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elounda77
news - winter 2003
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ELOUNDA77 - WINTER NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 3RD 2003 Hello all - hope that life with all of you is good whether you are in England, Crete or elsewhere at this time of year. Well this is now the third year that I have spent part of the winter in Elounda and so I thought I'd put together a newsletter for all of you who want to know what's going on in town at the moment. As we all know the last charter flights back to the UK departed at the end of October and start of November and now the island feels that little bit more isolated than it does in the season. It's at times like this that you realise just how far out on the periphery of Europe our favourite Greek island really is. Yes you can still get to Crete, and yes there are still places open but it's not exactly the easiest or cheapest of trips. You can forget the cheap (sub 100 pound) return charters that are often available at short notice during the season. Plus there is nothing direct, meaning that you have to at least change in Athens, but of course we know it's worth it in the end when you finally get to sit down with a cold beer in your favourite Elounda bar, knowing that the rest of Europe is probably colder and wetter. Having spent half of November in England (it was damned cold in Manchester!) I was itching to get back to Elounda and be able to find a parking spot in town for the first time in months! In previous years I have used Olympic (Manchester-Athens-Heraklion) or EasyJet (Luton-Athens) / Olympic (Athens-Heraklion) but this time I ended up using Air France to get to Athens. There were numerous reasons for this, the most relevant being cost. Having searched the internet for quotes to Athens I was again dismayed to find that British Airways are still quoting in excess of SIX HUNDRED pounds to get from Manchester to Greece. EasyJet could have been an option except for the extortionate prices demanded by the UK rail network for a Manchester- Luton return (£171) so I had to examine other options. Air France came in at around two hundred pounds from Manchester to Athens, changing planes in Paris. It seemed a reasonable deal for this time of the year so I booked it and hoped for a relatively comfortable journey. It was....after a fashion...the only problem being a delay in departure from England meaning that I only had 15 minutes to sprint though Charles de Gaulle airport. Anyway I got into Athens at 3.30 in the afternoon and decided to stay a night there to break up the journey. I found a decent hotel (Cypria) just a stone's throw from Syntagma and fifteen minute walk to the Acropolis. Next morning I made my traditional trek up to the famous building site...sorry... historical monument. It doesn't bother me - it is still one of the most impressive and atmospheric places I know despite all the scaffolding! A couple of hours later and I was in the air again flying down to Crete. The flight to Heraklion cost me 83 Euros (about £60) with Olympic and by six o'clock I was back in Elounda. Anyway - that's the transport logistics done with - I'm sure most of you would rather know what is going on here at the moment. So - down to interesting bits - bars - nightlife and fun! All of those who have ever been to Elounda in the winter will know that this is the time of the year when most people have a bit of free time to kick back and relax a little after the extremely long working hours of the season (seventy hour weeks are not a myth!) What's going on / what's open then?? For drinks - Well Babel is open as usual from before nine AM until after midnight so you can always keep up to date with your email over a coffee or a beer or just chill with Yiannis, Niktario, Manoli and everyone else. When I first arrived in Greece in Winter 2001 this was a real lifeline and is great for all those residents and visitors without an internet connection. Friends is open four nights a week - Katerina is holding fort while Dimitris convalesces after his bump Hellas is open long weekends (Fri through Monday nights) and Sandy (your new hostess) runs the quiz on a Monday night and i was fortunate enough to be on the winning team a couple of nights ago - I have to admit it was more Pete and Sue's contribution that won it for us. The quiz is as popular as ever and the place was packed with the usual mixture of European nationalities who have made Elounda their home. Fiji is open most afternoons and every evening and is always popular for a few games of arrows and some cold Amstel amongst the English expats Bar74 still rocks until the early hours every night and is one of the reasons for my late mornings most of this past week! Ferrymans has changed hands and will be open evenings. The new owners, Ziggy, Fiona and family have been Elounda visitors for many years and here's wishing them all the best for the future. Still a great place for a nightime drink and chat. Plus...Evangelias and Elemans are open day and night and are both popular with Greek and expat residents alike There are more besides but these are just my personal haunts - I'm sure you all have your individual favourites. For food - Quick and Fresh, Achilleon, Porto Rino, Megaro, Mams and many more places are open most days and/or evenings meaning that I don't have to attempt to use my cooker. I call it conserving electricity. My friends call it laziness. For the first time I tried out the new Ouzeria / meze place next to Utopia flower shop the other night. I can definitely rate it very highly. Food excellent. Price great. The Avli will be opening weekends aswell (hey Warren - nice painting!!). All of these plus others mean that there is still an excellent choice of food available. Last weekend saw a Treasure Hunt and Bazaar in aid of Save the Animals which was extrenely successful and raised over a thousand Euros for a very worthy cause. It took most teams around four hours driving through the villages noth of Elounda searching for clues on benches, trees and even on a parked pickup truck! Everyone who took part had a great time even if Phil's clues drove them either mad or in the wrong direction over ten pages of rhyming clues. Forty eight people set off and none are reported missing! A great day for all involved especially judging by the hangovers that some were left with the following morning (not mentioning anyone in particular Phaed..) Anyway - I hope that this letter gives you all a taste of life back here in Elounda. It won't be long before the season starts all over again, but in the meantime please feel free to carry on using the message board, send in your own article or whatever. As for me - it's eleven PM - I'm off to 74 Yiassou - Mike PS: Rita has set off on her round the world trip this afternoon so here's a great big Kalo Taxidi to her. She'll be keeping us all up to date with tales from more exotic places as her journey progresses (I am more than a little envious!) First she hits the UK though so I hope she has packed some thermals ;-)
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