Telling dad’s war story took years

This Anzac Day will be especially poignant for one Mt Eden author as he releases his first book about a heroic World War Two battle. Graham Power’s book, The Battle of Pink Hill – Crete, 1941, depicts the 12-day struggle on the Mediterranean island in which more than 670 Kiwis were killed.
He interviewed his [...]

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Plan to raise WWII aircraft off Crete

The Hellenic Air Force is going to undertake to retrieve a WWII-era German fighter discovered at the bottom of the sea, off Hania on Crete.
An underwater salvage unit has arrived in the city of Hania to examine the plane’s wreckage, amongst the many WWII remnants discovered in the wider Maleme district, which hosted an important [...]

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Kazantzakis – The Grave

Skywatch Friday
Nicos Kazantzakis was probably the greatest author to be born on the island of Crete. His books included Zorba the Greek to Freedom or Death. His book, The Last Temptation, was banned by the Pope and his writings in general led to him being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church.  He thus was not [...]

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K is for Kaiki

ABC Wednesday
K is a wonderful letter for anyone who lives in Crete. In Greek the word for Crete is Kphth (pronounced Kriti). There are so many places that begin with the Greek letter Kappa or K that it is unbelievable. But for me one of the most memorable things about Crete, and of course the [...]

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J is for Jalopy

ABC Wednesday
Here in Crete we have a fairly large collection of jalopies – most of them still on the road. Some of them go back forty years and consist basically of a rotovator without the blades with a seat and trailer on the back. Later they joined the front engine to the trailer and then [...]

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Rebetiko, the Source of Modern Greek Music

Rebetika is one of those Greek words that has no translation in English. It has been referred to as ‘Greek blues music’ except that it is very different to what we call blues music in English. Today we can go into a Greek record shop and see rebetika music  either in its own section or [...]

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The Labyrinth of the Mesara, Crete.

The Labyrinth of Crete is situated around 3 km northeast from the archaeological site of Gortys in central Crete. It is an underground quarry in marly limestone, excavated probably during the Roman Period. It was first described and mapped in the 18th and 19th centuries. More detailed descriptions have been published recently.
The cave comprises [...]

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Moments in Souda Bay War Cemetery

I spent a while this afternoon in the Souda Bay War Cemetery. Sometimes I just like to go there to sit and stare across the many neatly lined graves to the sea of Souda. I am too young to actually remember the war because I wasn’t born until 1946, but from what I have read, [...]

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The Magical Mesara Plain.

In the whole of the island of Crete, one area that is still magical today as well as being vitally important to the history of Crete, is the Mesara Plain. The  Mesara is in southern central Crete in the south of the Nomos of Iraklion. It is the biggest plain in Crete and very important [...]

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Agioi Deka, the ten saints of Crete.

The road from Iraklion winds south through the town of Agia Barbara and descends to the Mesara Plain at a small village which is still called, to this day, Agioi Deka. Agioi Deka is built on the eastern part of the ancient city of Gortyn. Gortyn is one of my favourite sites in Crete and [...]

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