Ralphs Story - A move to Crete

"Let's live in Crete" she said. "Yes why not" I said in reply, knowing after 30 years of marriage how useless it is to argue with my wife Helen........

We stepped off the airplane one early February morning in 2000 and decided to go to Rethymno because it is in the center of the island and what we had read about the area, appealed to us. We had previously made arrangements to visit properties for sale via an English company and had made an appointment to meet their representative in Chania.

On a beautiful sunny morning we met this representative and outlined our requirements, budget, timing etc. He then proceeded to show us properties, which bore absolutely no relationship to our previously discussed requirements. Thoroughly dejected we returned to our accommodation. Several estates agents and a lot of money later and by sheer good fortune we were introduced to a local estate agent who did listened to our requirements and then showed us exactly the kind of properties that were within our budget.

We made a decision during the week to purchase one of the properties shown to us and asked our agent how we should proceed. "First you must open a bank account to enable you to transfer money" he said, "Then you must pay a deposit which will be paid under the auspices of a notary and the property is taken off the market at that point".

We rushed to the cash point to draw funds from England to use as a deposit. Insufficient funds said the machine. "Rubbish" we said, and withdrew to the agents office to telephone our UK building society branch to find out what was wrong. Naturally, being two hours ahead the building society was not open. We also found out that it is now impossible to speak to your local branch. The building societies central call centre started trying to help us with my wife having to make up codes for a future telephone banking reference, which she promptly forgot. All through this procedure the agent was patiently awaiting some sort of outcome he could depend on. Regrettably this did not occur.

Fortunately our agent knew we were serious buyers and was prepared for us to transfer the deposit money when we returned to England. The funds were eventually transferred, and I went to Crete to finalize the deal and collect the keys to our Cretan property. The whole procedure took three weeks.

We were now the proud owners of a rather grim looking property, which impressed none of my friends when I showed them the photographs. Sure it looked awful with lichen clinging to bare cement walls, shutters half rotten and hanging off, and a feeling of decay and damp because the place had not been lived in. Our son promptly nicknamed it Colditz, after the famous world war II prison camp.

Our first task was to paint the living room walls white which vastly improved our immediate surroundings. At least it felt and looked clean. The rest of the house still looked dreadful but we were now in May and the sun was out every day and things could be done. Every day showed an improvement and once we all pulled together to paint the outside walls white, the change in appearance was dramatic. Shutters were ripped off, to be replaced at a later date (still to do), the window frames painted. Cosmetically the house now looked desirable. Internally I had to tile the floors and the bathroom walls and build a kitchen but we had been able to live in the property since day one.

We spent the winter cozily in front of the log burner, which also doubles as an oven. There are still things to do but one soon adopts the Cretan way of slowly slowly. The villagers are lovely and we have not looked back.

If there is a point to this introduction it is that any old property in Crete will not have been cared for. The immediate difference gallons of white paint make, pots of geraniums and other plants, plus tiling and general tidying is unbelievable. Do not be put off by the general appearance of a property but look through the neglect to see how you can improve at little cost. Just think gallons and gallons of white paint, copious gallons of cold lager, and enjoy watching the transformation.

We found that of all the local tradesmen not all were reliable and honest, finding good ones took a lot of time, and mistakes were made. However, all the usual building materials found in England are available, and what’s more, more economic to purchase.

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"Let’s move to Crete I said!"

Let’s move to Crete I said, we not only did the BIG move but we moved again! This time to a bigger house with the most fantastic views!

Our first impression of the house we were to buy was that it looked sad and neglected the doors and window frames had flaking paint and it looked so dirty, BUT it was just what we wanted. The house is on three floors the lower floor at road level was the original house with a corner fireplace the chimney protruded through the patio. Out side steps lead up to a large patio area with an outside toilet very nice! The first floor very large room was full of old furniture with an old sink in one corner this was the ‘kitchen’ also two more smaller rooms at the back of the house were full of junk. Then back out side there are steps leading up to the 2nd floor with the master bedroom with a balcony and 2nd bedroom with a door leading to a 3rd unfinished bedroom. The whole house was a mess, BUT we loved it.

We signed the papers for the house in November 2003. Work on the house didn’t start until January 2004 we relaxed and enjoyed our Christmas in Crete first. The first job was to clear all the old furniture and rubbish from the house our new next door neighbour stepped in and helped us as he has an open truck. Then the ceramic tiles, tile adhesive, grout were ordered and delivered followed by sheets of plasterboard lengths of MDF a bathroom suite and long lengths of grey plastic pipes. Our patio resembled a DIY store.

The lady who had bought our other property allowed us to stay in the house until we were able to move. She has since become a very good friend to us she also brings us large bags of tea bags. Otherwise without her generosity working and living in the new house would have been a nightmare.

Over the following months the house was being transformed into a home. Both first and second floors had to be tiled, laying the tiles then grouting them was hard labour, all hands to the job were needed! Then the plumbing could be done, the bathroom suite put in and the kitchen units could be made and put into place. The walls were then dry lined with plasterboard and a mock fireplace was put in to accommodate our log burning stove with oven. The doorway from the 2nd bedroom was blocked off to make a 3rd bedroom to have access to this bedroom an internal stair case had to be done by drilling a large access through solid concrete. Next came the easy stuff, painting the walls! Choice of paint colours are endless there are plenty to choose from.

The hardest part of the restoration was continually chasing the electrician, his favourite word was ‘avrio’. Well that could mean anything up to a week or so. He did finish the work to a point that enabled us to make plans to move.

The move on that grey day in April 2004 was a day we’ll not forget! All our treasures and furniture piled high on two open trucks tied on with ropes. No professional removal companies here. Watching the trucks swaying precariously along the main high way then negotiating the narrow roads to the village with all our belongings was nerve racking as we followed in our little Fiat Panda! Then everything being unloaded at a rate of knots. After all this we collapsed into the nearest chair for a much needed mug of tea!

The Greek village we live in is a lively place with two taverna’s a very nice pottery shop a bakery and a mini market, during the long hot summer months the village attracts a lot of tourist who visit the 900 year old church opposite our house.

On a daily basis there are sellers around the village, selling anything from bread, clothing to fresh fish so sometimes there’s no need to drive to the shops!

Our Greek neighbours have made us so very welcome. We are often invited to their celebrations and recently there has been the arrival of a beautiful baby daughter a much loved addition to the family of three boys. There’s to be a BIG celebration in aid of her arrival soon plenty of food and wine will be consumed!

Learning Greek is an uphill struggle it is not an easy language to learn particularly when one is a certain age. I know a lot of Greek words and can understand quite a lot but compiling a sentence is beyond me! I have decided to take Greek language lessons during the winter months, I must try harder as my school reports used to say!

We are often asked by some friends ‘What do we miss?’ We reply that it’s faces not places we miss, as most of our family and friends have computers we are brought closer by emails.

I must confess I do miss BIG shops! I love shopping! Here in Crete the shops are so tiny it can be a nightmare! Supermarkets are big-ish but some are on two floors a lift takes you to either floor making the whole experience very interesting. When we do visit the UK to see family and friends it’s the BIG shops in the high street I head for.

Cooking is a joy since living in Crete the ingredients are such good quality, meat is tender with little or no fat, fruit and vegetables have their own smells. The fruit and vegetables may have a few blemishes and not all the same size but they taste divine!

We have come a long way since buying our once wreck, the house still does need work done on it albeit now cosmetic. We still haven’t made our minds up what wall tiles to have in the bathroom yet. We brought two tiles home the other day and are still undecided! We did have air conditioning put into the two bedrooms this summer making sleep easier, I am very proud of all the work that Ralph has been done and very proud of our house.

It’s a lovely house with the most fantastic views of the sea and the mountains. Sitting on the balcony at night and looking across at the twinkling lights of the villages in the distance is really something!

The long hot summers are wonderful as most of the living is done out doors and winter doesn’t really start until January, February when we have a lot of rain. Sometimes we can sit outside having a coffee in the sunshine on Christmas Eve!

It has been many years since our BIG move to Crete we have no regrets on making that momentous decision in our lives. We are now looking to move again! If you are interested in purchasing our lovely house in Crete please see further details more >>>>

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