Oh Margaritas . . .

Skywatch Friday
Margaritas, a small village in Crete south of Rethimno and Iraklio with blue skies and a gentle breeze.
This was a few days ago but now, the first week in August, we have clouds, white puffy cumulus and some darker cirrus. I have never seen such clouds here in August. But back to Margaritas . [...]

Read Full Post »

British students take plunge in unexplored Greek cave

They are the first humans ever to visit the network in the Mavri Laki region of the island’s White Mountains.
Expedition leader Rob Eavis and co-explorer Robbie Shone – members of the Sheffield University Speleology Society (SUSS) – pioneered the new venture after they found caves in the area were untouched.
In 2005 they began mapping out [...]

Read Full Post »

Police attacked again in Crete’s Zoniana

Police officers have been assaulted and threatened in the notorious Cretan village of Zoniana, the scene of a botched raid two years ago, in an incident that has been kept quiet for several weeks, sources told Sunday’s Kathimerini.

Three local police officers were allegedly beaten and threatened that they would be killed after they followed a [...]

Read Full Post »

Rescue campaign for centuries-old olive trees.

Hundreds of unregistered olive trees on the southern Aegean island of Crete, some of them thousands of years old, have become “victims” of human activities like public works projects and building construction, prompting the reaction of 35 cultural and environmentalist associations.
The collective effort, supported by the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Crete, focuses on recording [...]

Read Full Post »

When to Sow Seeds in Crete

I am often asked: when do you sow the seeds for this or that which is in our garden? Obviously the sowing times frequently differ from the UK as do the harvesting times. Anyway I have acquired a sowing chart for growing food in Crete.
Here it is:
You can make this chart larger by going to
http://tinyurl.com/m8wy8n

where [...]

Read Full Post »

Raising Chickens in Crete

Were you to consider raising chickens in Crete, then there is a lot to learn. Keeping chickens in your garden is pretty popular here on the island, especially since there are no foxes here at all, but where do you get your chickens from?
In the UK, chickens come in breeds and you can buy roughly [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

The Carnival in Crete – Rethymnon

Today is Monday, Clean Monday (Kathara Defteri in Greek), two days before Ash Wednesday when Lent begins. Today, sitting in a beach cafe in warm gentle weather, watching the Greek tradition of flying kites, and there are many, we think of the day before, Sunday the first of March and the Carnival.
And what a carnival [...]

Read Full Post »

Potamoi Dam Still Filling

I just had another look at the Potamoi Dam and it is still filling. The winter rains have contributed a lot and we still have the melting snow to come.
This is now the biggest Cretan Lake, and it still has not reached it’s full size. Forget Kournas Lake, once the biggest lake in Crete, Potamoi [...]

Read Full Post »

My Sky, Our Problems.

Skywatch
This is my sky, looking west from my house here on the island of Crete.
Beneath this beautiful sky recently have been riots, police guards and tear gas to quell the problems caused by the street shooting of the 15 year old boy Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The riots have been some of the worst in many years. [...]

Read Full Post »