Showing posts with label Vrahassi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vrahassi. Show all posts

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Shedcast 39 - A Walk on the Wild Side (Crete in October - 2021)


 Hi Everyone,

Well, this is definitely a different Shedcast, but David and I made a very quick decision to take a trip to Vrahassi, Crete, where we used to live (19 years). So here is a little video I made. As you will see, our house was up the mountain, at the top of the village, and although it is in a beautiful location, it takes some stamina to walk up and down, even for mountain walkers like us. Below the video you will find more pictures from out visit. We had a great time, meeting old friends. 

So, here is my video, in place of the regular Shedcast, which should be back next week, enjoy:


And the photos:



































It was 10 days of fun! We travelled Jet2 from Leeds Bradford Airport, which was so easy, the hard work was getting the right paperwork for Covid19 travellers, and the day2 test when we got back, but it was more inconvenience than a problem. It was great to be back in Vrahassi for a while, it is certainly another world. Now we are home with more wonderful memories to look back on.

See you all next week,
Hope you are keeping well, and warm,
Love from Jane and David xx

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Death on The Happy Train

MALIA!!!

The weather over the past few days has been a bit grim to say the least but today the sun is shining and I would imagine the beach is full. Ah, mad Malia, sun, sea, and celibacy - well for some. Nobody every says celibacy do they, but for old timers sitting in Galaxy Bar in the middle of Malia, it has come to this, spending the afternoon watching young, scantily clad, nimphets pass by on their way to the beach.

A couple of days ago we walked down the mountain from Vrahassi to Neapolis and from there caught a bus to Malia. The day was inclement so we did our shopping and took the bus back to the Vrahassi Tunnel then legged it back up the mountain. 

This is what I wrote when I got home. (Obviously not in a serious mood)

Death on the Happy Train

 But wait, here comes the driver, give us a toot Happy Train driver. ‘Eugh?’

The soft perspex windows are down, looking like shower curtains from Bates’ Hotel, or the cover you throw over your garden table in the winter. The train has got its hat on – hip, hip, hip, hooray!

Carriages are full of people who don’t want to sit on the beach freezing their bollocks off under a cloudy sky, when you’re wet you’re wet or not. They are the sort of people who wear socks with their sandals, the sort who still read newspapers at breakfast time, carry their own cushion everywhere, and eat egg sandwiches. And in between, squashed on a bench with his doting grandparents, a 13 year old boy stares into his lonely flies, for want of a computer screen. ‘This is fun,’ says Grandma nudging him. He’s about as interested as a train spotter at a bus convention. She nudges him again, ‘Come on, you might enjoy it.’

Behind them there’s a Burger-mister from Germany. He takes up a whole bench ‘cos he’s probably so full of shisenhausen burgers. His tiny wife has to sit behind him. There’s a hint of lederhosen under his Bergerhause, non-iron, walking trousers. Around his neck, sitting on the ledge of his stomach, is a zoom lensed Pentax ready for those long distance wild game shots, probably of the nudist beach. The tent-flap plastic impairing his vision must frustrate him; then again it probably excites him. She is blond.

In the first carriage, two carriages in front of the boy with no I-pad, and no idea, there’s a young couple. They’re probably on honeymoon and don’t know what to do. Don’t they know they should be right at this moment, humping the bed springs out of the mattress, covering each other in trifle, or other some such sloppy cream, at least a dollop of Greek yoghurt, and singing Yo Ho and Up She Rises? What on earth are they doing on the Happy Train? Oh…

Off they go!

Nobody sees the dead man on the back seat. He’s probably died of boredom, poor old bugger, waiting for the thrill of a lifetime.

 *****************************************************

And if I don’t get a move on I might go the same way, there’s only so much lazing about you can do. And by the way, the above piece is totally fictitious; though it was freeze your dooda’s off weather in Malia the other day. Not so today, and I'm sure for the rest of the summer.

And if you are reading this, Jackie from the little bar in Malia where the bus stops for Agios Nikolaos, thank you for your kind words, and the lovely cup of tea. Hope to see you again soon.

Love and Hugs
Jane x

And no I'm not drunk, just happy!



Saturday, December 10, 2016

From Birdwell to Vrahassi - Adventure 2016

From Birdwell to Vrahassi - 'The Mission' to bring back my lovely Yamaha Piano.

The account of our trip to Crete, is best shown in photographs. We certainly covered some miles, but our old car was a superhero. We named her Matilda, and she performed regally. The main object of our trip, was to retrieve personal possessions from our house in Crete, load them into Matilda, and transport them safely back to the Birdwell. We also wanted to make sure the house was still saleable, i.e. waterproof, and sound, and, of course, we had to pay our taxes.  And so it was, on a sunny morning in October, we set off on our long journey south.

Our itinerary was to travel south to Dover, take the ferry to Calais, travel through France down to Reims, then on to Lyon, through the Frejus Tunnel to Italy, on through Italy toward Bologna and finally Ancona. From Ancona take the Minoan Lines ferry to Patras (mainland Greece) drive to Athens, and take the ferry from Piraeus to Crete. It all went like a dream. There was no sight seeing, no stopping for meals (we had a supply of food in the car) and we stayed in budget hotels on the way.

To cut a very long story short - the mission was a complete success, we returned home with a carload of stuff, including two big cans of olive oil, and the piano.


About to leave Birdwell Oct 21 2016
Goodbye England, France here we come
On the road through France, and Italy, motorway all the way
Travelling East - Ancona to Patras

The last leg - Piraeus (Athens) to Crete
And on the seventh day we came to rest in Vrahassi
And rest we did, in the house that David built

 We found the house just as we left it, except for a year's accumulation of dust. That was very soon swept away. We cleaned the place through and tried to have a little holiday. Once we had got all the official business out of the way we enjoyed a few walks in the olive groves. Vrahassi had not changed one bit.

Vrahassi had not changed one bit
 The Frejus Tunnel was not as scary as I remembered it from our last trip 15 years ago. It was very expensive to go through, however, about £40
Through the Frejus Tunnel from Italy to France

 The journey back was not quite as enjoyable as the journey there, as I was taken quite ill, by the time I got home I had lost almost a stone in weight, and was not myself at all. But that is all in the past, and now I am feeling much better. So, it is onwards and upwards.

A pit stop in the French Alps


And 'hey presto' we are back in Birdwell

So, there you have it, our adventure 2016. I'm not in a hurry to repeat the journey, but give me a few months and we might be off again. Both our children gave me a lecture on not taking on such a long trip in the future, but I can't see me sitting in the house with my knitting for too long. Once this jumper is finished we might just be dreaming up a 2017 adventure.


And now to write a bit of poetry, I haven't done that for weeks, but methinks the muse has settled upon me. Watch this space.

Bye for now dear reader, enjoy your Christmas shopping, the bright lights are dazzling in Barnsley!

Jane x






Sunday, February 15, 2015

For Yiorgos R.I.P.

Yiorgos by Jane Sharp

You were in your best light that day
As you posed with the great curly horned ram
Surrounded as you were by all that chinkling
And the silent eclipse of eagles in the eye of Uranus,
With only tall crags and the vee of the gorge
And the hush of the wind as it passed to the sea.

You were for me a valiant cavalier
With that angular stance of a proud Hussar
And I could see you in a braided jileko
With the flash of steel in your cummerbund,
No doubt your boots were handmade
In the mountains.

And later, all those qualities of chivalry blazed
When you shared souvlaki and a glass of beer
With the old priest Nicodemus at Selinary.
We cooled our hands under the fountain flow
Imprinting the ocean with our friendship

Yiorgo the Poet




Yiorgo the Shepherd
Kalo Taxidn my friend!