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Sun 16 Dec - Above - It's been getting quite chilly the past few days as is evident with the early snowfalls across the way on the Mainland. Exoghi and Anoghi also had a little snow a few days ago. Today, Ithaki bathed under blue skies and wonderful sunshine until mid afternoon, when heavy clouds began to drift across the island again. |
Right - For the regulars to the island, Yianni and Douri (Dorothea) are well known characters and residents of Ithaki. Not only because of their Taverna in Stavros, but also Yiannis Taxi service, and more recently, from their rented apartments in Lefki. I don't think I've met anyone who hasn't been driven around by Yianni during the Summer. Yianni and Douri would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. |
This time of the year is pretty quiet, not a lot going on anywhere. Very nice... for a change. |
Tue 18 Dec - Over the past weeks, electricity had been dropping out at irregular intervals. Seems there was a serious fault around Anoghi which wasn't allowing electricity through the grid to the north on and off. Yesterday, the boys at DEH kindly weathered the rainy day to fix the problem. Hopefully, no more drop outs from now on.
Otenet? Is it all ok, working? Well if it is, it isn't reachable from the north island most days. It's been a few days since I've been able to log on. Back to Free and ACN. Some are reporting connection speeds of 15 - 20 kbps when they are lucky enough to get through. Stone Age Internet. Where's my club? Where's Dino? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Below Right - This great pic was taken by Poppy (Rementzo) when it snowed in Exoghi a few days ago. Although Exoghi is barely inhabited over the winter period, during the Summer the population rises dramatically, so this pic is for all of you who know and love this village, but never get to see it frosted like a big cake.
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Christmas 2002, I started working on a little idea to occupy my time during the winter. The idea was a webpage or two with some beautiful pics of Ithaki. I knew nothing about the internet, I barely knew how to turn on a computer, but by March 2003 I had figured out how to get the pages online and ranking on Google and Yahoo. Friends Poppy and Nektarios (Rementzo) and relatives, Jennie and George (Spavento), started |
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me off by asking me to make pages for their businesses to be included in the website and the rest is history. Some of you may remember those bloody pop -ups the Free Server attached to my site, back in the days when hOME ithaca greece was hosted by ionichost.com. Well there haven't been any pop-ups for a few years now with ithacagreece.com and the site has grown alot since then thanks completely to all of you who log in religiously to be in touch with Ithaki even when you are so far away. I still love this island and still love doing the website. I admit, sometimes I get a little defeated by the ugly letters, but on the whole, the pro-website far outweigh the anti-website and that keeps my motivation high to keep 98% of this site free. I hope we can continue with ithacagreece.com for a few more years to come, but if you get bored, let me know and if you have any ideas on what you would like on the site, please send them to me. To look back over the years, navigate your way around with the Navigation Menu at the top of this page. Thanks again to all of you!!!! and have a safe and Merry Christmas. |
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Above - The skies over Platrithias yesterday.
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Above - The skies over Vathy today. |
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Wed 19 Dec - It's a chilly 11C, but there's abundant sunshine on the island today. A nice change from the dreary skies over the past month or so. Below Left - Aetos Bay with the snow capped mountains on the Mainland in the distance. Below Right - The dramatic landscape of Lefki with the stunning slopes of the mountain descending down to the sea beneath the village. |
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Thu 20 Dec - Yesterday evening the Stavros Primary school, which educates all the children in the north of Ithaca, put on its Christmas play. |
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The past few days have been just perfect for walking, sunny and quite mild as long as the sun is out. Click here or on photgraph right for more pics of a walk from Polis to Stavros via Kalivia. Below - Strange cloud band circles Ithaca yesterday morning. |
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It was standing room only with the great turn out. The children recited poems and sang Christmas songs in their Festivity costumes while proud mums and dads looked on. Left - Eleni, a member of the school community made the Christmas Calendar for 2008 (with a little help from her friends of course) Each calender just a little different, as they were all hand made, each centered with the Class of 2008 and decorated with natural crafts collected from the island. The Stavros teachers and pupils put on a very inspired night with lots of colour and god cheer. |
Yesterday afternoon on the return trip from Patra, The Kefalonia ferry had ithacans trapped inside when the doors to the boat wouldn't open. By 8pm, 4 hours after docking, they managed to open the small door to at least let the passengers out, but the cars were left inside. Today, the ferry has gone, along with the cars, to get the problem fixed... hopefully. |
Mon 24 Dec - Below - View to Polis Beach from the Kalivia track between Polis Bay and Stavros. |
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Fri 28 Dec - Left - An old Well in the back streets of Vathy, well maintained in the spirit of tradition. |
Right - Christmas looked like this on Ithaki. Rain and blacks skies. Today the temp is rising again, but it's been pretty chilly these past 2 weeks. 1 out of 2 people has the flu, is getting it or is getting over it. Tis the Season to be Jolly and/or in bed with the flu. While the rest of the world eats Turkey, on Ithaki, the |
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soup 'Avgo lemono' is the traditional fare of Christmas day. Soup made from turkey stock with egg, rice & lemon. Although Ithaki, like Greece generally, is adopting the western ways of Christmas consumer heaven/frenzy, the big day in this part of the world is New Year. Traditionally, this is the day for giving presents and having a big family lunch. |
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Sun 30 Dec - Below - It's been awhile since we've had a Sunday morning in Kioni. Spavento Bar is the place to be. Locals come in through the morning for their espresso and croissants. Jennie is back doing the Sunday shift from 9am to midday when Niko, (below right in green) takes over. Behind Niko are Kostas and Asimina from Kionis favourite restaurant, Avra on the bay, which in winter operates as a Cafe for the locals and whoever has been daring enough to visit Ithaki in the off season. It's a great family atmosphere. Mums come in with their kids, men with their dogs and locals, who would no doubt be lost if Spavento closed its doors during this time of the year. As usual, Jennie has decorated the Cafe Bar with lots of Christmas spirit. On the laptop, a slide show of her big love, the twins, plays continuously in the background...that is until there's football on the tele. The skies are blue and the weather is mild, although looks can be deceptive. It's quite chilly now.
   
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The kids head off to the parks to get in some fresh air and sunshine, dogs take the opportunity to socialize, and Greeces' summer icon, the cat, takes its position in the sunniest spot. |
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There's no doubt about it, Winter time is party time on Ithaki. There have been dances for kids, dances for parents, dances and parties for Christmas and upcoming parties for the New Year, and although the north island seems very quiet, Vathy is still pumping out good times with many returning home from their lives on the mainland for the Christmas season. |
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HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE |
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Far Left - An Anek ferry passes by Ithaki as it heads towards Italy. |
Left - Kikis mini market is looking very festive and brighens up Frikes, which can be quite dreary during the winter. In summer its a great place to hang around because when it's 40C, it's always much cooler in Frikes, but in winter this village doesn't get sunlight until around 2pm, just in time for the sun to slowly begin to set again. Fiorendino Bar in Frikes celebrated its first year since opening with a huge party last night and Piperato Restaurant has taken over the 'Live music nights' since Rementzo closed its doors for the winter, so it's not all quiet on the home front. |
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Tue 1 Jan - Above - L - R - Lazaros (Mr. St. elias villa, Leonardo (Tiler and builder), Margarita (Rementzo chef), Tasia (Mrs. St. Elias villa), Herman (Air Steward), Demetri (Alien), Julian (Fashion Designer), Mark (Ex UK holiday co rep), Lilia (Ex Dutch holiday co rep) and Nektarios (Mr. Rementzo) wish everyone a Happy New Year. |
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Above - It's not New Years Eve unless the Odysseas Football club boys knock on your door to sing to you for the Calendar. The boys go house to house singing, drinking and collecting donations for their Club. In return you get the Club Calendar. Donations help with uniforms and travel money for away games. |
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No fireworks shooting into the sky from spectacularly lit bridges last night, although fire crackers could be heard in the distance, and no masses in the town squares. To mark the countdown, tvs went on for time co-ordination. The Athens Mayor, (what an exciting chap he is) gave his speech and if you weren't paying attention to the counter on the bottom of the screen, you would have missed and kissed 3 minutes late by the time his speech concluded. It's a drizzly and cold start to the New Year, and after parties and celebrations all over Ithaki last night, a very quiet one. Everyone in bed shaking off hangovers as in the rest of the world. Hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Have a safe and Happy New Year with many trips to Ithaki on your 2008 Calendar. |
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