Topics

1

PlakChat / Electric Wheelchair

« on: June 14, 2009, 10:41:40 AM »

Can anyone HELP
Does anyone know if it's possible to hire an electric wheelchair in the Rethymno area?

2

PlakChat / SMOKING BAN

« on: June 10, 2008, 01:37:25 PM »

Being one of the "unclean" I keep hearing various reports about there being a no smoking ban in Greece,
has anyone any definate ideas?
If not, anyone who has recently come back know if it's still permited to smoke in the area in front of the servery in the departure lounge?

3

PlakChat / CRETE GAZETTE

« on: August 13, 2007, 12:36:22 PM »

Had to laugh, just read the latest issue of the Crete Gazette,
article on new road driving offences
eg
 No number plate 5300Euro
 Not wearing seat belt 350Euro
 Driver enjoying hanky-panky with glamorous passenger 200Euro

4

Gossip / Birthdays

« on: January 01, 2007, 11:04:45 AM »

Happy Birthday MAGGY (Lamon) ?? today
Lots of love from
John & Zell

5

Plakias / Horse Riding

« on: July 21, 2005, 03:52:09 PM »

Whilst we are on holiday in Plakias my wife Zell is fortunate enough to have her birthday (9th July) and every year I try to tease her with something special, well this year I topped the lot. It has always been her life long ambition to go horse ridding along a beach, (she is a very accomplished rider) and after searching high and low on various websites in Crete I found only 2, 1 at SISSI (too far) and 1 at Georgiopolis ( early evening so she would not like the drive back over in the dark) so I had given up, anyway on the 2nd day in Plakias we were going past the fish and chip shop next to the docs when I just happened to look in the window and what do I see? but a notice advertising horse ridding, so 2 days latter I managed to get away from her and went round to see Nico to get it all arranged for 9:00am on the 9th
So after teasing her somewhat madly for the next few days we got up early on the 9th and at 9 sharp I told her to go round to the post office at the side of the Lamon and she would get her surprise.
The first person to arrive was at the motorcycle shop so she imediately thought it wa a ride on a big Harly or such like, but no, he said hello but that was all, then Nico poked his head out from the fish and chip shop and becond her in, told her to sit down an he then started to slice up a cucumber at which point she thought it was going to be a Greek cookery lesson, and was not a happy bunny, but after a few minutes he told her to come with him and they got into his pick-up truck and set of, up the road, past the youth hostel and up the hillside and when they stoped Nico just pointed accross the field and there stood the horses complete with spanish riding sadles, the lot.
So of they went up into the hills,through the olive groves and spoted a pair of eagles at a nest with a hungry young chick inside, finaly coming down the back road by the Paligrymnos finishing with a final gallop along the beach 2 hrs in total
I should point out that Zell had to give up riding 25yrs ago because she became allergic to them, a point which I had completely forgoten and which now seems to have gone because she has already booked herself in for 2 sesions next year

6

Plakias / Library

« on: July 21, 2005, 03:05:08 PM »

 Possible question for your next pub quiz " where is the most southerly Library in Europe?" Answere :- PLAKIAS. Located just past the youth hostal the Plakias library is thriving, with several thousand books not only in English but also German , French and a few Italian on all subjects, all catalogued in authors alphabetical and tital alphabetical. It started last year and has just grown, not just a place to get a book to read but  a general meeting place to catch up on all the gossip and to find out any information you may be after. Sit down   and have a coffee, a cup of tea or a glass of red or white wine. the library was formed by a "MOTLY" crew of ex-pats with their own very prestigious titles, theres Alan(1) office manager, Mike- estate manager, Andy-Janitor/cat nurse,Eddy : -Finantial wizard and   general tyrant and Alan(2) tea maker, all a great buch of guys who will always make everyone welcome.
Theres no charge for book hire or refreshments just a small donation in the box as you leave.
At the moment they are busy lanscaping   the area with a particular spot for English Lettuce,runner beans,tomatoes and the like (this was our donation when we got home and have now sent them on ready for sowing for the Autumn harvest.By the way way they do have a GUARD CAT (Samantha) which was a little rescued kitten found at the roadside and nused back to health by the guys at their own expence, but don't worry she's so spoilt living on salmon she spends most of the day up a tree in the shade asleep
John & Zell

7

Where to stay / Disabled facilities

« on: July 21, 2005, 10:56:46 AM »

 Most people would not apreciate the fact that facilities for the disabled in Crete are NON-EXISTANT but although I am in a wheelchair perminantly the majoraty of the time I have not found it to much of a problem with locals only too willing to help   (which is more than can be said back in England)and whilst some places DO have a ramp it's not exactly the standard 1 in 12 but yet again I've never found it a problem. The point I'm getting to is that in my particular case my condition is one of continualy worsening and therfore after 12 years at the LAMON we informed MAGGY that due to problems in the bathroom we would not be returning, this caused great shock to her and once I had explained her reply was when we get home to let her know what was required. so sure enough I sent her details of disabled bathrooms and left it at that only to get an Email just before Christmas to say that the bathroom had been done and she was looking forward to seeing us once again. So when we arrived in Plakias at the end of June the first thing my wife did was to go straight to the room, within minutes she came back out to tell me I had to come and have a look, well the sight that greeted me took my breadth away, rased toilet, pull-down side rail, grab rail and to top it all a new basin with a cut-away front for wheelchair access, in fact it's better than my own bathroom back home, and as for the next morning, well I w'ont go into that.
I may be wrong and stand to be corrected but I believe that this is the only place in Plakias with such facilities and I would like to take this opportunity of publicly thanking Maggy for giving me the chance to continue returning to our beloved Plakias (in fact we have already booked for June 27th 2006) so if there is anyone out there with similar problems do give Maggy a ring.
John & Zell

8

Gossip / Disabled help

« on: May 30, 2005, 01:19:42 PM »

Is there anyone out there that can help me?
I'm in Plakias in 4 weeks time, and was wondering if anyone knows if there is a Red Cross shop or anywhere that sells or hires out equipment for the disabled?
Please someone help me
John

9

Gossip / Donkey sanctuary

« on: December 03, 2004, 02:18:58 PM »

We are both interested in animal welfare, and have been led to believe that there is a donkey sanctuary on Crete, in fact it's supposed to be near Plakias, can anyone help us find out where?
John & Zell

10

Holiday Companies / AUTOWAY

« on: July 15, 2004, 01:21:34 PM »

 I have mentioned before on the forum site about Autoway car hire, but certian
events during our holiday went FAR above our expectations.
Our first 2 days of the holiday are what we call our "chillout days" when we do not do anything but sit and relax, on the 3rd day we decided to have a run into Rethymnon, and on the way out we stoped at the first garage going out of Pakias to get some air in my wheelchiar tyres, after Zell lifted out the wheelchair the man very kindly took it off her and put some air in, Zell then lifted it to put it back in the boot only to hear the loudest bang you've ever heard form the tyre busting, a litte 2 week old kitten on the forecourt did the fastest 40 yd dash ever and 3 guys in a pickup truck waiting for petrol dived down behind the dashboard thinking somone was firing a gun, I asked if anyone knew where I could get a new tube only to be told Rethymnon, (now I defy anyone out there to tell me where to get an inner tube for a wheelchair in Rethymnon) So what do we do? we go to see our friend Janis at Autoway, no problem he said and did no more than take the wheel returning less than 15mins later mended.
Now if that was not enough 5 days later Zell broke a tooth, what do we do? go and see Janis who rang his dentist, got her in straight away, his brother took her there and Janis gave me coffee whilst I waited, his brother waited in the car for her for 2hrs before bringing her back all safe and sound, (the dentist by the way was wonderful, having had to not only do the repair but also after x-ray noticing a problem with the root and removed the nerve, the sugery and sevice putting the NHS to shame)
I rang Janis the night before we left to say goodby only for him to say, call in at Rethymnon on the way and he would get somone to drive us to the airport instead of me driving.
What can I say? WELL BEYOND the call of duty, twice the holiday could have been a disaster but for Janis at AUTOWAY

11

Gossip / Members Helpline

« on: June 23, 2004, 05:57:09 PM »

 Am I the only one who takes adaptors on holiday?
by that I mean mobile phone chargers 2 (For emergency only)
digital camera charger, personal cd player (mains ac/dc adaptor) cd player speakers (mains ac/dc adaptor) all of these add up to a fair weight when you have your 20kg limit
So does anyone out there know if there are multy connectors available (1 for chargers and 1 for ac/dc adaptors) ? at least then i can cut down from 5 down to 2
Hope someone can help
John & Zell

12

PlakChat / weather

« on: May 20, 2004, 05:37:43 PM »

Every day after I have looked at the bulletin board my next site visit is to "weather underground" to see what the weather is like in Crete (just a habit, but there you are) and I noticed that there were thunderstorms over Crete yesterday. This is something I have always wanted to see in Plakias especialy at night, but even after 12 yrs I never been lucky enough. I have often sat there at night kooking out towards Gavdos imagining the thunder rumbling in and then the lightening coming in from Gavdos. to me personally I cannot imagine anything more beautiful or spectacular,
Never mind I can but dream, Has anyone out there ever been lucky enough?
John & Zell

13

Holiday Companies / GETTING ABOUT

« on: May 13, 2004, 04:25:01 PM »

We have been to Plakias 12 yrs running now and appart from the first 2 yrs have always done flight only which means having to hire a car, for anyone who has ever done this it can be pretty daunting.
In the past we have used all the big name companies   and had some very bad experiences, 2 times no car, 1 time no spare wheel, 1 time spare wheel had punture (whilst at Preveli), and worst of all last year a brake failure nearly killing us.
So after enquiring at the new taxi office (opposite doctors) I obtained a list of prices for various destinations including from and to the airport and after adding it all up I found it was cheaper than hiring a car (AUTOMATIC) for 2 weeks.
 It was only when someone told me to look at the INTERKRITI web site for something that I noticed the car and bike section, there are about 20 different companies, and after looking through them all and discounting some because of price or unavaiability of an automatic I set to sending Emails to about 10 I liked the look of. 8 out of the 10 replied and after finding one I liked, namely AUTOWAY
I sent another Email to them explaining my previous bad experiences only to recieve one back explaining the company policies and that it was a very long established family bussiness, offered me a very good price, and a full writen gaurentee that if I was not 100% happy I could have a full refund.
  It has always been my policy to support the locals when in Crete (after a while I think you get to know who the ripoff merchants are.)
When you get to my age you just want to get to Plakias and relax without any stress.
I do not normaly give recomendations but after corresponding with AUTOWAY several times I am more than happy to do so.  
So if anyone out there is interested in giving them a try here are the details.
Autoway rent a car
Contact: JANIS MAVROS
Tel:+30(28310)54105
Fax:+30(28310)55782
Email:info@autoway.gr
See what you think
John & Zell