THE LATEST IN AZOGIRES

Forgive me for not updating the blog in a long long time but Ive been up to 1000 chores .Ill start from October when we had the grape picking in Azogires .Mr.Gerard a very respected business man from Holland ,came all the way to Azogires to do the grape picking and the grape stumpping .He had help from the recently arrived lady from Uk Anne .They stumped treaded and barreled the grapes all ready for raki,it was a spectacular experience we call grape therapy.Then came time to make the Raki??yes I know time to drink it too as we did indeed. Karolina and Craig came all the way from Malia to participate in raki therapy which is quite effective, we had souvlakis potatoes chestnuts and ofcourse raki people sat around the fire romanticaly watching the flames and getting drunk .Others fell off the plateau others fell in ditches others just went on drinking until morning,but nobody got seriously hurt.And we all enjoyed our traditional Cretan evening of mass raki consuption .The most important part of the evening was when we had a suprise entry from my uncle Yiannis Paterakis as he told us stories of the past , as he has taken part in many raki evenings, it was an amazing experience.It took me a week to sober up and start laying the olive nets.We had volunteers all the way from Denmark Mr. Mikkel and his Wife helped us lay out and clear the fields .It was all to much for me and I was sleeping on the job so they didnt pay me ,since then its been olive picking every several weeks .One of my most favorite working therapys.Then came the Snow ,after having warm and sunny days.It arrived like a shock snow everywhere about a centemeter thick .I was so pleased to see winter and I enjoyed every minute of it.This is where I must leave you and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us in Azogires, with love.

THE HERMITS FESTIVAL IN AZOGIRES

This year's festival of St. John the Hermit was more than spectacular ,we had wonderfull weather and great people .All the way from Malia we had Karolina and Martina two beautifull girls who made the sky brighter and with their beautifull smiles made a joyful atmosphere there were about 100 visitors who came in honor of the Miracoulous Saint others praying for health purposes and others for personal and economical reasons ,no matter what they prayed for they all said that they are more then satisfied of the outcome ,and that they will return next year to honor the Hermit .Who has helped them at least once in their lives,many of the worhipers brought with them Artos, Holy Bread as an offering and they give it away peace by peace As for the Koukoutsakis Family they made a barbeque ,Antonis Koukoutsakis and his wife Harriet !Yes my parents cooked juicy and tender steaks for everyone. Pavlos and Yiannis Koukoutsakis gave out sweets, cheese pies and other delicacies. And all the way from Temenia Mr .Giorgos Lazopoulakis brought some of his very own strong red wine ,just like Manolis Giakoumakis did ,he drank and told us of the old and good days when he also was a resident of Azogires as a child. How crazy and proud the Azogirians were ,and how hospitable and warm hearted .Stories that make our hearts break .Hope to see you to next year on this unique and truly traditional festival on 8th October I added some photos of the cave that was Saint Johns home ,cause I fell in love with the hanging birds nest on the caves ceiling you can still see the stone built bed that he slept on. Its a very spiritual place to be ,the energy is amazing.

THIS YEARS FESTIVAL OF THE 99 HOLY FATHERS IN AZOGIRES

Yet another miracle took place in this years festival of the 99 Holy fathers and the villagers say its not the first time .Normally every year around the days of the festival it rains there for causing the worshipers to get into their cars and drive away but this year the 99 had different plans .It rained after the festival was over and the people were on their way home , with not even one drop of rain on their heads,then it started hale ,rain ,and wind flodding nearly every house in the village .The hale chopped every leaf on every tree and dropped more then 40% of the crop of olives on the ground ,the grapes were as if they were inside a blender and much more catastrophys took place So we can truly say this was a miracle cause if it would have rained when the festival was taking place there would have been chaos .

PROFESSIONAL PHOTO SHOOT IN AZOGIRES

It was a sunny summer day when we had a visit from two top models ,all the way from Germany Ines and Ingred spent their holidays, in our paradise village and did not mind to

make a photo shoot for the local photographers Martyn Eliot and Martin Webster .And it was an honour for our cafe to be the photo site ,we thank them very much and hope to see them once more for more photography to take place.Special thanks to Martin for lending us his motorbikes for the photo shoot .