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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 |
...April |
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| Above - New houses going up all over the island. This one in Vathy has a hillside view over the bay, which is looking particularly beautiful today. Sun shining, blue water, blue sky. |
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Below - view as we head from Vathy up to the northern villages. A fine day today after yesterdays' rain. |
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Fri 14 Apr - Above - Wendy and David, regulars on the site and on Ithaca, are back to Exoghi to fix up their house. This 3 week visit has them painting...after they decide on a colour that is. |
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Above Left - President Aristotelis Koutsouvelis (Aristotelis Apartments, Frikes) Right - Treasurer Dionisis Delaportas (Captains Apartments, Kioni) The Accommodation Co-Operative pages can be found under Accommodation in the various villages of the island or click here The Co-Op provides a wide range of accommodations for all budgets and needs. |
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Sat 15 Apr - At the Mentor Hotel in Vathy, the Accommodation Co-Operative (Owners Association of Ithaca) gets together to renew their standing in EOT among other business. Aristotelis from Frikes, President of the Co-Op and Captain Dionisis from Kioni, Treasurer get the proceedings going. |
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It's time to renew statistics and prices for EOT approved accommodation, the result of which will see that plasticized price list on the back of the doors of the various accommodations. After a few questions, filling out of forms, a coffee or two, and then payment of course, the days business is done and Co-Op members return home to get ready for another Summer season. |
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Easter Week |
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Tue 18 Apr - Right - A strange day yesterday. Clouds drifting along the water line. wherever you looked. Eerie and strangely still. Not a stir in the trees or a ripple on the sea. |
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Today was quite warm and completely cloudless until around 7pm. Left - The end of another spectacular Lefki sunset. The golden sky bathes the Ionian in a warm light as the sun disappears behind Ithakis neighbour, Kefalonia. |
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It seems from one day to the next, that Ithaki is waking up with Easter Week bringing its' children back to the island. Lots of cars, traffic and activity in the streets. It's caught the island a little unaware. Restaurants are still in the process of getting ready and are now rushing to meet the deadline, a deadline decided upon by the many people coming to Ithaca for Easter, earlier than expected, because it's not just ex-pats, children studying away from home and relatives coming back, but many tourists too. It seems confirmed that the Season is starting earlier. That's a good thing. It gives everyone the opportunity to get the most out of the tourist year. |
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18 Apr Afternoon edition - Left - Stella, Victor, Stella and George Morfessis. George Morfessis from New York, is on the island. Who's he? you're wondering. Well, George started the first real website dedicated to Ithaca. www.ithaki.org still online and informing the online community about our wonderful little island in the Ionian. His heritage stems from Vathy, where he's staying with his mother and 2 children after many years absence. George Morfessis and family are just some of the many Ithacans living and working abroad, returning back to their roots from time to time, but even when absent, leave a little of themselves behind to remind them of where the heart is. George works for freshair.org in the US |
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Above - News Agent across from the National Bank in down town Vathy has been through and completed its' transformation. It's looking very nice indeed with stone work inside and out, giving the literature and daily spreads a great platform to be viewed. That this business chose a traditional style, above a modern facade,, is a great credit to them. |
Ithaca Scapes |
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Above - Yiannis and Indira from the lovely Drosia Restaurant just a little out of Vathy, take a breakfast break and enjoy the increasingly sunny day. |
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Above - Clouds hovered even lower over Ithaca during the morning. Low lying Cephalonia, completely obscured by a thick cloud laying on top of the sea. Have weather patterns become so strange that even the sky doesn't know where it belongs? |
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Thu 20 Apr - Since the Fish Farm outside of Vathy let out its' business into the open sea, due to financing problems I think, but don't quote me on it, there's been a lot of activity around Vathy bay. An easy catch for anyone wanting fish. They're almost jumping out of the water and onto the pavement down there. The first yachties get a birds eye view of locals fishing off the pier. |
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Above - Phillip and Delphine and children, Tina and Dan, find paradise in Lefki on Ithaca. They come to us from Ireland where they run The Old Milking Parlour Accommodation, a little piece of paradise in the Irish countryside. |
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Above - Mike and Mary are here from Dublin and are on Ithaca for the first time. Daughter Delphine and her family have had the experience before, so it was time to show the newcomers just why they thought Ithaca is so special. |
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The Easter Week has flooded the island with visitors. It's an instant transformation from a sleepy little island to a buzzing hub of activity. The influx of people seems to have surprised alot of the locals, some of whom are still trying to get their premises ready for the season. It's loud, it's colourful, it's busy. There's traffic, the roads seem alot narrower and the excitement is palatable. Young adults who have been studying away from home, all come back to Ithaca to meet up with old friends and to join their families for the Easter celebrations of the Big Easter Week. Ithaca, are you ready??? |
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Easter on Ithaca - Good Friday The Resurrection and Easter Sunday Friday 21st - Sunday 23rd April |
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HRONIA POLLA TO YOU ALL. HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD EASTER |
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Fri 21 Apr - A burning Bush on Good Friday in Kioni. Click here or on photo above for more |
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Sat 22 Apr - Anastasis - the Resurrection. Lighting up Kioni in candle light. Click here or on photo above for more pics. |
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Sun 23 Apr - Easter Sunday. Eat drink and be merry for next year there's another Fast. Click here or on photograph above for more |
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Wed 25 Apr - Yesterday Summer came early to Ithaca. 26C and everyone started talking about swimming. The warm weather brought people out of the corners of the island to enjoy the sunshine Left - Vicky, British archeological student studying in Crete, but living part time in Exoghi. Before she leaves the island again, she says goodbye to her loved ones. Vicky Mcguiness is just one of the animal lovers on Ithaca, getting vets organized to combat the cat problem by spaying instead of the death option. |
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Click here on photograph above for a few pics from the village of Exoghi during mid Spring. The hills are alive with the sound of bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....oh and hachoo. Hayfever time. |
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Above Right - Spiros, Doctor and resident of Athens, but really a Kioni local, starts his season with an Easter visit to the island. Spiro is a big fan of ithacagreece.com, but a bigger fan of the real thing (Ithaca) He comes to the island at every opportunity available to him to be with his family and many friends in Kioni, friends he's had since childhood. Not only is Ithaki in Spiros heart, but Spiros is at the heart of Ithaki. |
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Happy Birthday to you
Fri 28 Apr - Left - Katrina Parsey from Creative Ithaki Holidays, celebrates her birthday with friends at Rementzo in Frikes. Below Left - Tina, A tour co rep who has Ithacan roots in Exoghi, and Sonja, who has been a part-time Kioni local for many, many years
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Here we say goodbye to the winter pages. 20 full pages this year with many, many Winters specials. Click Here to review them. With temps in the mid 20's for a few weeks now, today the weather has turned a bit black. Rain last night and heavy skies today. The feeling all around Ithaca is that this year, the island will have a busy season. |
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From Switzerland with love |
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Ithaca is buzzing with activity very early this year. That's good news for all the businesses, and for the individuals who have been a little lonely for company over the past winter, a winter that will go down in history for difficulty with snow storms, power failures and ferry strikes. It will also be remembered, as all difficult periods in life are, fondly, but not due to romanticism of the past, but to the fact that Ithakis difficult winter showed the community that they work together and help eachother in times of need. A reality that makes everyone feel secure. Anyway, now that Ithaki is putting on its' Summer face, even Spavento Bar in Kioni, changing its' colour from golden to blue, ithacagreece.com will hopefully be in as many places as possible to get the people, the happenings, the festivals, not to mention the endless blue skies of Summer and all the fun of the warmer season, to you in cyber travel land. Unless something amazing goes on, Winter on Ithaca ends here and Summer Lodown starts on May 1. Better get to it, I've got pages to get ready.
Afternoon - What was I saying about this being the last entry???? Stop the press, something Amazing is happening on the island, well, at least amazing for Ithaca. Click here to see what it is.
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| ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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