A WEDDING IN AZOGIRES

With joy I would like to inform you of a wedding, that took place in Azogires.The Village of Koukoutsakis worldwide ,Kaliopi Koukoutsakis came all the way, from Athens to join with the love of her life Nikos Stagakis.Her proud parents Vangelis and Athina Koukoutsakis arrived two whole weeks earlier with a huge crew ,to help them make it all possible. We were all thrilled to hear that she will move permanately back to Crete. The wedding ceremony was unlike any other I have ever seen ,only from Athens arrived about 200 people besides the loacals who stormed the Azogires countryside drunk with joy and happiness, the party started on Friday night and finished on Sunday.The actual wedding took place, on Saturday afternoon at the Monastery of the 99 Holy Fathers ,it was such a posh wedding that even the waiters and chefs arrived from Athens ,we were served by the same people ,who used to work at the famous Ecali club

.It was amazingly modern and prototype for Cretan standards ,but at the same time, so very tradittionally Creten.There was a band of Creten Musicians who led the bride all the way to the Church ,followed by the best man's company ,it was the greatest time of my life, I wish them a healthy and wealthy life ,full with joy and happiness !.

EASTER IN AZOGIRES

It was one of the most spectacular events of this year .Even though Greece is undergoing a crisis , at the moment, Azogires Easter was not effected.

The night sky was lighted with firecrackers ,as if it was daytime.Visitors came from all over Greece ,to see this event. After people took the Holy Light to their houses ,they came down to the cafe to enjoy the tradittional Greek Easter specialities.Like mageiritsa and cheese kalitsounia ,I must admit we got drunk,but !!! not from the wine it was the Azogires effect of joy.

THE LATEST NEWS

The past few months have been a bit hard in Azogires I will start by telling you that the river became so high this winter that it made the main road in to a second river right thru the middle of the town .Not to mention that olive trees and 200 year old stone walls came tumbling down like paper ,but Azogires is still intact and in one peace .Weve had hale 3 times this year , one of those times the hale reached egg size and literaly thrased everything .But again no serious damages done,like in Kountoura where they had 3 million euros worth of damage on the greenhouses. Azogires got away with it ,with just a few fallen leaves .Which the other 2 situations were not the same , the first took place on 7th October around 2 in the afternoon causing serious damages to the Azogires olive crop and the second just about a week and a half ago, late evening after a day of clear blue sky the street was just filled with hale,and here is the odd part of this story both times there was a Gentlemen visiting our village .To speak more clear he came to visit us twice in two diferent years and both of the times he visited we had serious hale storms, so I've added a photo of this rather charming and smiling Gentlemen, that he may be recognized wherever he goes.Locals have started to refer to him as Mr.catastrophy .I on the other hand sugested that he go and sell his services to rich Arabic countries with vast deserts ,cause he is guarenteed to bring hale storms, wherever he goes ,therefore he can bring life to dried out areas .Ps all of the above is not a joke it happend in Azogires.

CHRISTMAS IN AZOGIRES

It was only a matter of time for Christmas to arrive even for the residents of Azogires.It was a great evening where everyone truly felt like Family ,there was meat ,wine , sweets,even ice cream on the table .All the jolly housewifes made glorious meals

and sweets ,it went on till late and then we all stumbled our way home.And the very next day Christmas Sunday we had another International Backgammon tournament . Guess ? who was the winner ,yes you got it right ,Jessica Hale.After kicking everyones ass she decided to take a bite of the Gingerbread house made by Anna Maria Schaab. My complaint is she ate all the Jelly babies of the house ,and I was left with nothing

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.