Autumn Fun at the Acropolis!

All through last winter, even on some of the coldest and dampest days, Laina helped to keep us occupied with her jam-packed entertainment programme at the Acropolis Taverna (a.k.a. ‘Akropolis’!) in Platanes, (about 5 km East of Rethymnon centre). Great news, then, to know that very soon Laina will be back in action once again for the winter 2008-2009 season. As we have already mentioned on our This Month page, the ‘Gala Opening Night’ to mark the beginning of the winter festivities will be on Halloween (31st October, 8pm start, free buffet and disco).

On the basis of last year’s menu, there are several culinary delights to look forward to. These include: The World Famous Sunday Lunchtime Roasts; Fish and Chip Nights; Curry and Quiz Evenings and Wine and Cheese Tastings. Musically, we expect some treats: Live Rock, Blues, Jazz, Karaoke and much, much, more. And let’s not forget the other events that Laina has hosted in the past: Fundraising coffee mornings for local charities such as the Rethymnon branch of the Red Cross, and Friends of the Animals; Table - Top Sales; Alternative Healing Sessions and Saturday morning Greek lessons. A whisper in my ear tells me that this year we might even get to learn how to dance Salsa, too! Welcome back, Laina! In our next issue, we will be publicizing Laina’s November programme, in the meantime, look out for updates on the www.rethymnon.biz website.

The Akropolis Taverna in Platanes is almost directly opposite Galaxy Car Rental, which is about 25 metres from the Taxi Rank and ‘Happy Train’ stop.

To contact Laina for information about up and coming events and / or to enquire about bookings phone 6946808937.

World Tourism Day: What a Washout!

‘Not clever’ are words that spring to mind when describing the non-event in the park on 27th September to mark World Tourism Day. So it rained. So they cancelled everything. This, in our view, was a really foolish move (and as an egocentric aside, it left the editor gnashing her teeth at the thought of having to find additional content to fill the earmarked space so close to the print deadline). One has to wonder, sometimes, at the thought processes that go on amongst the powers that be. World Tourism Day is always on the 27th September, there are always still some tourists here in September and we always get some rain at some point in September. And tourism is the economic life blood of the community. Surely an alternative indoor venue could have been arranged ahead of time as a back up (the school just down the road for example)!

As we reported last year, World Tourism Day 2007 was marked by a five day fiesta in Rethymnon, so we were very disappointed. It’s not immediately obvious why the relevant organisations have suddenly gone off the boil in this respect, though maybe people are suffering from ‘festival fatigue’ after all the excitement of July and August. Still, given that the tourism industry has taken a bit of a hammering this year (you can read more about the ups and downs of the season on our Spotlight page), cancelling the event seems somewhat short-sighted.

Firefighters on Mount Sideros

The rain may have put a dampener on World Tourism Day, but all things considered, after yet another long hot summer, we should count our blessings right now. Thanks go to Val and Fred Sellers from Kissos, near Spili for reminding us of the damage that has been caused by wild fires in the region this year. Val and Fred write: ‘Now that we have experienced some rain for the first time in months it is easy to forget that only a few weeks ago in August we had to watch as many kilometres of beautiful Cretan scenery were burnt to the ground. Whilst visiting us on holiday in the village of Kissos my son Tim Sellers photographed the amazing acrobatics of brave pilots in two aeroplanes and one helicopter as they strove to extinguish the flames which were travelling down the south side of Siderotas Mountain slope. The fire fighters flew over dropping water most of the afternoon and at night there was still a red glow lighting up the sky as shown in the photograph to the right. These are just a couple of the pictures that Tim managed to capture as the aeroplanes and helicopter flew over our house. We were devastated when we saw the results of the fire and we can only hope that lessons can be learned so that we witness fewer tragedies such as these in the future.’