I really don’t know where the past month has gone.. but it seems to have flown by!
Another birthday came and went and I celebrated at my local, Vangeli’s on the Friday from early doors until late evening, followed on the Saturday by a wonderful day out with close friends Lisa and Debbie on Georgioupoli beach. It was gorgeous weather – warm and sunny all day and we rounded it off with dinner on the outside terrace of a lovely taverna just off Georgioupoli square.

Gorgeous day on Georgioupoli beach on my birthday – Saturday Nov 8th!

We did that recce trip over on Akrotiri, trying to find a new way down to the glass beach on foot. But we found there was even less access than there had been 2 years ago, when we trekked through the long narrow gorge. Everything now is impossibly fenced off, leaving Debbie, Ross and I massively disappointed and frustrated. We really have tried our best to get there on foot and now that this seems impossible, we will have to go by boat next spring. After over three hours of driving around, many of the roads more like tracks, we finally gave up trying and decided to spend the rest of the day at Stavros, which was not far off. We spent a lovely afternoon on the beaches there and enjoyed our picnic lunch on the main ‘Zorbas the Greek’ beach.

At a small bay we found near Kissamos

Much later, at around 6.30pm, I was dropping Ross of in Kalyves when I noticed a burning smell in my car and realized it had overheated badly! By the time I had driven to Vamos, just before Debbie’s place – my little Hyundai Atos just gave up and died! We were so lucky this happened near home rather than in the wilderness of Akrotiri. Luckily I have Breakdown and Roadside Assistance cover and within 45 minutes of contacting them, a truck arrived, loaded my car onto it – me up front with the driver and off we went to Kosata’s garage in Kalyves. It’s the first time I’ve had to use the service and I was most impressed. The next day Kosta fitted a new radiator and made several checks on the engine before charging me 133 Euros all in!   Amazing!  Kosta said I was very lucky.. and I know I am!

Sunset at Falassarna

Pretty much all of November, Crete’s weather was warm and sunny, resulting in plenty of beachcombing days enjoyed at Bali, Skaleta, Stavros, Kissamos and Falassarna. All other days I have been busy creating more art to build up my stock again for next summer. A huge amount of my time has been spent online sourcing the seashells I have to buy in and which are becoming more and more illusive. One of my regular suppliers based in the US, says that it is becoming increasingly difficult to acquire certain seashells. Soon I may not be able to create some of my designs anymore.

One of the beaches at Bali

All my seashell orders are being delivered to the UK as they have shut down all the local post offices here on Crete. It is beyond frustrating as now I would have to make close to a 3 hour round trip to post an artwork from a sale on Etsy – to the USA or UK. I can use local couriers for anywhere in Europe but most of my customers come from the USA or UK. On top of the post office closures, the Trump Administration’s tariffs on all goods sent to the USA have meant that Elta (The Greek Postal Service) have suspended all shipments to the US since the end of August anyway!

Live music gig at Bicorna in Plaka#

Only too pleased to change that subject.. on the social front I can say that although everywhere in Almyrida has closed up for the winter, I’ve been happily dancing the nights away at some great live music gigs both at Vangeli’s and Bicorna in Plaka. As much as I love Vangeli’s which has been my local taverna for over 16 years.. it’s always nice to go somewhere different. The fact that Bicorna is also in Plaka means I can easily walk there and back. It has a really pretty outside garden with terraces on several different levels and a covered marquee. We were all there for The Lions gig on Friday night, even though the night before brought the first really heavy rain and thunderstorms. The storm lasted all night long, the thunderclaps preventing any chance of sleep and the sheer volume of rain (which we really do need actually) left me wondering if Bicorna had flooded. But it didn’t and the gig went ahead as planned. It was a great night and Jeffrey’s band were just brilliant!  We couldn’t stop dancing…

The Lions playing at Bicorna in Plaka

So another year is almost over again and I am getting ready to travel back to the UK to spend 3 weeks at Christmas with my wonderful family, as I have always done and I am super excited!  I am on the red-eye flight from Chania to Athens 6am on Tuesday morning and I hope my taxi gets through to the airport without problems. The farmers’ protests to the Greek government are continuing as they blockade Chania airport from Monday. I was told on Friday evening that they would be allowing the taxis through… so fingers crossed! I remain optimistic as always.