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| Ithaca Greece - Winter 2005 - 2006. Greek Island Holidays in the Ionian. Ithaca Ithaki, the home of Ulysses and Homer |
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| _________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Winter on Ithaca 2005 - 2006 |
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Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
...December |
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| Sunday 25th December 2005 |
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MERRY CHRISTMAS To Everyone |
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Fri 23 Dec - What do you do when you've exhausted all possibilities of buying a decent Chrissy present for a decent price on Ithaki?? You set the alarm for 5.30am, hope the weathers' ok and head to Patra or Athens for the day. Around Ithaca and Cephalonia, it poured with rain, black skies blanketing the islands with an eerie darkness, but the further south we head, the clearer the skies become and besides the chill in the air, it turns out a lovely day for shopping. Too busy shopping to take alot of pics, but if you want click here or on photo below for some Christmas lights in Patra. |
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You can't escape running into an Ithacan, no matter where you go in Greece. Above we caught Lefki Tatooist, Rien clicking through a film to the Christmas beat while he was waiting for the ferry to return to Ithaca. |
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The sunny, blue sky days on Ithaca at the moment are just wonderful, but it is getting colder and colder. About 8C today. Brrrrrrrr!!! Hard to get out of bed, even harder when the power goes off again without warning and once that's fixed the phones go down. It's just northern Ithaca that suffers the breaks, not southern Ithaca. If there's a problem, shouldn't they just get behind it and fix it once and for all?? That's what makes sense, but instead, all you get is a stroppy person on the other end of the phone, telling you that it's not their fault the power goes out and if your home phone doesn't work, use your mobile. Oh Gee Thanks. The usual saying is TI NA KANOUME. What can we do. I have a couple of answers to that - 1. Fix the problem 2. Reimburse for the damage continuous power surges and cuts cause. Every time the power cuts, another electrical appliance breaks down. Someone will no doubt chase me down for not taking these things the Ithacan way, and to tell you the truth, I could just let it all roll off my back, but I don't want to. If I didn't deliver something I have promised, after it has been paid for, they'd be the first to call the police. I want to be warm and not be hindered with my work, someone else wants to be warm and be able to call an ambulance, someone else wants to be warm and heat up their babys' milk. We pay the bill and they deliver the Service. Isn't that how it's supposed to work? Having complained about the power and phone, I must say that the Greek Post is one of the most efficient Services, especially on Ithaca. Where else in the world can you put the name of the person and the island, not even the village or town, no post code, no street address, and the letter is delivered. Pretty nifty. I say the people at the post office should run the phone and power company. They seem to know how to deliver. |
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Sat 24 Dec - Bepo and Maki, Mr Sori himself, get into the spirit of the pre Christmas merriment at Rementzo, where music and a little alcohol helped the proceedings along a little. Maki leaves the Crepery in the hands of his wife while he is usually off sailing around the world, so it's a rare occasion to get him in a pic. |
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Right - Illia, Nectarios and Poppy send their friends Adoni and Popi, studying and working in the UK, a big hello from the kitchen at Rementzo. We know Adoni and Popi log into the site quite regularly, so a big hello from us at ithacagreece.com too. HELLO! Meanwhile back at the ranch, Illias, sound engineer to the stars of the pop kind, does a little engineering for his father Maki, who was hotting up the dance floor with his tunes, while his son put pen to paper. A sign of a good mix when the mixer can leave the band. |
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Winter Festivities |
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Bepo lets her spirit fly on the dance floor with her son Billy on his knees, cheering her on. Not bad for a great grandmother to be. Oopa! Oopa! And the party goes on all night into the dawn. Tomorrow night promises to be even bigger at Rementzo with the restaurant completely booked out for Christmas Eve. |
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Above Right - Bepo and her son, Billy, share a big joy in common. Bepo is going to be a great grandmother and Billy a grandfather in about 2 weeks. With Christmas and a new arrival to celebrate, there's no stopping these two. |
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Right - Jake wrote to the site months ago for some information on the island, now he's here, enjoying the peace and quiet of Ithaca in Winter, and the inspiration our solitude can induce. Why does Jake benefit from this inspiration? Well, he's a writer working on a novel, and a writer working on a novel is always in need of inspiration. Jake is staying in Stavros and seems to be enjoying his time on Ithaki. |
It's been so cold the past couple of days that many on the island are finding it hard to get warm. The heating just isn't cutting through the chill. On Ithaki we're still lucky however. We aren't snowed in like many places up north, and we do have some electricity, albeit intermittent. |
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Sat 24 Dec - A sound engineer, a poet and a taxi driver Illia, Yiorgo and Dimo, share a table on Christmas Eve. |
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MERRY CHRISTMAS |
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Hronia Polla to all the Eugenias on Saturday. Spaventos' Jenny is one of those Eugenias, so a celebration was in order. As usual the Cafe Bar had a drink and a sweet for Jennys' friends, even though she was fast asleep after a busy day with the twins. Above - Christo and Dionisis from the Odysseas Football Team. Left - Jessica - ash11, Dimitri - Mr. Video and Katrina - Creative Ithaki Holidays. |
Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, we hope you had a great day with people you love and doing something you like. |
Tue 27 Dec - The island was very quiet yesterday. that it rained all day, didn't help, but the biggest reason must have been the 'after Christmas' lethargy. Too much food, too much wine and the usual complete over indulgence this time of year that reduces nearly everyone to a mere couch potatoe. Today, the weather bureau predicts storms, rain and wind for all over Greece, including Ithaki, so I guess it will be another day indoors. Thank you to all who sent in Christmas wishes. Your committment to the site, is a wonderful thing. Thank you!!! |
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As promised, the skies opened up this morning and there seems no sign of them clearing any time today. Mystical hazes descend from the clouds onto the seas and the blackening horizon threatens more days such as today. The streets in Vathy were almost empty as the rain poured down on the capital, not even the goats wandered the drenched mountain roads. |
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Time for umbrellas and rugging up. It's wet and it's cold. |
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Above - The sign reads "Those in a hurry or those who are impatient will not get served" This sign hangs in Odysseas Cafe in Vathy. It must be for the Summer, no one on the island is in a hurry right now. |
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Wed 28 Dec - Below - The northern Ithacan streets are very quiet, but in Stavros there is still somewhere to warm the cockles and eat and drink. Petra Restaurant has the fire going and the lamb on the grill. |
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Right - Maria Andrianatos tackles Athens center on a daily basis, she's here for the Christmas holidays to spend time with her family and friends in Stavros |
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The weather bureau predicts bad weather up until the New Year. If the predictions are correct, those planning to leave on Thursday may not be taking the ferry to Patra, when it's said that 9 force winds will whip up the seas. |
Thursday night, Ithakis' rock band, The Chapries will be playing a gig at Mylos Creperie in Vathy. Sound starts 10pm. |
As we head towards the New Year at rocket speed, it seems the usual haunts in Vathy, Kioni, Frikes and Stavros, have the island well covered for the festivities. |
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Ithacans from around the world, click here to be apart of ithacagreece.com. |
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Fri 30 Dec - Right - Last night the Chapries rocked Vathy in a pre- New Year gig at Mylos Creperie. Click here or on Photo right for more. |
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Thur 29 Dec - After lightning through the night, the day begins with a clear horizon to the south and a blackness to the north. It seems today, the sun may shine to contribute to the milder temps. This mornings ferry was quite full for this time of year, as many escape the Ithacan Winter or head to Athens and beyond to party in the New Year. |
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Sunrise over Kioni Bay |
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Storms and high winds ripped through Ithaca last night. Winds were so forceful, it's a wonder Ithaca can still be found where it was left on the map. A drop in weather and an increase in dampness is making the home fires burn a little stronger than the past few days. Snow covered mountains across on the mainland and Lefkada account for the noticeable chill in the air. The day seems to be clearing as we head towards afternoon, with fine and usual winter weather expected for the New Year period until another front is forecast in the first week of 2006. |
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ithacagreece.com WISHES YOU ALL A HAPPY, SAFE AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR |
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| ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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