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| Sunday 24 April - This is the last winter page for the season. We'll finish up with Easters Big Week and Easter Sunday from which date, Summer Lodown starts up again. |
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Mon 25 Apr - Have the road works at Aetos finished? Not quite. The mountain is still being dressed for the new road. We hope the marriage between the two will be consumated as soon as possible. |
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Tue 26 Apr - Right - Ithacans, Illia and son getting ready their boat in Frikes. It's also nice to see fishing boats sailing into the bay again under a blue sky. It reminds us all that Summer is just around the corner. |
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| The day has turned out beautifully, after a rainy and grey start this morning. Many Ithacans are out enjoying the sunshine while they still have the island to themselves before more and more people come for Easter. |
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Frikes Bay |
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Aristotelis from Kalkanis Restaurant in Vathy taking a breath before the season starts. Soon there won't be time to enjoy the sunshine. |
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Wed 27 Apr - The weather forecast predicted a warm day and they didn't disappoint. 24 C and it wasn't much of an effort to get out of bed and out into the sun. This week sees real life on the island again. The Cafes and streets are buzzing with activity. Don't you want to be here?? |
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Left - Vikki, very close friend of local Rocksters, The Chappries, getting in some shopping before she heads down to Piso Aetos where she sells Ferry Tickets for the Travel Agent, Polyctor. What a life. No wonder she's smiling all the time. At night, you can probably see her at Mylos Creperie in Vathy, The Chappries playground, helping out her boyfriend Niko. |
Right - Yiorgos from Spavento Bar in Kioni. Now where has he been hiding? Nowhere. He's been at home enjoying his twin sons, now 6 months old. With the season starting, even he will have to pry himself away from the fun and games and get back to the Cafe Bar where the regulars to island expect to see him. Ready...Set...Go! |
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The German Shepherd that awaits the ferry every day. He's ready to grab the line thrown to dock. |
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Here they come. If you don't have a ticket to get to the island by now, then forget it. Everything's booked now. |
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Thu 28 Apr - It's predicted around 2,000,000 people will be escaping Athens and surrounding towns today for the Easter break. The roads will be bumper to bumper, including Antirrio Bridge, the ferries will be tipping the scales loaded with cars, trucks and buses and here on Ithaca, well, there will be lots of smiling faces when children return home for the holidays, businesses make a little bit of cash to pay their winter bills and with church services every day during this Big Easter Week, the donation tray will get a good rattling. Let the church bells ring. Get those Spit Roasts oiled and colour those eggs red. Easter is the biggest holiday in Greece |
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Fri 29 apr - The Marouda, Brown and Sacks families have been holidaying at Kravoulia, northern Ithaca the past week. They are from Israel and the UK, London and Warwickshire. Their great passion for the island was displayed in their utter enjoyment just to be here. They gathered round a Rementzo table each night lighting up the restaurant with beaming smiles and enthusiastic conversations. Grandfather Nikos Maroudas from Anoghi will never know he has sparked such a passion in his descendants. |
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You can't eat at Rementzo without a little discussion about Football with owner Nektarios Vasilopoulos, on a Football night. |
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The village women of Kioni decorate the Church for Good Friday Eve Service. |
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Kionis' ex-pats return for the Easter Weekend and get together at Avra Restaurant with Costa, Asimina and Ditty |
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Outside Spavento Bar |
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Kioni locals, Yianni, Maki and Vanilla get comfortable at Mythos Restaurant where they enjoy eachothers company and Kioni bay. |
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| Tonight the Kioni Congregation walks the cross of Christ through the village. A ceremony attended by many on the Nothern Island of Ithaki. |
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For a Kioni local, a walk to the pier is as mandatory as it is for a tourist. |
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Right - Over the hills of Kioni, in Raxi, it's work as usual for all. There is plenty to prepare before the heat of the Summer months hits the island. |
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Sat 30 Apr - Before you ask where all the Easter pics are, I will tell you that the pics from 3 days of Easter this year will all be on one page which I will post online on Easter Sunday. right here on the last page of Winter on Ithaca. |
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Above - from L - R - Nico Vasilopoulos and wife Julia Andrianatos, Poppy, cousin to Nico, Demetri, Jerome, Poppys' husband, and Aki, brother to Poppy and Cousin to Nico, who is brother of Nektarios from Rementzo, who is married to Poppy, another one, who is related distantly to Demetri who is related to me.. An electrical engineer/photographer, 2 English Teachers, a Jeweller, an IT/photographer, a musician/IT/Bartender speaking half Greek half English, a couple of babies who are at home sleeping and another Good Friday get together, almost over...After a quick drink at Bemenis - Right - It was like a Summer de ja vou in Frikes. People spilling out onto the street from the local Bar, music pumping and the Easter blow-ins getting ready to kick off their shoes to dance on the Bar. DFF DFF DFF. Hronia Polla. |
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Tonight another night of Pre-Easter celebrations with Candles and more. Keep your eyes out here for the Easter Special on Easter Sunday. |
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Above - Nick and Daniel Economos (opoulos) have their rootes in Ag. Ioannis, but live in Florida, US. They haven't missed an Easter or Summer on Ithaca for 12 years. Must have been in nappies the first time. We caught them in Frikes with their Uncle Spiro and Aunty Christina, eating and drinking up big for Good Friday. |
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Bemenis |
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Above - Judas burns in Kioni on Good Friday Eve |
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Click on Photograph (left) or HERE for all the pics of Good Friday, The Resurrection and Easter Sunday. |
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The long lunch of Easter had me enjoying myself a little too much to come home, sit infront of the computer to get you all the pics I promised to bring you after lunch. I was just going to add a couple, but as usual I get carried away, so here are two pages of Easter. Only 5 hours late. I didn't get to the Southern part of the Island, but I have fit in as much as I can of northern Ithaki. Maybe you'll see someone you know. |
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This brings Winter on Ithaca to an end, but don't despair. If you haven't noticed yet, Summer Lodown is already up. If you can't be here in person, enjoy Summer on Ithaca right here on hOME ithaca greece |
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