A MOST VALUABLE DONATION

We the people of Azogires would like to say thank you to Horst Schaab And his wife Anna Maria , two active members of our  Village .for their love towards our community .And their every day devotion to making our Village a better place to live in,their latest donation and most valuable is the construction of wooden Trash cans,that will be placed on diferent positions along pathways ,monuments ,and Churches.This will help the Village to stay more clean and more organized .


The president of the Azogires Cultural association.
Ευτυχιος Κουκουτσακης.
and the members of the commitee

AZOGIRES BACK TO NATURE

The Azogires Cultural Association put out an announcement asking for volunteers to come and help clean the streets of Azogires. Many promised to come, but less then 10 came. Those who did come were brave, curagious people, who actually care how the environment around them is. And they actually want a cleaner planet for all. They came at sunday at 10 am. Some were using their own vehicles, and some on foot. They managed to collect 3 dumpsters full, of bottles, cigaret-packets and things you can't even imagine. They bravely climbed down hills, and riscfully put their hands inside spikey bushes, to even get the last piece of plastic out. We appologize for not having pictures of all, cause we were all busy making Azogires a better place to live in. And less busy trying to record this historical event. A very special thank you to my parents, Antonis and Harriet Koukoutsakis, for feeding us all. and providing all the drinks we had. As good sponsors would. Also a very special thank you to A Gerard van der Meer, for the use of his cars that day, B to Horst and Annamarie Schaab, for the use of their car and for Horsts trashbags, also for participating and collecting under the hot sun. C to Ullrich and Gabi Deutschman for cleaning the road to the monastery, and climbing down the hills below the monastery to collect decades old trash. D to Yanni from Norway, who went together with Horst walking all the way to Asfendiles, and not even leaving a cigaret bud on that road. E to Martin Webster, who joined me all the way down to Paleochora and who noticed, that one gentleman has been throwing repeatedly his old hollborn tobacco packets along our road. F to George Tsourouflis for driving from Achladiakies to Azogires, and joining me down to Paleochora, G to Harold Qhrn, for sitting in the back of the car, and spotting every little piece of trash, from Achladiakies all the way down to the crossroad. Thanks to his strong legs, he ran faster, and we finished 2 hours earlier. H to Sissy Panegiotto, for holding the fort, and making sure we had a ready table to sit on, and enjoy our free sponsored lunch. We hope that all Greece will copy what we did. And that they will do it every year and in every village, and every town, nation wide. To make a better tomorrow for us, our children and the thousands of guests who come every year.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

               Ανοικτή  πρόσκληση

Ο Πολιτιστικός Σύλλογος Αζωγυρέ οργανώνει την Κυριακή 16-06 , τον καθαρισμό της κεντρικής αρτηρίας Αζωγυρε Παλαιωχωρας, Αζωγυρε Αχλαδιακες, Αζωγυρε Ασφεντιλες, και των γύρω δρόμων.

 Παρακαλούμε για την πολύτιμη συμμετοχή σας,  ώρα έναρξης  10 πμ.

Πληροφορίες στο τηλ. 6972138588

Ο πρόεδρος και το συμβούλιο.

Open invitation, the Azogires Cultural association is organizing on Sunday the 16^th  the cleaning of the main street of Azogires and the side roads. In order to make this possible we need volunteers, so we ask for your assistance, start time is 10 am in the center of the village.  For more information you can call on 6972138588, join us and help us make life better for locals and visitors alike.

The President and the committee.

COMMEMORATING HISTORY

A group of descendents of New Zealand soldiers came to Azogires on May the 9th. 2 Mini bus loadsof heart warming active good hearted people. They arrived on Crete several days before and started on monday the 6th several days of commemoration gatherings. The first one was at Sougia War museum, many people came together to see and learn about the brave people who in World War II said NO to slavery, and YES to freedom. The next day they went to Tripiti by boat, and posted a plaque to honour the people of Western Crete for the sacrefices they made in providing save heaven for numerous Australian, New Zealand, British and Cypriot soldiers between 1941 and 1945. The last group of these soldiers was evacuated from Tripiti by the Royal Navy on 7 and 8th May of 1943. Erected in graditude by the families of the evacuees. The next day they went to Koustogerako, and held a service at the main War monument of the village. For Koustogerako we will have never enough monuments, because throughout the centories it has been the torch of freedom, the village itself has been burnt down 3 times in the past 700 years. The last one being in 1943.

 And on thursday they honoured us with their presence in our very own village of Azogires. They were greeted Cretan style by the locals, who welcomed them with open arms. The reason they came to our village was to have several excursions to the local War museum at the monastery, to the neighbourhood of Pateriana, in order to visit the house of Pateraki Angeliki, where she and her father hid an allyed soldier by the name of Arthur Pauling, or as they baptised him; Leftheris. So local informents would not be able to tell they had him there. He stayed with them for almost 2 years, and became literally part of the family.The son of Angeliki, Yannis Paterakis greeted them with a bottle of raki and local ecological walnuts. It was very emotional for them, and a little bit the feeling of the past. A touch of the strong raki brought them to a trance of emotions and joy.

 The other group headed for the neighbourhood Koukoutsiana, to visit the church of Saint John the hermit, and the grave of Sophia and Eftihis Koukoutsakis, for 2 reasons; a; Sophia Paterakis Koukoutsakis was a little girl at Koustogerako in 1943, the day the group of Nazi soldiers entered and burnt the village to the ground, gathering all the women and children inside a house and pouring diesel on it, to burn them literally alive. Although they were trained to kill, inside them there was still a human. And when the women and children started to scream; 'Don't burn us like animals, kill us better', that's when they let them out, and led them to nearby patio. Placing them in an excecution line. That's when young Sophia attacked the excecutioner, fought with him, brought him to the ground, hit him with a stone in the head, took his machine gun, and led about 30 surviving women and children to safety. As the allied soldiers and local guerillas had opened fire up on the enemy. She herself got seriously injured, but made it out alive.

 the second reason was; Eftihis Koukoutsakis, also a resistance fighter of the time, during World War II period, had hid in a mountain cave a New Zealand




soldier, by the name of Len Frazer, who was the father of Ian Frazer, co-author of the very detailed book 'On the Run'. Afterwords they went to visit the carved cave of Azogires, which served as fortresses during Turkish occupation and watchtowers during World War II. The most brave actually climbed up to the caves, while the rest of us relaxed, enjoyed the view and admired their bravery to climb so high. It was a day we, the Azogirians would never forget. We could keep writing about it, another year. And it wouldn't be enough. I as the president of the Azogires Cultural Association, will say on behalf of all the villagers that they are always welcomed to come back for we felt that we spend the day with our own family members.

EASTER TIMES AZOGIRES STYLE

 Easter was a bit late this year  ,but without many weather complications it all went well in Azogires,as the Holy week began the villagers started preparing ,and each one had a diferent chore .

 The ladies of the village had to find the brightest and pretiest flowers for dressing the Epitaph -the grave of Jesus on great Friday .All the ladies gather with flowers and wild flowers that they have collected ,all sorts even orange and lemon tree blossoms ,and they fill the grave of Jesus with them ,then comes our priest and places an Icon Of Jesus on the grave ,for people to worship while he starts a very sacred ceremony ,that requires a lot of people preaching the story right out of the Bible books.

 He then takes the Holy Bible and leads the crowd who hold on their shoulders  the grave of Christ   and carrie it around the Church 3 times ,and then they lift it high above the door so all the worshipers can cross under it ,to receve the blessing  of Jesus .

 The the grave is returned inside the Church  The priest retrieves the Icon back to the Altar ,and the villagers take the flowers from the grave home they sun dry them and they use them as insense to burn in their homes in order to illuminate evill and bring joy and prosperity in to their lifes.

 The following night all the worshipers gather at the Church to receve the blessing of the Holy flame ,that is brought from Jerusalem by plane to Greece,they follow the priest pnce more around the Church in the same manner as the day before ,while the bells are going ,and then they gather in the courtyard to declare.Jesus has risen from his grave ,and  as this is done   by blasting tons of firewoks that are prepaired by the young man of the Kriariana neighborhood  they go off in to the sky making the night magical ,so magical that people loose track of time,and let their mind body and soul rise on to the sky together with the soul of our saviour Jesus Christ.

 Everyone then shakes hands and with each other ,and they talk about Jesus one says Jesus has risen Christos Anesti , and the other says he has trully risen Alithos Anesti.

 Afterwards people return to their homes ,or go to the local alfa cafe ,in order to eat the traditionall mageiritsa soup made from sheep and goat intestents and have a glass of wine, this dish puts to an end our fourty day no meat eating campaing called nisteia .and sets us for Easter Sunday  . that very same evening the Holy flame is taken to peoples houses , and a cross is made above the doors with the candle smoke to keep disease illness and evil out of our lifes.

 And finally comes Easter Sunday, a very Holy day for all Christians who come together with family and friends in their backyards ,in secret mountain positions or just next to the road to cook their lambs eat drink dance and forget all worries yammas to all,,,,,,,, and  next year may we all be here to celebrate once more again .

7 DAYS GRAPE THERAPY WORKSHOP IN AZOGIRES WITH GRAPE DOCTOR GERARD VAN DER MEER

7 DAYS GRAPE THERAPY WORKSHOP IN AZOGIRES WITH GRAPE DOCTOR GERARD VAN DER MEER

Come join us in one of Cretes most breathtaking events ,and forget all your problems just by doing what Cretan have been for the past four thousand years .

Learn more about Crete and its ways of life ,take a dive in to local nearly forgotten and nowhere recorded history learn about the real life of Cretans and their secrets to longevity ,feel the presence of Ancient Cretans on every footstep you take.

The workshop starts on 9 September and finishes on the 15 ,seven days filled with adventure experience and everlasting knowledge ,you become one with the Cretan Earth drilling from its everlasting energies .

Doctor Gerard will take you on a step by step tour to the most virgin and wild Cretan villages , to collect grapes from ancient vineyards of Crete ,and feel the magic of grape therapy.

A therapy that has gone down from generation to generation with many secrets to be learnt , become one with the vineyards and enjoy the blessings they give you , the blessings and the presents of mother earth .

The seven day workshop will cost 40 euro per day per person and it includes your room with Cretan Breakfast ,and dinner at the local tavern

There will be 5 days of grape picking and grape stumping to make raki and wine ,two of the most precious presents a vineyard can give us and you will learn a lot more about grapes and grape therapy, then you will have 2 free days to either scroll around the area to discover Crete even more ,go to the beach , or you can join our two guided walks down mystic path ways and down gorges all the way to the sea .

For more information you can contact us at alfacafenion@aol.com or call at 0030 28230 41620 mob 6972138588 ,and to leran more about Azogires visit our blog Azogires-alpha.blogspot.com

2012 MUSIC EVENTS IN AZOGIRES

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2012 Azogires music events  .As always Azogires doesn’t sleep  at night the people are wild and they like to rock ,some of these rocking nights  took place last year  it all started in the beginning of the year ,with Burkhard elger.A real blues man   giving food to our souls with his pationate music  , he really is a man with a  heart of Gold ,then   middle of august with the glorious return of my good friend John from England ,who is an excellent and  very stylish violin player  with his iver 100 year old violin that he rescued from the tip ,he came up one afternoon and gave joy to our ears and harmony to our souls .And that was just the beginning our very own Johnny Human  gave a concert  with his romantic and heartwarming accordion   ,the café filled with people to listen to this remarkable man play the  sounds of love ,life ,and romance , it was a very peaceful and relaxing night for all of us ,he had with him his son Patrick who is his personal manager and stage organizer as you can see on the clips below he has the managing talent from youth. Few days went by when a man appeared from nowhere with a guitar in his car ,and said can I play something we all thought why not    he might just be worth it , not to realize that he was the unique and most talented George Iakovou ,who can play ten different sorts of music and songs in his magical guitar, he played blues, jazz ,rock and roll, hard, and soft, Rempetika ,Cretan  folk modern Greek, and heavy metal. He had us all dancing rocking jumping screaming all night long , until its was time for bed and we could not stand any more , just by shear luck Archie Lee Hooker was vacationing in our paradise village with his lovely lady ,and he took the chance too sing with his total blues  voice along with Georges guitar  ,tears came from my eyes all though I managed to hide them  as I can never forget Archie and Carl Wyatt when they played at my place in 2011 ,turning my little ghost town in to a large city  of blues party animals . lets see what 2013 has in store for us you will find out next year .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfuqIXvziHs&list=UU95bx15Ykqv3A_btH356GtQ