Reporting In

[Mike G]

Independence is here to stay, loved it, and will do it again, and next year seriously thinking about 3 weeks instead of 2.

Post Plakias Blues are here again...

george g...

Just a quick thought for those with a generous holiday entitlement or who don't work, but I reckon to get two 2-week holidays (one May, one late September/early October) for the price of one in high season (there or thereabouts anyway). From my perspective I prefer the weather to be cooler as I like to do fairly long walks. Although temperatures of 30°C are not unusual at these times the nights are cooler and you don't need air conditioning.

Mike

[John R]

I hate to admit it but I sort of missed the ‘SL’s’, but Dionysis said, that he was looking forward to them coming back, his eyes were raised to the ceiling when he said it though!

Independence is here to stay, loved it, and will do it again, and next year seriously thinking about 3 weeks instead of 2.

Post Plakias Blues are here again...

Ah well  - counting down to our 18 days of SL time at Livicon. Shall ask Dionysis about his raised eyes. They may indeed be watering when we leave

Not looking forward to Post Plakias blues mid October - let us know if you find the cure.

oh - did you suss out the Kilikratis track ??

John R

[Rowena & Carl]

Plakias 2007
Great flight ‘XL’ 05.00am take off, car waiting and got into Plakias around 2.30pm. Checked straight into Flisvos Rooms (see ‘Article System’), and plenty of time to unpack get sorted and go and get a few groceries from Dave and Ali’s.  

Wasn’t very adventurous with the restaurants this year, stuck to Medusa, Harakas and Lysseous, they were all magical as always and one disaster in the Platia in Myrthios. Had the Red Lamb, it was awful.
But the Lemon Sole with Lemon Sauce in Harakas was a dream, thoroughly recommended.

Usual bars, Antoni’s and the Levicon and a few others, Glaros, Ostraco and the Lamon etc during the day whenever the need arose. The warm welcome was much appreciated.

Met so many people, Roger of course was in the Levicon and the Lysseous most evenings, nice to see you again Roger!
Alec and Fran, it was a delight to meet you, only sorry you had to go the following day.
Penny and Peter from Germany, who had been reading the site and came over to introduce themselves, lovely people and GET REGISTERED guys we need you, Peter recons he’s been to Plakias around 35 times, sometimes 3 or 4 times a year. Sorry I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye. Get in touch!!
Ann and Steve (aka Sunshine Girl) tapped me on the shoulder to introduce themselves. Great to meet you both, and Ann, ‘Sunshine Girl’ suits you.

Overall it was a great year, and having Pete and Co. in the room next door, it was great to share some of my favourite things, sorry about the roads girls!

Windy for a few days, then it dropped down to breeze, then it stopped completely for about two days, 35 degrees plus every gay, but the dark clouds were just rolling over the Dragon on my last day.

It was very quiet though, surprisingly so, we had a few busy days probably when the local holidays were happening, but the Restaurants and the Levicon in the evenings were generally very quiet and I hate to admit it but I sort of missed the ‘SL’s’, but Dionysis said, that he was looking forward to them coming back, his eyes were raised to the ceiling when he said it though!

Independence is here to stay, loved it, and will do it again, and next year seriously thinking about 3 weeks instead of 2.

Post Plakias Blues are here again...

george g...

Quick addition, I mentioned to Freddie on the beach how much I'd paid for the car, and he moaned at me for not using a Plakias based company, and I told him they were all too expensive, so he said go and see Antonios at Monza. So I did and got a hyperthetical quote for exacly the same deal for next year. It was 50 euros more than I paid this year which is still 200 euros cheaper than the next best quote I had for this year. So guess who I'm going to use next year?

g g...

Hi George

Glad you had a great time, we go again 3 weeks Tuesday & can't wait. Hope you enjoyed Flisvos apartments don't be jealous but our Vespa Scooter lives there! Sea veiw all year! Hope it's ok and starts in October.

Rowena

[George]

oh - did you suss out the Kilikratis track ??

John R

Hi John

No I didn't, but I did try, I drove all the way along the road from Asi Gonia to Imbross and couldn't find it. Probably concentrating on missing all the goats that were wandering all over the road, but I did find another road. There's a big sign at the entrance to it that says that it lead to a conservation area for some kind of Vultures, so I went for it. Warning do not try this in any type of car, the Jimny was in 2WD and packed up on me within a 100 yards of coming off the 'main' road so had to stop and get the 4WD set up and then it was plain sailing.
Beautiful scenery and dozens of vultures both above and at times below me, fabulous site watching them gliding on the thermals. Black wing tips and creamy plummage on their backs.
The road is like driving on a shingle beach so be warned!
I did find the other entrance to it though in Kapsodassos, on the way back, looks like it's a major funding operation by the EU. Big sign there with all the details.
The road goes off in all directions and ends... would you believe? At a church!

Great fun  

george g...

[John R]

oh - did you suss out the Kilikratis track ??

John R

Hi John

No I didn't, but I did try, I drove all the way along the road from Asi Gonia to Imbross and couldn't find it.

george g...

Thanks George for all that info. I certainly will not try a car on the route you describe but we might get our walking boots on for that one - sounds good. If I can't find the start of the Killikratis pass at the bottom (If you didn't it is unlikely that I will) then I might have a careful investigation from the top - turning back if things get rough. They do hide the starts of these mountain routes. The new massive highway from Thronos to Arkadia is near impossible to find (or was). We drove out of Thronos along a narrow village track that looked absolutely wrong and with no way of turning round - we were getting quite worried. Then suddenly it opened out into this near "motorway" across the Mountains.

Hope you left a bit of sunshine for us !!

And Chris - you could find that new track for us in the few days you have before our arrival couldn't you  

John R

[George]

oh - did you suss out the Kilikratis track ??

John R

Hi John

No I didn't, but I did try, I drove all the way along the road from Asi Gonia to Imbross and couldn't find it.

george g...

Thanks George for all that info. I certainly will not try a car on the route you describe but we might get our walking boots on for that one - sounds good. If I can't find the start of the Killikratis pass at the bottom (If you didn't it is unlikely that I will) then I might have a careful investigation from the top - turning back if things get rough. They do hide the starts of these mountain routes. The new massive highway from Thronos to Arkadia is near impossible to find (or was). We drove out of Thronos along a narrow village track that looked absolutely wrong and with no way of turning round - we were getting quite worried. Then suddenly it opened out into this near "motorway" across the Mountains.

Hope you left a bit of sunshine for us !!

And Chris - you could find that new track for us in the few days you have before our arrival couldn't you  

John R

Couldn't find it from the top John, the bottom access is easy it's very well sign posted on the road going through Kapsodassos.
I hope you find it John, I get the impression that it could be a spectacular walk down, as the road evidently runs down the side of the Kallikratos Gorge.

BOL, I hope you enjoy it  

...and I did leave a bit of sunshine but can't gaurantee that Pete and Dawn will leave any on their return on Wednesday, but they have got me a litre and a half of Babbis's Raki, so I'm set up for the winter!!

george g...

[John R]

Couldn't find it from the top John, the bottom access is easy it's very well sign posted on the road going through Kapsodassos.
I hope you find it John, I get the impression that it could be a spectacular walk down, as the road evidently runs down the side of the Kallikratos Gorge.



george g...

Google Earth seem to have a newer picture of this area and the photo below displays the Kilikratis track and the bottom of it - but on zooming in it is obviously not tarmaced anywhere when the photo was taken.. On Google Earth I traced it to the top and can see clearly where it starts in Kilikratis Village. The question is how much is tarmaced - we know that some of it is from that youtube film clip. So I think I can make a tentative investigation from the top now.



John R

[George]

Looks like another road being cut out on the left John, this could become a popular area for the walkers.

It would be interesting to know, who works out the route for these roads.

george g...

[George]

Couple of things...

Chris H, the bar at Imbross has moved the display at the centre, look around, you will anyway, it's still in there somewhere.Try the Pork chops  

The road to Anapoli is being widened and strengthed up by the look of it. Large caterpillars are up there gouging out the rocks and a lot of the tarmac has gone which makes it even more scary  especially on the narrow bits!!

george g...

[John R]

The road to Anapoli is being widened and strengthed up by the look of it. Large caterpillars are up there gouging out the rocks and a lot of the tarmac has gone which makes it even more scary  especially on the narrow bits!!

george g...

Ouch - that is NOT funny  

[George]

The road to Anapoli is being widened and strengthed up by the look of it. Large caterpillars are up there gouging out the rocks and a lot of the tarmac has gone which makes it even more scary  especially on the narrow bits!!

george g...

Ouch - that is NOT funny  

I got Pete to use my camera and filmed the crossing of the Bridge, one way at normal speed and coming back very slowly to see if we could see where the bungi jumpers had gone (down I think), then the road all the way down into Chora Sfakion (the girls were very quite BTW). It's bad enough driving down there, but I watched it yesterday on TV and that was even worse    .

george g...

[George]

The road to Anapoli is being widened and strengthed up by the look of it. Large caterpillars are up there gouging out the rocks and a lot of the tarmac has gone which makes it even more scary  especially on the narrow bits!!

george g...

Ouch - that is NOT funny  

I got Pete to use my camera and filmed the crossing of the Bridge, one way at normal speed and coming back very slowly to see if we could see where the 'Liquid bungi' jumpers had gone (down I think), then the road all the way down into Chora Sfakion (the girls were very quite BTW). It's bad enough driving down there, but I watched it yesterday on TV and that was even worse    .

george g...

[harribobs]

the road improvements on the anapoli has been going on all year, you've got to be aware you may get held by one of the huge bulldozers or trucks

the kallikratis gorge is a lovely place to walk but it is a long one to do up and down in a day  

the road out of kallikratis goes south right out of the centre of the village towards another small village, whose name i can't remember

[George]

Sorry about that, my PC timed out so I hit the ADD button again.

george g...

[harribobs]

Anapoli road and roadworks