HALE STORM IN THIS YEARS BACKGAMMON CHAMPIONSHIP

This was one of the strangest backgammon championships of Azogires history as father and daughter got first and second prizes.

It was a great success with 13 players from 9 diferent countries and over 30 spectators throughout the day. The competition was followed by a meal of lamb and potatoes in the oven served with salad and tzatziki and it was sponsored by David Hale and Martin Strellow both known professional players.

First prize winner was David Hale, second prize winner was Jessica Hale...Yes his daughter from England. The third prize winner was our one and only Sarkis from Lebanon, a man who plays with passion, not only in life, but also in backgammon.

This was the summer International Tournament in memory of Andrew Millar, one of the founders of the Azogires Backgammon championship. The cup was given to the Hales and they must return it next year for the next Champion to take home. The folks from the Alpha Cafe offered bottles of their very own raki as prizes to the winners, but as they declined to take them we gave them bottles of our very own Olive oil instead.

We wish everyone a good summer and hope to see you all on the next tournament in Azogires .

2010 ANNUAL SPRING BACKGAMMON COMPETITION IN AZOGIRES

The Annual Spring Backgammon competition took place in Azogires on Sunday, 14 March.

We had new and old players, young and experienced, male and female, human and animal: all played for one reason or another. Even the locals got jealous and made their own little tournament on the side.

As for the animals, our very own Al Capone said to Petroula the Cat "Lets have a friendly game," and all was going smoothly until Capone caught Petroula cheating, and said "Enough is enough."

Then you can imagine that it was surely a cat and dog fight.

As for the real tournament, there were 16 players from 6 different Nations.

The game started around one pm and lasted over seven hours, at the end of which the winner was Anidri's very own David Hale with the second prize going to Sakis from Lebanon.

In the consolation tournament on the other hand, it was an all ladies game. First prize winner was Marjan De Jong from Holland and second prize winner was Morit Heitzler from Israel .

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PALEOCHORA CARNIVAL

Sorry for not updating my blog for so long, I've been extremely busy doing absolutely nothing. Here are some photos of the Paleochora Carnival which I did not attend, so the photos are courtesy of the one and only Diane Meanock . Even though there were so many people in the crowd, she successfully managed to take these wonderful photos

The Russian Church

How did a Russian Church end up in Azogires?

The church was built in memory of a man who, before his death, had requested it be built in its present location. The church was designed by the man’s brother and his family arranged for his wishes to be fulfilled and the church built. The original plan was to call it Agios Eftixis but since there was already a church in the area with the same name, the local priest prevailed on the benefactors to change the name.

The priest persuaded them to adopt the current name for the church because while he had been visiting the grave of that saint in Euboia, where the body of the saint who died in 1740 is said to lie uncorrupted, he allegedly saw a “possessed” boy being cured. He says he saw the boy being brought to the tomb of the saint and while the boy was put on the grave he started floating a few centimetres above the floor and acting in a crazy manner. When the boy left the church he was fine and cured. On the strength of this the priest persuaded the family to name the church after St John the Russian.

More details of St John the Russian can be found here:

http://www.roca.org/OA/39/39g.htm

Although there was apparently no record of there previously having been a church on the site of the Russian church, during the construction three graves were unearthed, one of which was believed to have been a Byzantine grave with a plastered interior.