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 Fig Tree

Ah the wonderful fig tree. It grows everywhere and the figs appear mostly in October and November, although there are, of course, winter figs, even spring figs and summer figs I have heard. But there is something special about the fig tree. Forget the milky sap that some are allergic to, forget even the lack [...]

Read Full Post »

Recent Memories and Memorials

Skywatch
Deep in the heart of Crete, in the forever wonderful Amari Valley high in the hills south of Rethymno there are five or six villages on the western side of the valley on the slopes of the Kedros mountains. These villages, in 1944, were attacked by the occupying Germans and each one was razed to [...]

Read Full Post »

L is for Lassiti

ABC Wednesday
High in the mountains of Crete there is a plateau which once, some years ago, was famous for windmills. The scene of so many fluttering windmills was a sight to see. It used to look exactly like this.
In fact these were not so much windmills, but windpumps. Almost every field had one and it [...]

Read Full Post »

Panagia Chrisoskalitissa Monastery, Elafonisi

Skywatch Friday
The monastery of Panagia Chrisoskalitissa, Our Lady of the Golden Step in English, is in the remote south west of Crete just six Kilometres from the lovely lagoon beach of Elafonisi. And it is glorious.
This photograph was taken when the sunset happened and thank heavens I had my camera to hand for the amount [...]

Read Full Post »

Kalamaki Sunset

Skywatch Friday
Kalamaki, a village just north of Matala on the Messara coastline of Crete is a place that we have known for many years. Just over twenty years ago we, my wife and I, were there visiting one of the two very small tavernas that were on the beach. There were a few other buildings, [...]

Read Full Post »

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 [...]

Read Full Post »

John Sooklaris’ Latest Video Crete 1961

I just had an email from John Sooklaris that said:
Ray, If I had realized that these movies that I sat and watched when I was a kid, and fell asleep to, as my father would show them to all of our relatives, time and time again, would create such interest in the world, I would [...]

Read Full Post »

Celebration at Agia Triada 1961

This is another of Anthony Sooklaris’s movies published by his son John Sooklaris.
I think that John is a little confused about the whereabouts of this movie but I see it clearly as at the monastery Agia Triada, the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Akrotiri. I don’t know if the day was a special celebration [...]

Read Full Post »

O Pramateftis – Iraklion 1961

This next video is taken in Iraklion in 1961. It has been posted by John Sooklaris but the man behind the camera is his father Anthony Sooklaris. They visited Crete on a ship sponsored by the Pancretan Society of America in 1961.
This film shows Iraklion very well. You clearly see the old market in Iraklion [...]

Read Full Post »