Agios Nikolaos

The view from the back of the boat down D pontoon looking towards town.

View from the side of the boat looking across to the mountains

A beautiful day for a walk with Klaus and Angelika, our next door neighbours. We walked out of Plaka near Elounda and up to the windmills. Had lunch sheltering from the wind, at this lovely little church in the middle of nowhere. The rather strange photo is because there is a wind turbine directly behind the church!

The view looking north from the church

Saturday rambling group - a lovely way to see the interior of the island

Part way round Dave joined David to do some sketching then drove down and met us at the finish. David, Dave and I have joined the art group led by Alan who is amazing at sketching and water colours - a real inspiration!

This is what they were sketching - the very old windmills - there was actually a row of 5 of them

Fantastic panorama from the windmills looking across the plateau covered in olive trees. Sadly the weather has caused a big problem this year and there is a serious shortage of olives. 

Agios Nikolaos Marina
After an amazing year in which we have sailed 1,870 nautical miles,  we have arrived at the marina at Agios Nikolaos on the east end of Crete where the boat will be for the winter. A lovely marina, very close to town with all shops we will need. A very buzzy town at the moment as it is popular with holiday makers looking for some winter sun. Now into November it is still beautiful during the day but quite chilly by the evening.
Lots of other English live-aboards who have returned here for several years - always a good sign. Lots going on organised by people staying in the marina. We are even learning to play bridge! Very difficult but we have now met another lovely couple who are also learning so we have practice sessions with them.
Dave has joined a jamming group to play guitar and has finally bought a new guitar having talked about it for so long! He has also joined the choral group - they have a professional singing teacher come here once a week. They are putting on a carol concert in December including carols in various languages - thank goodness for Google translate to check pronunciation!
Sunday is BBQ day when we all meet up at the sailing club. Thursday is walking club day - organised walks run by a couple who have been coming here for 8 years and he is very keen on history and geology so adds interesting snippets of information as we go along. Apparently these walks get progressively more difficult so we shall see how many we manage! There is also a rambling club about to start up so we might move on to that. Friday night is presentation night when anyone from the marina can give a presentation about anything they want to. The first is cruising around Crete, then a "where is it" quiz, sailing through the Somali pirates and geology of Crete. Plenty to do!!
Oh yes....... we also have lots of jobs to do on the boat for annual maintenance. 

Looking back towards the marina with part of the town in the background. Two nice small beaches within 5 minutes walk from the boat.

Went into town to watch the Oche Day procession. Oche Day is one of their main holidays when the school children  march through town, bands play and the whole town turns out to watch. "Oche" means No and it celebrates the day that the Greeks said no to Mussolini when he wanted to invade. The main church in town was open and this shows how every inch of the walls and ceiling have been painted - incredible colours!

The bikes are out again!!
Cycled round the coast towards Elounda and stopped at a bar on this beach on the way back for a much needed drink. 

First organised walk of the season - this was our lunchtime picnic spot beside turquoise water.

Our first visitor on the boat once we were in the marina!
Lovely ....... until we found the mess he had left on the deck!!