{"id":3136,"date":"2012-04-16T14:44:07","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T14:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3136"},"modified":"2012-10-13T19:14:10","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T19:14:10","slug":"return-to-greece-and-easter-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/?p=3136","title":{"rendered":"Return to Greece and Easter 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anna – Family Matriarch<\/p><\/div>\n

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Thursday, 12 April 2012 … out of bed at 0530 hours with many last minute chores still to complete before departing\u00a0once again for Greece.\u00a0 Picked up my mum, meeting Dave and Kayla at The Yellow House for coffee etc, then leaving home in a taxi to meet up once again at Wanganui Airport.\u00a0 Luggage checked through all the way to Athens (a little scary – would I ever see my trolley case again) … sad farewells then airborne, on time at 1245 hours, bound for Auckland.\u00a0 The usual catch up over a bottle of wine with my dear friend Vivienne, before boarding\u00a0the A380-800 which would take me\u00a0all the way to Dubai, via Sydney.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On this first sector, the worst crew I have ever struck\u00a0travelling with Emirates … no sense of urgency for anything and very poor service.\u00a0 At drinks trolley time, I indicated I was waiting for a nice cup of tea.\u00a0 At meal tray clearing time, I asked again “Would there be tea and coffee?”\u00a0 The reply “If there is time”.\u00a0 “Okay, if there is not could\u00a0I please have a glass of water”.\u00a0 Half an hour later I had to ask again for a glass of water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On\u00a0such journeys, it is always interesting observing human\u00a0behaviours.\u00a0 I had conversed with Viv about who one might get in the adjoining seat … on this first leg it was a continually sniffing, occasional knuckle clicking male!\u00a0 I also realised that Row 66 was much too close to a toilet (I won’t make the same mistake again).\u00a0 As we touched down in Sydney, I remembered that I had forgotten one very important chore … I had not changed the messages on my answerphone at home, or on mobile, or at work!\u00a0 All in all, it had not been a memorable sector … if I had been flying Emirates for the first time, I would not choose them again.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sitting in an airport, going nowhere, can be incredibly frustrating and needs much patience.\u00a0 12 hours after leaving my home, we were still on the tarmac in Sydney.\u00a0 Finally airborne, it would be 14 hours and 20 minutes flying time to Dubai … the secret to this length of journey – don’t worry, don’t stress, relax, relax, relax!\u00a0 The two blokes sitting\u00a0next to\u00a0me were not a problem … with minimal conversation, I made myself as comfortable as I could and\u00a0dozed as much as possible.\u00a0 Once in\u00a0 Dubai, a minor shopping spree then spent the last of my Dirham on a coffee to die for.\u00a0 On the flight to Athens, I realised that although tired, under the circumstances, I was actually feeling pretty much okay and I had two seats to myself.\u00a0 With mainly Greeks on board, I was feeling at home.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Any apprehension I had felt about potentially not seeing my trolley case again proved to be unfounded … it was on the carousel for me to collect.\u00a0 It would be a long 5 hour\u00a0wait in Athens\u00a0\u00a0on a cloudy, cool day.\u00a0 At last, the 1900 hours departure for the short flight to Hania on Crete … a taxi to Antonia’s home, arriving 2030 hours (0530 hours Saturday NZ time – 48 hours from rising, 42 hours from leaving my home).\u00a0 Being Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox calendar, Antonia was at church – Vassiles would let me in.\u00a0 A Green Tea and\u00a0into bed – I would catch up with Antonia in the morning.\u00a0 Freshly squeezed orange juice at breakfast, the fruit from their own trees.\u00a0 It had been raining overnight, the day\u00a0was overcast but mild …\u00a0I was feeling cold, however, and\u00a0still very tired.\u00a0 A day of rest, interrupted only to organise myself, partake of lunch and be re-introduced to the wonderful wine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 2330 hours on Holy Saturday, Antonia and I, carrying unlit candles,\u00a0walked on what was a very cold night to a church nearby for late night Mass and the celebration of the Anastisi (the Resurrection of Christ).\u00a0 When the clock struck midnight, the priest announced “Christos Anesti” (Christ Has Risen) followed by all the worshipers lighting their candles from the church’s\u00a0Holy Flame … \u00a0 with church bells ringing and fireworks all around.\u00a0 When we returned home, Antonia made a sign of the cross on the house threshold with the soot from the burning candle, to protect the home and it’s inhabitants during the coming year.\u00a0 A feast meal with daughter Mary, son-in-law Vagilles and grandsons Constantinos and Vassiles was to follow – including the traditional soup Mayiritsa (containing lamb or goat intestines) … not for me!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Easter Sunday morning , feeling human again at last, Antonia drove me to the newly refurbished Bus Station in time to catch the 1000 hours coach to Kastelli – not running today and therefore, a wait until 1100 hours, arriving in Kastelli at noon.\u00a0 In Greece, Easter Sunday is a festive day, rejoicing with family and friends.\u00a0 The traditional meal of roast lamb, symbolizing Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was already turning on the spit.\u00a0 The meal was followed by the cracking of red dyed eggs, known as Tsougrisma.\u00a0 Cracking our eggs against one another’s, whoever ends up with an unblemished egg is deemed the lucky one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Life here in my Cretan home, as always, is wonderful!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Thursday, 12 April 2012 … out of bed at 0530 hours with many last minute chores still to complete before departing\u00a0once again for Greece.\u00a0 Picked up my mum, meeting Dave and Kayla at The Yellow House for coffee etc, then leaving home in a taxi to meet up once again at Wanganui Airport.\u00a0 Luggage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3136"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3431,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3136\/revisions\/3431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itisallgreek2me.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}