PAF Festival - is this the end?

It is ironic that the 4th annual Pelekas Arts Festival broke all records for participants and attendance, yet it looks like being the last.

It is estimated that on the Saturday, over 5,000 people attended the day's events and the evening's concerts. Cars were parked for over a kilometre in each direction from the festival site and the bars and food outlets were hard pressed to keep up with demand. In addition several hundred people stayed on the PAF campsite for the weekend.

Unfortunately, the voluntary organisers feel that planning and setting up the festival has become a full time task and they can no longer afford to take the amount of time off work that is necessary. Through generous sponsorship, and with the income from the bars, franchises and merchandising, the festival has been able, until now, to cover its costs. However, its budget is not enough to also pay for full time staff.

It seems that the only thing that can now save the festival is a wealthy benefactor. If any philanthropists are interested in sponsoring PAF 2009 please get in touch!

The Beach that lost its Goose

The Beach that lost its Goose was filmed in and around Yianni's Taverna in 2007 and played at the London Greek film festival in November 2008. It features interviews with some well known local personalities, including Yiannis and Spiros themselves.

This 19 minute film was directed by Isobel Pravda, who co-wrote it with Pelekas resident Louise Gaunson. It is about a wild goose that lost its flock and lived with Yiannis and Spiros at Pelekas beach for three months. One day someone hit her and she disappeared.

The film looks at why she came, why she left and why she meant so much to the local populace. Her disappearance becomes a metaphor for the changes around the beach over the years and its transition from a "hippy commune" to today's beach with its roads and hotels.

You can download the film here.

Hypnotherapy

In recent years hypnosis and hypnotherapy has gained acceptance and credibility as a therapeutic technique beneficial in a wide variety of situations. Smoking cessation, weight control, stress and anxiety disorders, pain control, self esteem issues, confidence building, phobias and partial life regression are just a few of the concerns in which clinical hypnosis can be employed effectively.

Tracy Pagiatis has been a practising hypnotherapist for the last six years and moved to Pelekas with her family from the UK last year. She has a diploma as a master hypnotist and is a member of the UK Guild of Hypnotist Examiners.

She has now set up a practice in Pelekas and is helping clients to realise the changes they wish to achieve. You can find out more or contact Tracy by visiting her website.

EasyJet to fly from Manchester and Bristol

Good news for independent travellers is that budget airline EasyJet will again be flying from Gatwick to Corfu in 2009.

Flights start at the beginning of April. For the first three weeks there are just two flights a week, but from April 21st there is a daily service. The last flight is at the beginning of November.

In addition, EasyJet is launching new flights to Corfu from Manchester (starting May 4th) and Bristol (starting May 22nd).

By booking well in advance it's possible to find tickets for as little as 40 euros one way.

New Bus Timetable

Three new buses have been added to the Number 11 route from Corfu Town (San Rocco) to Pelekas. They are at 08.00, 13.15 and 22.00 and go via Afra and Agios Ioannis during school term time..

The full timetable now reads (from Corfu):
07.00, 08.00, 10.00, 12.00, 13.15, 14.15, 16.00, 18.00, 20.30 and 22.00.
Buses return from Pelekas 30 minutes later.

Cookery Corner

This section gives you the opportunity to re-create some of your favourite Corfiot taverna recipes at home. This time, Olive Bread

Ingredients

125ml olive oil. 250ml lukewarm water. 1 teaspoon honey. One and a half teaspoons dry yeast. 450g wholemeal flour. 1 teaspoon sea salt. 2 onions, finely chopped. 10 pitted olives. 1 tablespoon rosemary.

Instructions

Place the water in a bowl, add the honey and stir until dissolved. Add the yeast and set aside for 10-15 minutes until foamy. Add in 3 tablespoons of olive oil, mix and add the salt. Sift half of the flour into a bowl, make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture. Sift in the remaining flour or enough to make a firm dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes into a firm dough. Set aside to rise for 2-3 hours, until double in size. Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and heat. Add the onions, fry over a low heat until golden and set aside. Add the olives to boiling water and blanch for a few seconds. Drain the olives and pat dry with a paper towel. Finely chop the olives and toss together with the onions and the rosemary. Add to the dough and knead for 1-2 minutes. Shape the dough into a rounded mound. Grease a baking tray with olive oil, flatten the dough on the tray, cover lightly with a towel and set aside for an hour. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce the oven to 180°C, coat with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes until golden.

Archive

Editorial

As reported elsewhere on this page, in addition to the Gatwick Easyjet flights, there will now be flights from both Bristol and Manchester, running from May. This is a huge vote of approval for Corfu and its resorts

One of the results we may see this season is visitors who choose to travel outside the high season and maybe take two short holidays instead of a long one. By booking early at give-away prices, you can now fly to Corfu for a long weekend or a midweek break .

Combine this with low season prices in Pelekas starting at 17 euros a night for a double room and its still possible to find a cheap holiday despite the current economic gloom.

People will no doubt be more careful with their money this year, but travel surveys in the UK recently showed that people rate their holiday as one of the last things they would sacrifice and we hope that they will continue to visit Pelekas and enjoy the welcome they have always received here.

As always at this time of year, we would like to wish you all a peaceful and successful 2009 and look forward to seeing you in the summer.

Smoking Ban Looms

A bill foreseeing the imposition of a blanket ban on smoking in public places from January 1 2010, has been voted through Parliament. The bill, which was backed by all parties, will lead to smoking being prohibited in all restaurants, bars and offices and on public transport. In offices, and certain other spaces, designated areas will be set aside to accommodate smokers. The ambitious legislation also foresees fines of between 1,000 and 20,000 euros for traders found to have sold cigarettes or alcohol to minors.

Wet and Windy

This has been very wet winter in Pelekas - so no fears of a water shortage next summer! There have also been three exceptionally violent storms with winds measured at up to 10 Beaufort.

If you want to follow the weather here we have added "Poseidon" to our News and Weather page. It has detailed information about the sea and wind conditions around the island.

Corfu Blog

There is a new Corfu blog on the Web. It is written by the four women who run the Corfuhomefinders property agency and contains articles about life in Corfu. It is updated daily and can be found by clicking here.

DVD Release

The 1987 BBC series, "My Family and Other Animals" has finally been released on DVD. It is based on the book by Gerald Durrell and set in Corfu in the 1930s. Part of it was filmed around Pelekas. It is available online from Amazon.

Current Pelekas Weather