Gigs from Abroad Part 27 Greece – Part 2

In 2023 we decided to head to Crete for our 25th wedding anniversary. Crete is a fair size land mass and is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and welcomes 6.3 million visitors per year. The island was the home of Europe’s first advanced civilisation, the Minoans who hung around for 1300 BC years and built the palace of Knossos.

Famous residents include the Greek god Zeus, actor John Aniston (Giannis Anastasakis), father of Jennifer Aniston, singer Nana Mouskouri and professional gambler Nick Dandolos, otherwise known as ‘Nick the Greek’. Though the latter named sounds like a fringe character on Only Fools and Horses, wonder whether he ever met ‘Dirty Barry’!  

Nana Mouskouri. Image Credit photos.com

It has two international airports, one at the capital Heraklion in the north, the second resides at Chania which is where we flew into. We were fortunate to grab some lovely accommodation in a suburb called Kato Daratsos village, which was a short bus ride away from Chania or a more leisurely walk along the seafront which we completed a couple of times.  Our lodgings were linked to a family run pool complex next door and the lady there could not have been more friendly and welcoming.

There were a few beach bars and some fine local restaurants, and we managed to source a nearby one with an enclosed outdoor veranda called Sterna Chrisi Atki on our anniversary. Whilst we were having our meal, completed with a mighty slab of Cretan Orange Cake, we observed a huge local family on another table. They were several young kids in their party, and it was thoroughly refreshing to see them all well behaved and thoroughly engaged at the table throughout their dinner with no phones, drawing books or tantrums!

There were several streets off the main drag running down to the sea and on one such avenue there was Kato Daratsos Thea Artemis Café where one night we saw a singer called Sebastian performing. Close by our accommodation we also caught a portion of Rock Lobbies set at Kato Daratsos Theos Village. We headed into Chania for a few nights out and there were many small windy streets and busy squares in the old town. At one point, we ended up at Chania Harbour where we saw a local chap called Carlos playing.  

In June 2025 we completed our latest trip to Greece and headed initially to the island of Zante (known locally as Zakynthos), which is part of the Ionian islands and also has the name of ‘Fioro di Levante’ which translates as the Flower of the East. During World War II the Mayor and the Bishop (it is not a precursor to a joke) refused the German requests and hid all the residents jews in rural villages, and all 275 survived the conflict and both dignitaries were later listed as Righteous Among the Nations for their bravery and compassion.

Chania Harbour. Image Credit pixels.com

Zante was battered in 1953 by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake which resulted in most of the buildings being destroyed. Subsequently all buildings were then strengthened and proved to be effective when a 6.4 scale earthquake struck in 2018 as it caused significantly less damage.

On our visit we headed into the resort of Argassi for a period of eight days and understandably given the time of year it was rather scorchio! It was a tidy spot with a plethora of restaurants and bars, many of which we visited. One particular spot deserves mentioning and that was the friendly Beer Academy where they had an extensive selection of Greek bottled beverages which I obviously took it on my shoulders to work my way down the list, with my favourite being a Thessaloniki brew called Nymfi.

On the inventively named Main Road there was Argassi Nonna’s Kitchen Bar where we saw an act called The Boys playing and further down at Argassi Diane Palace Hotel a chap called Stavros was performing. There were the predictable tribute acts on stage at Argassi Legend Sports Bar and Grill where we saw ‘Rod Stewart’ and at Argassi Captains Hotel we witnessed Gary playing.

The Beer Academy. Image Credit argassizakynthos.com

There was a chilled beach bar called Argassi Solesea which was a fine spot to while away a couple of hours gazing out at the Ionian Sea and on one particular visit there was a chap called Al tinkling away gently on the house piano.

There were two establishments that had music on every evening, the first was the Argassi Green Frog Bar, which had a busy restaurant attached to it. It was a cosy establishment and when we attended there was a decent ‘mash-up’ singer called James Erlam performing. At the opposite end of the resort was Argassi Artemis Bar which was a slightly weatherbeaten venue and an accomplished veteran blues guitarist called Nightshift Kim Starner provided the tuneage.  

We were a couple of miles away from Zante town and we mulched into there a few times, either on foot or on the bus which dropped you at the bus station which was situated on a dusty road overlooking the town. Due to the hot weather, the shops in the capital had proper siesta compliance with a complete shutdown in the afternoon hours.   

There was one restaurant on the front called Spartakos which we visited a couple of times and where we had a fantastic fish platter. Further sealing the deal was when I went to settle up the bill and I spied a picture of my favourite tennis player Rafa Nadal with the owner from when he had visited the establishment.

Gigs From Abroad Part 27 – Greece Part 1

The country of Greece is located in Southeast Europe and is bordered by four other countries and four different seas. It has a long illustrious history, and it is regularly cited as the birthplace of Western civilisation which incorporates eclectic elements such as philosophy, science, theatre and mathematics.  

It also has the accolade of creating the original Olympic Games, the first iteration taking place in 776 BC which then ran until AD 393, with some fantastically named contestants, one that caught my eye was Herodorus of Megara who was a ten-time trumpet champion!  The modern version was initially held in Athens in 1896, and they subsequently also hosted the event in 2004.

Herodotus of Magara in a post-Olympics black and white photo shoot. Image Credit parthenon-greekjewelry.blogspot.com

In the 4th century Greece partook in a considerable amount of pilfering by conquering much of the ancient world. They had many wars and strife in the 20th century before democracy finally took hold in 1974. They adopted the Euro in 2001 but then had a bruising debt crisis for around a decade commencing in 2008. Tourism is their main income source, and they have been recorded as the ninth most visited country in the world.

 There is a staggering proliferation of islands which number between 1200 and 6000 dependent on how you quantify your size classification. In fact, because there are so many they are organised into clusters, with seven different colour coding’s. I wonder how many people can lay claim to having visited them all. It is estimated that there are between 166 and 227 that are currently inhabited.

The one with the largest area is Crete with a population of 625k, with the second one on the list being Euboea (or Evvia), which I had never actually heard of. The latter apparently resides only 60m from the mainland over the Euripus Strait. A decent swimmer could easily cover that distance, but my 10 metre badge might result in me needing a rescue! The smallest populated island is Gavdos with a grand total of 142 punters, as a result I am sure there are no secrets on that island.

Greek music dates to way back when with mixed gender choruses performing for entertainment and spiritual reasons with archaic instruments such as the double-reed aulos (similar to a flute) which coincidentally has been recently digitally recreated as part of the wonderful sounding Lost Sounds Orchestra. There was also a twelve string instrument called a lyre or kithara, which could perhaps be lazily described as the first guitar, if so, I am eternally grateful to whoever invented it!  

A Lyre instrument. Image Credit ar.inspiredpencil.com

There have been many famous Greeks including the actors Telly Savalas and Jennifer Aniston, King Constantine II who won an Olympic sailing gold in 1960 and poet Homer (not from the Simpsons) who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey which are renowned in ancient Greek literature.

On the musical front there is Marina Diamandis, lead singer of Marina and the Diamonds, Tommy Lee of Motley Crue, Dimitri Minakakis from Dillinger Escape Plan, the Foals lead singer Yannis Philippakis and Alex Kapranos who fronts Franz Ferdinand.

Gill and I’s first foray abroad was on a budget trip to Paris and the journey each way was twelve hours in total involving three trains and a hovercraft. On the next sojourn in 1990 we sensibly decided to fly and headed off to Corfu and stayed in a resort in the far north called Kassiopi. The commute involved a vertigo inducing coach transfer around the sheer drop hairpin roads, leading to my assertion that those drivers are so accomplished!

Marina Diamandis. Image Credit upload.wikimedia.org

When I first started in my current job on 28 July 1986 (my fortieth anniversary is rapidly approaching) my initial timesheet was signed off by a manager called Vera Egan. Now a couple of years later Vera relocated to live abroad, but I wasn’t aware where she had emigrated to. That question was answered when I went to report a small accommodation issue at the agent’s office near the harbour, and there was none other than Vera behind the desk!   

I recall us visiting the UNESCO world heritage list Corfu town which was a bonny atmospheric place. I am sure we must have seen some live acts whilst we there, but I have nothing recorded in my annals, thus any will be in the unquantifiable Jimmy ‘lost gigs’ list. In those days the only music I can recall being provided was through the headphones of a portable tape deck and whilst lounging in a secluded cove, my ‘burning’ memory of the song that was playing was Eternal Flame by the Bangles.