We have got as far as Bologna, on the night of the biggest football match in Italy!
The drive from Bologna to Ancona really is not that exciting and you soon leave the heavy traffic for a 'country drive'.
After the ordiliness of Dover and Calais, the port at Ancona is an experience! After checking in for the ferry with our Internet printed vouchers, you get a proper ticket and a banner to hang off the rear view mirror and get directed to an unorderly 'group' of vehicles all clustered around the back of a ferry which is still unloading. And trucks still being searched, and illegal immigrants being arrested......As the time for departure looms closer and we are still waiting to be loaded, we begin to worry, and I set off across the tarmac to the loaders and point at the car, it looks distinctly lonely surrounded by 40 tonne trucks, there are few cars at this time of year.
'Yes, yes, we know you are there', but somehow I don't feel convinced, but finally we are loaded.
I can recommend this ferry trip, it takes 24 hours, which means you can party until the early hours and still have a lie in! A disco on board with Greek Techno music, fascinating!
The sea was so calm our wake stretched for miles behind us, without so much as a ripple to disturb it, and the following dawn we saw the coast of Greece, with mountains and snow, appear on the horizon as we made the brief stop at Igoumentsou.
It is now February 6th 2004, and later that day we dock at Patras, which is much the same as any port town, they always seem to be slightly jaded and disorganised places, just like Newhaven and Dieppe!
Disembarkation takes no time at all, and we try to get Customs to register our presence mainly because we want to re-register the car....They don't even want to look at our passports!
Petrol is 60 cents a litre......
The drive from Patras to Piraeus is easy, well fairly, the road is good, but what is missing is a sign actually directing you to the ferry port! We follow the signs for Piraeus and end up in the town (seedy again!). Finally we find the customs house and are directed along a 'track' that follows the water. Of course we have come off the main road at the wrong exit, but how are we to know that!
Chaos rains as I cue to get our boarding passes.....We get loaded on to the ferry quite early on, short on cash because we couldn't find a cash machine, once on the ferry and up high we can see the main road and at least four banks, but too late now of course!
Another pleasant voyage...these ferries are fun! The ferry from Ancona was nearly new, this one is older. but still the sheets are clean and crisp and the cabin staff are pleasant. The bar was good fun too!
We arrive at our destination, a chilly February morning soon after sunrise and as we arrive at Heraklion the sun catches Mount Ida, and the sun glints from the cap of snow it wears from November to June....Kazantzakis country at last!
Straight away my favourite quotation comes to mind.......
‘‘To my mind, this Cretan countryside resembled good prose, carefully ordered,
sober, free from superfluous ornament, powerful and restrained. It expressed all
that was necessary with the greatest economy. It had no flippancy, nor artifice
about it. It said what it had to say with a manly authority. But between the severe
lines one could discern an unexpected sensitiveness and tenderness; in the
sheltered hollows the lemon and orange trees perfumed the air, and from the
vastness of the sea emanated an inexhaustible poetry.
‘Crete.‘ I murmured. ’Crete...‘ and my heart beat fast.’‘ ’
Yes of course it comes from Zorba The Greek by the man himself.
And now nearly four years later, my heart does still beat fast, for like many who come to live here, Crete is in my heart.
On the way from Heraklion to Koutouloufari it poured with rain as only it can on Crete in February.
Having nowhere else to go we had arranged to stay with friends, for a little while, well about six seeks actually!
Now I had been to Crete before in February, but this was no preparation for what was to come, it was cold, it was wet, and then one morning I woke early and the first thing that struck me was the quality of the light coming through the gaps in the curtains.
Half awake I though to myself, that is just the sort of light you get in England when it has snowed......well of course it had! For the first time in many years Koutouloufari was wearing a comforter of snow, you couldn't call it a blanket, you certainly couldn't cal it a sprinkling either!
Snow balls in the street on Crete, snowmen in front yards? Yes we had them all, the amazing thing was the speed with which the snow was cleared so the roads were driveable. In Brighton our car used to get snowed in every year without fail, and there snow is expected!
As soon as possible we drove to Mochos, where people were digging their cars out of snowdrifts where the plough had thrown it over them, and finding a nearby olive grove we stopped to take a picture of the car and us surrounded by snow nearly a metre deep.....
But we were here and this is where we wanted to be......at last....home!
And what is the next thing we start to do??
Yes, start house hunting again!
Thursday 13 December 2007
Wednesday 5 December 2007
Moving to Crete - Nearly The Final Episode.
I promise this will be the final part.......At least of the moving saga.........
OK, we have a buyer, we have a moving date, and we have a leaving date for Crete. We even have started the process of buying somewhere on Crete.
What can possibly go wrong?
Nothing so far...As the day approaches for leaving the house in Brighton we continue to de-clutter, at least we now know what is in the boxes that came from my mother's house 9 years before, Ebay and car boot sales have done us well, we gradually pack boxes until our existence becomes a pile of cardboard boxes in the lounge. Removals and storage are arranged, and so is transit of our stuff to Crete, by Phil, The White Van Man, yes, we were his first trip out, his trial run, it's all our fault!
We leave the house, and I go back to work in the afternoon. No regrets about leaving the house, we had some difficult times while we lived there and good ones of course.
The removers take everything except the brand new stainless steel pedal bin, which just happened to have somehting packed in it, which I didn't miss until three years later!
We go to stay with friends.........
December 2003 arrives, and we get a message to phone the lawyer on Crete, the house we want to buy is illegal, not just a question of it being the wrong shape or a bit too big, it just shouldn't be there at all. To legalise it will take €6000, and we ain't paying it and neither is the man who owns it! Lawyer says "Don't touch it", so we don't. Heigh Ho, back to the drawing board.
It really is much easier to buy somewhere when you are on the spot anyway, and have the cash in the Bank!
Christmas comes and goes and our departure date looms large on the horizon, we organise a leaving party for two days before we are due to go, we go and see relations and distant friends who can't get to the party.
Two weeks to go and the company I am working for on a temp basis, hands me a permanent contract, can you believe it? Sorry boys I decline your offer, why couldn't this happen 10 months earlier?
The last day, 30th January 2004, a quiet day packing the car. I do something that I have always said I wouldn't. I pack socks and underwear in a bin liner because that is the only way I can fit them in the car. Everything is in except the clothes we need for today and tomorrow morning, the pc is in the boot, there are two suitcases on the back seat, and everything we are likely to need on the way
Last night, dinner with our best friends, a rather subdued occasion, they think we are mad, we think they might be right.
February 1st 2004, the storm which raged last night has blown itself out. We leave earlier than we expected and arrive in Dover nearly two hours early, that's fine, we get an earlier ferry.
Our route is planned to take a week, because it's February and there will almost certainly be snow on the way, which is why we both have two great big Tog24 winter coats with us taking up so much space inside the car.
I have run off the itinerary from the Michelin web site, we are going via Calais, then Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy to Ancona for the ferry to Greece. The first stop is Cologne for the night and the plan is that we only travel by daylight so we arrive in the city in daylight.
The plan doesn't work of course, the itinerary is so detailed that it gives us every single exit we pass which confuses the issue, I throw away the itinerary and use the atlas.
We arrive in Cologne...after dark. Now British cities are bad enough in the dark. German ones are even worse, you can't see the signs, and even if you can they are in German. We find the railway station as our first landmark, and all of a sudden we are taking the bridge over the Rhine. Wrong. Negotiate one way system and cross back again, spot street sign with our hotel in it. Ask German hotel doorman how to get to it. Down that street, but you cannot drive that way, do this and this and turn left there.
We do as told, end up in wrong street, and then we cross the river again, by the same bridge. OK we are good at this now because we know where to turn.
Head back across different bridge, aim for hotel again, wrong again, back across the river, different bridge this time. Negotiate one way system and cross river again. Stop and ask doorman again, he laughs, who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour.
Pass end of street where hotel stands, screech to a halt and reverse over traffic island and reverse the wrong way down one way street to reach hotel. Remove bags that we need for the night, get directions to secure parking, leave hotel foyer, return 45 minutes later having crossed the bridge again. We are now experts on the Cologne one way system and have actually found the way that we must go to leave the city in the morning.
Tired and stressed we find a place to eat, full of foreign businessmen in town for an exhibition. Good German food though, excellent soup, made from sorrel, it turns out when we ask what's in it. Have couple of drinks and so to bed.
Day 2, we leave Cologne heading for Stuttgart. Nice easy drive, we have two nights stay booked, and Stuttgart is a pleasant place. Weather like spring, heater off and windows down on the car. The Germans drive like maniacs and there really aren't any speed limits you know.
Arrive in Stuttgart, now I don't know whether you know Stuttgart, but if you do then you will know that there is a tunnel through the hill. Our hotel is near the tunnel, we end up going through it. OK no problem turn round and go back except we still cannot spot the street into the hotel and anyway there is a tram stop in the way.
Proceed back out of Stuttgart from whence we came, and try again. Once again we miss the turning and view the inside of the tunnel again. Finally we turn wherever we can, lo and behold end up outside front door of hotel. I pretend that I knew this would happen, I don't think I was believed!
Ask hotel owner for a good place to get German food, looks mystified and directs us to a Chinese!
We don't want Chinese, we want German. 'What you want all that pork and potatoes and cabbage?' 'Yes', we do. 'OK. Go there then'. Points across street.
We go to eat....Lots of beer, lots of pork and those wonderful potaotes that they do in the oven with onions and bacon, and of course cabbage. The family that run the place do not speak a word of English, but we gather they are having a party for some reason. We end up included and are pleased that we do not have to drive the next day.
Relaxing sitting in the sunshine drinking coffee and large slabs of low calorie cake (I don't think).
Find nice bar, tell Steve not to mention the War, he didn't have to, the man next to him did it anyway. An hour listening to him apologise, I don't know why as he is only about 25. Go to Chinese to eat, the man that runs it is from Manchester. Absolutely excellent Chinese food though, and free drinks because we are English.
Day 4 leave Stuttgart en route for Bologna, Italy. Get lost, Michelin itinerary is completely wrong, the road has moved, we can see it but can't work out how to get to it. Have to take 45 minute detour to get to it. Finally spot the temporary road sign that we missed lying by exit. (Ever noticed in Germany how many roads leave the autobahn for a place called 'Ausfarht'?)
Beautiful sunny day, a little snow on the side of the roads as we head for Austria, but still no need for the two new coats which are taking up so much space.
Buy vignette for the car and also the ticket for Switzerland as we decide to drive through it as well. Stop for lunch at Swiss roadhouse, undoubtedly the worst food I have ever had in my life. Even THF is better than that. The bill comes to about £30! Buy fuel, look at price and only put in half a tank, get stopped by Swiss police who want us to unpack the car. Drop the lid and open boot. Policeman see amount of gear and changes his mind and sends us on our way.
Switzerland was pretty, white snow and pine trees spotlessly clean in the sparkling sunshine. Arrive in Innsbruck, get lost, do a tour of the town......
Find way out and enter Italy, Lake Como was gorgeous, can understand why people go there. Italian drivers are downright rude, they can see we are sitting on the wrong side of the car. At least the Germans gave us plenty of room. The Italians overtake and then cut in about 6 inches in front of you.
Road tolls horrendous.......windscreen wiper falls apart when we use the washers, buy new one, cost €25!
Arrive on outskirts of Bologna with time to spare before dark. Traffic everywhere, stuck in it for hours, try to change route to get into city another way, plenty of time to read the map. One hour to go one mile!
Finally get into city centre, stop to get directions from a policeman, of whihc there seems to be hundreds everywhere. Local youths spot car and shout out 'Hello Dell boy' Obviously they do not appreciate that a 1983 Ford Escort Cabriolet XR3i is a classic car.
None of the policeman speak English, finally find one that speaks French. Ask for hotel by name, he points to sign above my head. How clever, the Italians actually put up signs for all the hotels. He points out the way across the road and then tells us we cannot drive that way but must go round the block.
OK fine we are good at this now, so reverse the wrong way up a one way street, it's the easiest way. Realise we have started a trend as three Italians do the same thing.
Check in, ask desk clerk about the traffic, it seems we have arrived on the night of one of the biggest football matches in Italy, like their Cup Final, and Bologna are playing at home. Mental note to self, allow for this when next planning a trip.
Find excellent pizza house, full of Italians, all enjoying themselves. Our table is suddenly pushed up next to another one to make room for one on the end, obviously we will be unable to leave until the people that cam in after us have finished. Oh well we didn't want an early night really.
Day 5 Bologna to Ancona, but you are going to have to wait for the next bit and the final arrival on Crete one dark February morning.....
OK, we have a buyer, we have a moving date, and we have a leaving date for Crete. We even have started the process of buying somewhere on Crete.
What can possibly go wrong?
Nothing so far...As the day approaches for leaving the house in Brighton we continue to de-clutter, at least we now know what is in the boxes that came from my mother's house 9 years before, Ebay and car boot sales have done us well, we gradually pack boxes until our existence becomes a pile of cardboard boxes in the lounge. Removals and storage are arranged, and so is transit of our stuff to Crete, by Phil, The White Van Man, yes, we were his first trip out, his trial run, it's all our fault!
We leave the house, and I go back to work in the afternoon. No regrets about leaving the house, we had some difficult times while we lived there and good ones of course.
The removers take everything except the brand new stainless steel pedal bin, which just happened to have somehting packed in it, which I didn't miss until three years later!
We go to stay with friends.........
December 2003 arrives, and we get a message to phone the lawyer on Crete, the house we want to buy is illegal, not just a question of it being the wrong shape or a bit too big, it just shouldn't be there at all. To legalise it will take €6000, and we ain't paying it and neither is the man who owns it! Lawyer says "Don't touch it", so we don't. Heigh Ho, back to the drawing board.
It really is much easier to buy somewhere when you are on the spot anyway, and have the cash in the Bank!
Christmas comes and goes and our departure date looms large on the horizon, we organise a leaving party for two days before we are due to go, we go and see relations and distant friends who can't get to the party.
Two weeks to go and the company I am working for on a temp basis, hands me a permanent contract, can you believe it? Sorry boys I decline your offer, why couldn't this happen 10 months earlier?
The last day, 30th January 2004, a quiet day packing the car. I do something that I have always said I wouldn't. I pack socks and underwear in a bin liner because that is the only way I can fit them in the car. Everything is in except the clothes we need for today and tomorrow morning, the pc is in the boot, there are two suitcases on the back seat, and everything we are likely to need on the way
Last night, dinner with our best friends, a rather subdued occasion, they think we are mad, we think they might be right.
February 1st 2004, the storm which raged last night has blown itself out. We leave earlier than we expected and arrive in Dover nearly two hours early, that's fine, we get an earlier ferry.
Our route is planned to take a week, because it's February and there will almost certainly be snow on the way, which is why we both have two great big Tog24 winter coats with us taking up so much space inside the car.
I have run off the itinerary from the Michelin web site, we are going via Calais, then Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy to Ancona for the ferry to Greece. The first stop is Cologne for the night and the plan is that we only travel by daylight so we arrive in the city in daylight.
The plan doesn't work of course, the itinerary is so detailed that it gives us every single exit we pass which confuses the issue, I throw away the itinerary and use the atlas.
We arrive in Cologne...after dark. Now British cities are bad enough in the dark. German ones are even worse, you can't see the signs, and even if you can they are in German. We find the railway station as our first landmark, and all of a sudden we are taking the bridge over the Rhine. Wrong. Negotiate one way system and cross back again, spot street sign with our hotel in it. Ask German hotel doorman how to get to it. Down that street, but you cannot drive that way, do this and this and turn left there.
We do as told, end up in wrong street, and then we cross the river again, by the same bridge. OK we are good at this now because we know where to turn.
Head back across different bridge, aim for hotel again, wrong again, back across the river, different bridge this time. Negotiate one way system and cross river again. Stop and ask doorman again, he laughs, who says the Germans don't have a sense of humour.
Pass end of street where hotel stands, screech to a halt and reverse over traffic island and reverse the wrong way down one way street to reach hotel. Remove bags that we need for the night, get directions to secure parking, leave hotel foyer, return 45 minutes later having crossed the bridge again. We are now experts on the Cologne one way system and have actually found the way that we must go to leave the city in the morning.
Tired and stressed we find a place to eat, full of foreign businessmen in town for an exhibition. Good German food though, excellent soup, made from sorrel, it turns out when we ask what's in it. Have couple of drinks and so to bed.
Day 2, we leave Cologne heading for Stuttgart. Nice easy drive, we have two nights stay booked, and Stuttgart is a pleasant place. Weather like spring, heater off and windows down on the car. The Germans drive like maniacs and there really aren't any speed limits you know.
Arrive in Stuttgart, now I don't know whether you know Stuttgart, but if you do then you will know that there is a tunnel through the hill. Our hotel is near the tunnel, we end up going through it. OK no problem turn round and go back except we still cannot spot the street into the hotel and anyway there is a tram stop in the way.
Proceed back out of Stuttgart from whence we came, and try again. Once again we miss the turning and view the inside of the tunnel again. Finally we turn wherever we can, lo and behold end up outside front door of hotel. I pretend that I knew this would happen, I don't think I was believed!
Ask hotel owner for a good place to get German food, looks mystified and directs us to a Chinese!
We don't want Chinese, we want German. 'What you want all that pork and potatoes and cabbage?' 'Yes', we do. 'OK. Go there then'. Points across street.
We go to eat....Lots of beer, lots of pork and those wonderful potaotes that they do in the oven with onions and bacon, and of course cabbage. The family that run the place do not speak a word of English, but we gather they are having a party for some reason. We end up included and are pleased that we do not have to drive the next day.
Relaxing sitting in the sunshine drinking coffee and large slabs of low calorie cake (I don't think).
Find nice bar, tell Steve not to mention the War, he didn't have to, the man next to him did it anyway. An hour listening to him apologise, I don't know why as he is only about 25. Go to Chinese to eat, the man that runs it is from Manchester. Absolutely excellent Chinese food though, and free drinks because we are English.
Day 4 leave Stuttgart en route for Bologna, Italy. Get lost, Michelin itinerary is completely wrong, the road has moved, we can see it but can't work out how to get to it. Have to take 45 minute detour to get to it. Finally spot the temporary road sign that we missed lying by exit. (Ever noticed in Germany how many roads leave the autobahn for a place called 'Ausfarht'?)
Beautiful sunny day, a little snow on the side of the roads as we head for Austria, but still no need for the two new coats which are taking up so much space.
Buy vignette for the car and also the ticket for Switzerland as we decide to drive through it as well. Stop for lunch at Swiss roadhouse, undoubtedly the worst food I have ever had in my life. Even THF is better than that. The bill comes to about £30! Buy fuel, look at price and only put in half a tank, get stopped by Swiss police who want us to unpack the car. Drop the lid and open boot. Policeman see amount of gear and changes his mind and sends us on our way.
Switzerland was pretty, white snow and pine trees spotlessly clean in the sparkling sunshine. Arrive in Innsbruck, get lost, do a tour of the town......
Find way out and enter Italy, Lake Como was gorgeous, can understand why people go there. Italian drivers are downright rude, they can see we are sitting on the wrong side of the car. At least the Germans gave us plenty of room. The Italians overtake and then cut in about 6 inches in front of you.
Road tolls horrendous.......windscreen wiper falls apart when we use the washers, buy new one, cost €25!
Arrive on outskirts of Bologna with time to spare before dark. Traffic everywhere, stuck in it for hours, try to change route to get into city another way, plenty of time to read the map. One hour to go one mile!
Finally get into city centre, stop to get directions from a policeman, of whihc there seems to be hundreds everywhere. Local youths spot car and shout out 'Hello Dell boy' Obviously they do not appreciate that a 1983 Ford Escort Cabriolet XR3i is a classic car.
None of the policeman speak English, finally find one that speaks French. Ask for hotel by name, he points to sign above my head. How clever, the Italians actually put up signs for all the hotels. He points out the way across the road and then tells us we cannot drive that way but must go round the block.
OK fine we are good at this now, so reverse the wrong way up a one way street, it's the easiest way. Realise we have started a trend as three Italians do the same thing.
Check in, ask desk clerk about the traffic, it seems we have arrived on the night of one of the biggest football matches in Italy, like their Cup Final, and Bologna are playing at home. Mental note to self, allow for this when next planning a trip.
Find excellent pizza house, full of Italians, all enjoying themselves. Our table is suddenly pushed up next to another one to make room for one on the end, obviously we will be unable to leave until the people that cam in after us have finished. Oh well we didn't want an early night really.
Day 5 Bologna to Ancona, but you are going to have to wait for the next bit and the final arrival on Crete one dark February morning.....
Saturday 1 December 2007
One Good Reason for Moving to CRete
There are many good reasons for moving to Crete, and this is only one of them!
It is 1st. December 2007, it's 20C with light winds and the air is so clear you can see from my house to way the other side of Heraklion, the sea is blue and the clouds look like they were 'painted by numbers'.
Of course it is not always like this, sometimes the sky is as black as your hat and it pours with rain ("It's raining chairlegs' is what the Greeks say!) But always after a time we come back to days like this, and there is nothing like sunshine to lift the spirit when all around you is falling apart.
And a short drive away are the mountains where you can go and scream when you want to!
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Why Blog when I am only moving to Crete
This is the place where I can write things down and be sure that I can find them again.
But maybe if you are reading this you might be wondering who I am.....Well I am an English guy that now lives on Crete, the largest and possibly the most beautiful Greek island.
I first visited Greece in 1969 on an 'educational' cruise on the British India ship SS Uganda with 1500 or so other schoolchildren (that's what they mean by Murder on the High Seas, I think). All of us were from Sussex, and my group of course were from the Lewes County Grammar School for Boys, which later became the Priory School Lewes and is now some awful College of some sort.
All that aside, I fell in love with Greece from the moment I first set foot on it. Not just the archaeology, but everything else about it. It was like the land had a spirit all its own..........A feeling that was reinforced still further by a visit to Delphi, where I am sure the oracle still resides if you will only let it talk to you.
I spent years promising myself that I would return, and eventually I did, on a £79 package holiday to Crete in 2001. Six months later I was back again for another week. The next visit was to be one year later which was quite deliberate because during the second visit I really did not want to go, and strangely enough, neither did my partner!
Driving back from the Gatwick airport to Brighton we were stuck in a traffic jam, and casually I said to my partner 'Why don't we move to Crete?' By 10am the following morning the house was up for sale.
There followed 12 months of frustration as we dealt with a selection of useless estate agents and what seemed like an endless stream of time-wasting non-buyers! We put the price down, we changed the agents and changed the price again, until finally we changed the agent again and put the price up and found a buyer three days later!
The plan had been to leave the UK mid 2003, and knowing that we now had a buyer we decided on the 1st February 2004 as our departure date.
We were lucky enough to be able to stay with friends for 4 months before we left, surprisingly they are still friends, and as we didn't pay any rent, we agreed that they had about 8 months of free accommodation with us on Crete!
More to come soon, these old eyes are tired of sitting in front of the pc for many hours already today!
But maybe if you are reading this you might be wondering who I am.....Well I am an English guy that now lives on Crete, the largest and possibly the most beautiful Greek island.
I first visited Greece in 1969 on an 'educational' cruise on the British India ship SS Uganda with 1500 or so other schoolchildren (that's what they mean by Murder on the High Seas, I think). All of us were from Sussex, and my group of course were from the Lewes County Grammar School for Boys, which later became the Priory School Lewes and is now some awful College of some sort.
All that aside, I fell in love with Greece from the moment I first set foot on it. Not just the archaeology, but everything else about it. It was like the land had a spirit all its own..........A feeling that was reinforced still further by a visit to Delphi, where I am sure the oracle still resides if you will only let it talk to you.
I spent years promising myself that I would return, and eventually I did, on a £79 package holiday to Crete in 2001. Six months later I was back again for another week. The next visit was to be one year later which was quite deliberate because during the second visit I really did not want to go, and strangely enough, neither did my partner!
Driving back from the Gatwick airport to Brighton we were stuck in a traffic jam, and casually I said to my partner 'Why don't we move to Crete?' By 10am the following morning the house was up for sale.
There followed 12 months of frustration as we dealt with a selection of useless estate agents and what seemed like an endless stream of time-wasting non-buyers! We put the price down, we changed the agents and changed the price again, until finally we changed the agent again and put the price up and found a buyer three days later!
The plan had been to leave the UK mid 2003, and knowing that we now had a buyer we decided on the 1st February 2004 as our departure date.
We were lucky enough to be able to stay with friends for 4 months before we left, surprisingly they are still friends, and as we didn't pay any rent, we agreed that they had about 8 months of free accommodation with us on Crete!
More to come soon, these old eyes are tired of sitting in front of the pc for many hours already today!
Monday 26 November 2007
The Search for a Home
OK so the house was for sale and following the estate agents word, that it would sell quickly, yes even I can be gullible, I came back out two months later to look for property, that is December 2002.
Flying into Heraklion was like coming home......The familiar landscape....the airport......the drive to Hersonissos where I was staying for a week.
The only thing that was missing? Tourists. Not a single one in sight. The main road through Hersonissos was like a ghost town with newspapers blowing along the street and any minute I expected a lump of tumblewood to follow, with the sound of a creaking swinging sign or saloon door in the background, and to hear someone whistling the theme to a Fistfull of Dollars!
Property searching was the same as anywhere else, a bitter disappointment followed by elation, followed by disappointment when I got to look at the inside. We wanted something traditional but this didn't mean that it couldn't have a roof surely?
I particularly liked the place in Vrachasi and I am sure that we could have got rid of the smell of goat eventually, oh and that nice place that was split in two halves (very common here), it would have done fine because we could have put visitors in the 'sleepout', it was just the sheer climb up to it that was the problem.
As is usual around here I was eventually introduced to someone, in a bar, who had a place for sale. Voila, not quite what was intended but it had a roof, four rooms, one of those bed platforms up a few steps, an amazing stone fireplace, the old wine press as feature (in the bedroom), and three original arches. Needed some work to let a bit of light in, and another floor on top but so what!
Back to the UK in time for Christmas armed with photographs and a rough floor plan. Other half approved but wanted to see for himself, so planned on coming back in February 2003.
Arrived back again with partner....froze to death in apartment block designed for summer use, reverse cycle air con is no substitute for central heating. The wooden window frames let in lots of air, which is fine in summer but no good on Crete in February. (Why do so many people think that Crete basks in eternal sunshine? Blame it on the movies I think).
Choice of house is fully approved, existing owner doubles price, partner is exceptionally polite and resists temptation to tell him to go forth etc.
Back to Vrahasi to look at second choice, the one divided in two, except it is now divided into three as you now have to go outside and round the corner to get from the bedroom floor down to the living area, something to do with the new reinforced concrete floor and the fact they forgot to put a hole in it for the staircase. Never mind it can be fixed. Second look at 'eau de goat' property, still smelt the same.
Rather put off when the agent informs us that 'a lot of British people live here', but never mind the house in three parts will be OK, nice view across the valley and huge roof area. Oh yes and the clincher, it has two vines (believe me when I tell you it was a selling point).
{Short break there to stir the bean stew and pour another retsina.}
Right, so Vrahasi it is.
Or rather it was until that evening. Eating out in winter here is an experience even now. Wear something warm because you will need it on even inside. The woodburning stove is glowing red hot, even the metal chimney from it will give you third degree burns, but sit more than 2 metres from it and forget about being warm ever again.
General conversation among the locals....two more mad English people moving here, translations courtesy of a Greek friend, (amazing how at that time how few people here spoke English during the winter).
Greek mother, 'Where are they looking at houses?'
Her son, 'Vrahasi.'
Mother, 'Oh they can't live there.'
Son, 'Why not?'
Mother, 'It's not a good area'
Greek snobbery? Now that's something new. That was it anyway, Vrahasi was off the list.
I suppose Steve was right, how could we live somewhere if it wasn't a good area?
Back to the drawing board and back to the UK where house has still not sold..........Who buys houses in February? Certainly no one that wanted ours!
Flying into Heraklion was like coming home......The familiar landscape....the airport......the drive to Hersonissos where I was staying for a week.
The only thing that was missing? Tourists. Not a single one in sight. The main road through Hersonissos was like a ghost town with newspapers blowing along the street and any minute I expected a lump of tumblewood to follow, with the sound of a creaking swinging sign or saloon door in the background, and to hear someone whistling the theme to a Fistfull of Dollars!
Property searching was the same as anywhere else, a bitter disappointment followed by elation, followed by disappointment when I got to look at the inside. We wanted something traditional but this didn't mean that it couldn't have a roof surely?
I particularly liked the place in Vrachasi and I am sure that we could have got rid of the smell of goat eventually, oh and that nice place that was split in two halves (very common here), it would have done fine because we could have put visitors in the 'sleepout', it was just the sheer climb up to it that was the problem.
As is usual around here I was eventually introduced to someone, in a bar, who had a place for sale. Voila, not quite what was intended but it had a roof, four rooms, one of those bed platforms up a few steps, an amazing stone fireplace, the old wine press as feature (in the bedroom), and three original arches. Needed some work to let a bit of light in, and another floor on top but so what!
Back to the UK in time for Christmas armed with photographs and a rough floor plan. Other half approved but wanted to see for himself, so planned on coming back in February 2003.
Arrived back again with partner....froze to death in apartment block designed for summer use, reverse cycle air con is no substitute for central heating. The wooden window frames let in lots of air, which is fine in summer but no good on Crete in February. (Why do so many people think that Crete basks in eternal sunshine? Blame it on the movies I think).
Choice of house is fully approved, existing owner doubles price, partner is exceptionally polite and resists temptation to tell him to go forth etc.
Back to Vrahasi to look at second choice, the one divided in two, except it is now divided into three as you now have to go outside and round the corner to get from the bedroom floor down to the living area, something to do with the new reinforced concrete floor and the fact they forgot to put a hole in it for the staircase. Never mind it can be fixed. Second look at 'eau de goat' property, still smelt the same.
Rather put off when the agent informs us that 'a lot of British people live here', but never mind the house in three parts will be OK, nice view across the valley and huge roof area. Oh yes and the clincher, it has two vines (believe me when I tell you it was a selling point).
{Short break there to stir the bean stew and pour another retsina.}
Right, so Vrahasi it is.
Or rather it was until that evening. Eating out in winter here is an experience even now. Wear something warm because you will need it on even inside. The woodburning stove is glowing red hot, even the metal chimney from it will give you third degree burns, but sit more than 2 metres from it and forget about being warm ever again.
General conversation among the locals....two more mad English people moving here, translations courtesy of a Greek friend, (amazing how at that time how few people here spoke English during the winter).
Greek mother, 'Where are they looking at houses?'
Her son, 'Vrahasi.'
Mother, 'Oh they can't live there.'
Son, 'Why not?'
Mother, 'It's not a good area'
Greek snobbery? Now that's something new. That was it anyway, Vrahasi was off the list.
I suppose Steve was right, how could we live somewhere if it wasn't a good area?
Back to the drawing board and back to the UK where house has still not sold..........Who buys houses in February? Certainly no one that wanted ours!
Sunday 25 November 2007
Moving to Crete - Part the umpteenth.
Notice I use the normal size Arial font? This is because my eyes are rubbish and if I can see it so can anyone else!
OK we cannot move to Vrahasi, because it is not a 'good area', so were are back in the UK and feeling frustrated because we still have no buyer for the house.....In addition while we have been away the firm I worked for have gone bankrupt!
We start to de-clutter anyway.......The 6 boxes in the attic that came from my mother's house in 1993 are still there......With only a vague idea of what is in them we seriously have to think about what to do with the contents. Do we really need what is in them? In fact do we really need half the stuff we have collected over 20 years together? Hmmmm family heirlooms. Ebay to the rescue.
Always worry with Ebay that I am not getting a fair price and that the person who ends up with it knows its' true value and is getting a bargain. (Ebay now is a nightmare! I met some wonderful people on it 4 years ago and we still keep in touch. These days it's all dealers with feedback scores of 15,000, who want to buy something for nothing and resell it somewhere else).
We dispose of the things we really do not like, total surprise that anyone else wants them but that is their problem.
April arrives, car boot season, off to BHASVIC, Saturday morning with a boot load of science fiction books. Hoorah, they sell like hot cakes at a pound for three and seven for £2! General bric-a-brac does not sell too well. Strange position to be in, we have to go and buy more stuff to make it worthwhile going again! After the third visit nearly everything has gone, and what is left we give to the other traders at a bargain price.
Use money to buy air tickets for trip to Crete in June and one way ticket in October. Decision made we are leaving 1st February 2004 whatever happens.
Job prospects dire, Steve still fixing car bodies, me un-employable, back to temping. Even became a school 'dinner lady' for a while!
June is back to Crete, seems like all of Brighton and Hove are going to Crete! Flight over contains three people we know and a group of firemen from Hove, Elanora apartments at Anisarras will probably never be the same. Confirmed later that year as they refurbished them. Nearly beaten at Scrabble, in English, by owner's daughter and son, embarrassing!
Not a lot of house-hunting this time, we are coming back in October to do that, this time we are investigating work. Have found that Steve will not have too much problem continuing current trade, need to look for cafe or small bar for me. Have looked at a couple in Agios Nikolaos, very nice but a long way from where we want to live, maybe not a problem could always bed down behind the bar if all else fails!
A litlle house hunting as light relief.....Wonderful place in Hersonissos, two big apartments on two floors, surprisingly quiet considering it's only about 300 metres from the main road. Top floor let on long lease, owner's apartment in need of attention except it has the most amazing light fitting in the dining room. It would look well at home in a building with 'ODEON' written on the outside sometime in the late 20's/early 30's. Contains at least 25 light bulbs that I could count: Could be used as Solarium?
More land to look at...We are widening our horizons now, taking drives out for 30 minutes in each direction to see where we end up.
Sissi, Potamies, Pano Gouves, Gournes (no thanks, but nice bar for sale), Neapoli, Agios Nikolaos.
Lots of talking to Greeks and other migrants, not just Brits, about general situation re: work and general stuff. Nice holiday though.
Back to UK, row with current estate agent about lack of viewers, let alone buyers. Row with council over council tax, row with water board of imposition of charge to remove stormwater from house, surely they should pay us to collect it. Argue with cat over my right to space on bed, lost!
Notice interesting job ad., temporary contract for local company doing just what I am good at, 25K pa pro rata. September 2003 til January 2004, coincides beautifully with planned leaving date! First decent job since selling own business in 2002.
Things are on the up.......Many viewers to house in summer months. Oh God these peope are boring! Half of them from Crawley come to Brighton at the weekend to look at other people's houses. And yes we do know there is one for sale down the road at half the price of ours....Why don't you go and buy that one and leave us alone?
August 2003, change agents and put price up 5 Grand. (Existing agent says you will never sell it a that price). Even better new agent will deal on commission.....Cash in brown envelope!
Four viewings in three days, new carpet bought to tart the place up will be worn out at this rate. De-clutterisation continues, includes finding home for cat....It wasn't even ours in the first place, we adopted it (or vice versa) from next door.
Newly wed wife next door blocks drains with disposable nappies and baby wipes on morning of two repeat viewings, Dynarod (would like to meet HIM sometime) confirms problems are hers and queries why two gay men living together would need disposable nappies, unless they are about to enter Guinness Book of Records on age grounds if nothing else. (People can be so hurtful sometimes)
Success, an offer for house, rejected of course. Why do we go through this rigmarole all the time, we all know how much it is worth, when we bought the place in 1994 it was worth talking the price down as it took it out of the Stamp Duty bracket. We agreed then with the sellers that £3,000 was fittings and just paid the price they asked.
Final offer accepted for house in September. Also got highly paid temporary position applied for, along with permit to take holiday in October.
Silence from buyers.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Off to Crete for two weeks in October....Oh this place is so much like home, every time we leave we get homesick.
House hunting with avengance this time. Sissi it looks like, as a likely place, some good sounding properties at a good sounding price.
Staying at Iokasti in Koutouloufari again...with all our friends nearby.Sissi is not that far is it?
Estate agent has two lots of people viewing at the same time...Good girl that's the way to do it!
First, 6500 square metres of olive grove and citrus, interesting house, not quite big enough, but there is a stone built sleep out with bathroom in the garden for guests. Close to beach where there is a large all-inclusive hotel, sell citrus fruits to passing tourists? And also the income from the olives.
Next, standard reinforced concrete 'blockhouse' from 1970's. Interesting marble floors, nice touch an outside door in every room, bathroom nice, kitchen needs work. Possible to build another floor, steps outside already there, used frequently by goats that owner has kept in garden.
Third, new build, this time one that is a real property (we had lost count of the times we were shown 'holiday' properties, fine for a fortnight but not for life!). Currently used a as a shop, can be reconfigured as a house. Nice garden, big parking area, views, not too many neighbours.
Solicitor in Brighton phones on mobile, "We exchanged contracts, can we complete in two days time?"
Us, "No, we are on holiday, completion date will be 15 th November 2003"
Investigate value of olives, disappointed with result, seems ridiculous considering the price fo decent olive oil, but we can grow more things to sell, OK then offer on first property with 6500 square metres of olive grove.
Offer rejected, other couple that looked with us have already paid deposit (in 12 hours?).
Property number two rejected by us as too built up.
Offer made on number three, accepted by owner, we return to Koutouloufari elated, and to UK in similar emotional state two days later.
You don't really think this is the end of it, do you?
OK we cannot move to Vrahasi, because it is not a 'good area', so were are back in the UK and feeling frustrated because we still have no buyer for the house.....In addition while we have been away the firm I worked for have gone bankrupt!
We start to de-clutter anyway.......The 6 boxes in the attic that came from my mother's house in 1993 are still there......With only a vague idea of what is in them we seriously have to think about what to do with the contents. Do we really need what is in them? In fact do we really need half the stuff we have collected over 20 years together? Hmmmm family heirlooms. Ebay to the rescue.
Always worry with Ebay that I am not getting a fair price and that the person who ends up with it knows its' true value and is getting a bargain. (Ebay now is a nightmare! I met some wonderful people on it 4 years ago and we still keep in touch. These days it's all dealers with feedback scores of 15,000, who want to buy something for nothing and resell it somewhere else).
We dispose of the things we really do not like, total surprise that anyone else wants them but that is their problem.
April arrives, car boot season, off to BHASVIC, Saturday morning with a boot load of science fiction books. Hoorah, they sell like hot cakes at a pound for three and seven for £2! General bric-a-brac does not sell too well. Strange position to be in, we have to go and buy more stuff to make it worthwhile going again! After the third visit nearly everything has gone, and what is left we give to the other traders at a bargain price.
Use money to buy air tickets for trip to Crete in June and one way ticket in October. Decision made we are leaving 1st February 2004 whatever happens.
Job prospects dire, Steve still fixing car bodies, me un-employable, back to temping. Even became a school 'dinner lady' for a while!
June is back to Crete, seems like all of Brighton and Hove are going to Crete! Flight over contains three people we know and a group of firemen from Hove, Elanora apartments at Anisarras will probably never be the same. Confirmed later that year as they refurbished them. Nearly beaten at Scrabble, in English, by owner's daughter and son, embarrassing!
Not a lot of house-hunting this time, we are coming back in October to do that, this time we are investigating work. Have found that Steve will not have too much problem continuing current trade, need to look for cafe or small bar for me. Have looked at a couple in Agios Nikolaos, very nice but a long way from where we want to live, maybe not a problem could always bed down behind the bar if all else fails!
A litlle house hunting as light relief.....Wonderful place in Hersonissos, two big apartments on two floors, surprisingly quiet considering it's only about 300 metres from the main road. Top floor let on long lease, owner's apartment in need of attention except it has the most amazing light fitting in the dining room. It would look well at home in a building with 'ODEON' written on the outside sometime in the late 20's/early 30's. Contains at least 25 light bulbs that I could count: Could be used as Solarium?
More land to look at...We are widening our horizons now, taking drives out for 30 minutes in each direction to see where we end up.
Sissi, Potamies, Pano Gouves, Gournes (no thanks, but nice bar for sale), Neapoli, Agios Nikolaos.
Lots of talking to Greeks and other migrants, not just Brits, about general situation re: work and general stuff. Nice holiday though.
Back to UK, row with current estate agent about lack of viewers, let alone buyers. Row with council over council tax, row with water board of imposition of charge to remove stormwater from house, surely they should pay us to collect it. Argue with cat over my right to space on bed, lost!
Notice interesting job ad., temporary contract for local company doing just what I am good at, 25K pa pro rata. September 2003 til January 2004, coincides beautifully with planned leaving date! First decent job since selling own business in 2002.
Things are on the up.......Many viewers to house in summer months. Oh God these peope are boring! Half of them from Crawley come to Brighton at the weekend to look at other people's houses. And yes we do know there is one for sale down the road at half the price of ours....Why don't you go and buy that one and leave us alone?
August 2003, change agents and put price up 5 Grand. (Existing agent says you will never sell it a that price). Even better new agent will deal on commission.....Cash in brown envelope!
Four viewings in three days, new carpet bought to tart the place up will be worn out at this rate. De-clutterisation continues, includes finding home for cat....It wasn't even ours in the first place, we adopted it (or vice versa) from next door.
Newly wed wife next door blocks drains with disposable nappies and baby wipes on morning of two repeat viewings, Dynarod (would like to meet HIM sometime) confirms problems are hers and queries why two gay men living together would need disposable nappies, unless they are about to enter Guinness Book of Records on age grounds if nothing else. (People can be so hurtful sometimes)
Success, an offer for house, rejected of course. Why do we go through this rigmarole all the time, we all know how much it is worth, when we bought the place in 1994 it was worth talking the price down as it took it out of the Stamp Duty bracket. We agreed then with the sellers that £3,000 was fittings and just paid the price they asked.
Final offer accepted for house in September. Also got highly paid temporary position applied for, along with permit to take holiday in October.
Silence from buyers.........Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Off to Crete for two weeks in October....Oh this place is so much like home, every time we leave we get homesick.
House hunting with avengance this time. Sissi it looks like, as a likely place, some good sounding properties at a good sounding price.
Staying at Iokasti in Koutouloufari again...with all our friends nearby.Sissi is not that far is it?
Estate agent has two lots of people viewing at the same time...Good girl that's the way to do it!
First, 6500 square metres of olive grove and citrus, interesting house, not quite big enough, but there is a stone built sleep out with bathroom in the garden for guests. Close to beach where there is a large all-inclusive hotel, sell citrus fruits to passing tourists? And also the income from the olives.
Next, standard reinforced concrete 'blockhouse' from 1970's. Interesting marble floors, nice touch an outside door in every room, bathroom nice, kitchen needs work. Possible to build another floor, steps outside already there, used frequently by goats that owner has kept in garden.
Third, new build, this time one that is a real property (we had lost count of the times we were shown 'holiday' properties, fine for a fortnight but not for life!). Currently used a as a shop, can be reconfigured as a house. Nice garden, big parking area, views, not too many neighbours.
Solicitor in Brighton phones on mobile, "We exchanged contracts, can we complete in two days time?"
Us, "No, we are on holiday, completion date will be 15 th November 2003"
Investigate value of olives, disappointed with result, seems ridiculous considering the price fo decent olive oil, but we can grow more things to sell, OK then offer on first property with 6500 square metres of olive grove.
Offer rejected, other couple that looked with us have already paid deposit (in 12 hours?).
Property number two rejected by us as too built up.
Offer made on number three, accepted by owner, we return to Koutouloufari elated, and to UK in similar emotional state two days later.
You don't really think this is the end of it, do you?
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