Let's face it, wherever you are, dream properties can sometimes turn out to be a nightmare, and whether you are gay or straight, property on Crete, Greece, can turn out to be the same.
I think it does no harm to be flexible in your approach, but when buying property abroad you will find that you have to change your ideals to suit the type of property much of which is built to suit local conditions and styles.
So what type of property are we looking for? Well again we can break this down into sub headings as follows....
- A block of land
- A ruin for the DIY enthusiast
- A finished house
- A new build finished house
I know the last two look the same but I will explain the difference as we go along. We are really talking order of difficulty here, starting with the hardest and working through to the easiest.
Blocks of land are quite readily available on Crete. You will see signs by the side of the road advertising them, the various agents have them for sale, or if you have visited an area several times (and I hope you have done so as part of your research), then you can ask around among the people you have got to know. In fact you wouldn't be the first person to stand on a chair in a local kafenio and ask the assembled company if anyone knows of land for sale.
Pieces of land can be bought as an investment (but note my comments about your resale market in Part 1), or to build on. If you are just going to sit on the land and do nothing then fine, but if you intend to build then you will need to make sure that you will be able to build i.e. get the necessary permission and licences. There are rules about how much land you must have before you can build, and how many square metres you can build, these are designed to keep housing density down and preserve the character of the area. But naturally you must check these details before you buy as you might find that you can actually only build a very small house, or even worse not build at all!
You must make it clear that you intend to build when speaking with your lawyer so that he can investigate with the local town hall whether development is possible and what form this must take. Gaining the necessary permissions and licences can take time, and you will almost certainly need to have a local site agent to deal with the paperwork, hire and fire workers, liaise with your architect (many of whom will act as your site agent as well!), and ensure that taxes and 'IKA' payments are made. If you are any distance from 'services' you will also have to pay the costs for getting the services to your property and it is not unusual to have to wait weeks or even months to get, for instance, electricity, connected.
In the case of electricity the power company will often provide what is called 'builder's electricity' which is charged at a different, higher, rate. Your final (or any) connection will not be made until you produce the paperwork to prove that all the 'IKA' (social security) payments have been made for all the workers involved!
Building costs can vary according to the type of construction you intend to use and the overall 'quality and standard' of finish. E.g. Ceramic tiles on the floors or marble! Expect to pay around €1500 per square metre to build!
Ruined buildings are a common form of purchase and appeal to those who want a genuinely old traditional property and prepared to put in some work themselves as well as employing others to restore it. It helps here if you already know a builder that can view the property with you as sometimes these ruins are best left as they are, ruins, because there is nothing left to save and you may as well knock it down and start again.
Some features are considered very desirable in old properties so if there are one or more arches still existing, or there is the remains of an old olive or wine press, or an old fireplace you will have to pay more. Even the existence of an established vine or two can increase the price.
There are some advantages to purchasing a ruin, as you will have plenty of opportunity to stamp your own personality on it (provided again that you can get permission to enlarge the building, although if it is within a village boundary you can do almost what you like), but you will not have to worry about getting electricity and water to the property as it will probably be there already. The presence of water and electricity meters is a good sign here!
If you intend to renovate the property yourself please be aware that we don't have B and Q, or Wickes in Greece.....This means that you cannot do a one stop shop for everything you need so you need to be really organised and not forget anything when you visit your nearest large town to go shopping for materials. For timber you must go to one place, for cement another, for tiles another and so on! You will also find that at times it is difficult to get things delivered, make sure that you have an adequate map to guide delivery drivers and that you also know a suitable meeting point such as the nearest kiosk or church so that the driver can follow you from there. Some places will actually insist that meet the driver at the depot so he can follow you all the way!
Finished houses are available in most areas. These are usually older properties, many of which are habitable immediately and are family properties belonging to Greeks, that they no longer need. They will of course be Greek designed and as such are often completely different in concept from what you would expect in your own country. This type of property is very often the best to buy as they usually come complete with all the necessary permissions and paperwork and often only requires a bit of updating and refurbishment to produce either a home or a place to rent out. If you are thinking about future resale values as an investment then note that this type of property is often saleable to Greek buyers!
New Build finished houses are usually those built by developers or local builders 'on spec' with no specific buyers in mind. They do have advantages in that they will require very little extra work on your part beyond perhaps a bit of extra landscaping in the garden and if you buy them at the right stage you will be able to choose your own tiles, floors, and kitchen/bathroom fittings but do bear in mind that if you choose 'luxury' fittings then you may well have to pay more! You can also buy this type of property 'off plan'.
Of course choosing this course will mean that you will probably be buying in a development and will have close neighbours and that all of the houses will be virtually the same design, it is a good idea to tie the developer down to what he is planning to do with the rest of the vacant land if you are one of the first buyers in a development. Locally to me the first buyers in a development had a seaview, this was blocked out a few months later when the developer built another row of houses in front of them!
Again here you must consider the future of the property as most of these are designed by foreigners for foreigners which does limit your resale market.
Location, location, location.......You can buy land, build or buy a house anywhere you like, it is up to you! BUT if you intend to live in it, then you need to be aware of what the local services are like!
I have had several people staying with me, looking at property, and find their dream in a small resort on the south coast overlooking the Libyan Sea, a delightful spot during the summer, with one or two shops and a local taverna. What they do not understand is that during the winter these resorts are 'closed'! OK there may be one or two people resident all year round, but the shops are not open and neither is the taverna, and more often than not all you will have for company are a few goats and the goatherd, fine for those independent and self-sufficient folk, but you can find conversation a little limited! And do you really want to drive for two hours to the nearest large town to go shopping, particularly when it is pouring with rain or snowing in February?
We do get rain on Crete, and lots of it during the winter, so do pick your property carefully, that empty river bed beside you could well be a raging torrent during the winter!
And the more remote a property the less likely you are to be able to sell it at a later date. On the other hand Cretan villages can be very crowded places and within minutes of your moving in everyone will know your business!
Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relocation. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Thursday, 13 December 2007
The Final Episode, The Arrival on Crete
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!
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!
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!
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