just not going into the back of the net.

And as for OKA Arkadi? Well the spirit is willing but….it looks like they’re going to go down.

But, on the other hand, just when you thought that it wasn’t safe to go back into the water, the volleyball scenario has turned around and suddenly seems to be coming up trumps once more. Hands up for OPER who now would appear to be ‘unstoppable’ in the Cretan regional division, and with any luck should actually make it to the playoffs. Which means that they, like Krises might actually get to play at national level next season. Here at the Bugle we are very, very sorry indeed for all those rude things we said about volleyball earlier.

And as for the rest of the sport in this region? Horses for courses. However, the Rethymnon Cricket Club (in its infancy some would say), is doing surprisingly well as it happens and has managed to bowl some real googlies. Next stop Corfu!

Monumental Responsibilities

As we have reported in previous issues, over the last couple of years a lot of restoration work has been carried out in Rethymnon. It’s not all good news, though. The Venetian Harbour is in serious trouble. The harbour walls are in danger of dissolving, and according to a recent underwater survey the only reason that the lighthouse can actually be managing to stay upright right at the moment is due to divine provenance (karma and Zeus). It would seem that no proper maintenance has been carried out since the 1980s. Emergency repairs have been authorised….

Meanwhile, back at ground control there is the issue of the Nerantze Mosque Minaret. Currently nicknamed ’Space Shuttle Apollo 55’, this landmark has been clad in scaffolding for a few years now, ostensibly in order to protect the public from the minaret falling on somebody’s head. The trouble is that now, it seems, the scaffolding itself is dangerous not only to local inhabitants but also to the minaret (in point of fact you should be less worried about the minaret falling on you than the scaffolding, but this will not be an incredible surprise to some of you). There’s a huge fuss going on as to where the money is going to come from to sort this one out. BUT IT’S A TOURIST ATTRACTION!!!!!