 "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.
"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 B I G 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. |
