News Flashes

Additional parking spaces for the summer months.
The town council has decided to open up the courtyard of 2 central schools for additional FREE parking. The scheme which operates from 8am-3pm on workdays (Mon-Fri) will last until the end of August. The operating hours are strict, so don't leave the car until after 3, as the gates will be locked.

For a location map. please click here.

The 22nd Renaissance Festival has started with an opening ceremony that was quite frankly spectacular. The parade started in the Old Harbour where a group of about 20 people with torches moved to the Old Harbour Wall - the Old Lighthouse lit up, fireworks were sent into the sky. Then from the Old Customs House the parade moved to the Old Town, with a stop at the Loggia, the Rimondi Fountain and the steps of the Fortezza.In the Erofili Theatre, spectators were treated to a show of Renaissance Dancing.

The Baroque Concerts have already started and will continue for the rest of this week (see events section). Next week the focus will be on Theatre. The closing ceremony is held on Wednesday 23rd July

16 of the local beaches were this year awarded with a Blue Flag Award. The criteria for these awards include topics such as environmental information and education, water quality, environmental management and safety and services (for a full list of the criteria please see http://www.blueflag.org/Criteria/Beaches ).

Of the awarded beaches, 13 are on the North Coast, 3 on the South Coast: Koubes-Rethymnon (Hotel Petradi), Rethymnon (Porto Rethymno), Rethymnon (Hotel Steris), Rethymnon (Hotel Pearl Beach), Missiria (Hotel Creta Palace), Platanias (Hotel Minos Mare), Adelianos Kampos (Hotel Rithymna Beach), Pigianos Kampos (Hotel El Greco), Lianos kavos Lavris (Gerapotamos River), Panormo Limni (Marine Palace Hotel), Bali Livadi (Bali Paradise Hotel), Bali Varkotopos (Bali Star Hotel) on the North Coast.

The ones on the South Coast are Damnoni (Hotel Hapimag), Plakias (Alianthos Hotel) and Souda.

The main Post Office on Moatsou will be closed for refurbishment for at least 3 months. For the general post services, there is now a temporary office diagonally across the road, on the corner with Chatzidaki Street. As these premises are much smaller, for some services one has to go to another office:

• Post packages: these should now be collected from the post office in Kalithea, opposite the Minos Hotel (at the triangular roundabout)
• For personal post boxes, one should go to the main sorting office, which is in Koubes, opposite the BP Petrol station (the one on the right going out of Rethymnon

The Prefecture of Rethymnon is organising a 5-day festival in the Municipal Garden in Rethymnon, called Tourism and Culture 2008.
All the municipalities of the prefecture of Rethymnon participate in an exhibition to promote their regional tourist attractions and local products. The exhibition is open daily from 5pm - 10.30pm.
There will be a different entertainment programme for each day. Performances start at 8.30pm.
The festival runs from 06-10 May.

Due to the fact that May 1st falls on a Thursday this year, the weekly market held in the marina on Thursdays, will be held on Wednesday 30/04.
Note that this change is for this occasion only.

Old Town closed for traffic.
From Friday April 18th, the Old Town will be closed for all traffic. From 11am until 6am no traffic will be allowed to enter. The 5 hour window in the morning allows for deliveries to the shops. Some permits will be given to residents with young children or elderly parents.

Paving the streets in the Old Town.
It looks like the shop owners in Arabatzoglou have agreed to the plan of paving the street immediately. About 2/3 of the street is already finished, and the shops at the Mikri Panageia end will be opening soon.

Paving the streets in the Old Town.
After a delay of several months, work to pave the streets of the Old Town has finally started. Some streets are already finished, but some shop owners in Arabatsoglou are not happy for work to start in their street, as they are already open for business. The depute mayor Kostas Iliakis, is hoping that they will change their mind, as work is not expected to take more than 2 weeks. Later in the year, the local authorities plan to pave the streets from Nikifora Foka towards the Nomarchiea. The plan is that by Spring 2009 all the streets in the Old Town will have been paved.

Ferry Update - Hellenic Seaways is now operating the Piraeus - Rethymnon service, using their Highspeed 4 catamaran, which completes the crossing in 4hrs 45mins. For further details see the Getting Here page.

The annual saga of the ferry crisis has arrived again. After the decision by NEL Lines not to continue their service with the Aiolis Kenteris I, a feverish search started to find a company that would be able to replace this service. Hellenic Seaways (HighSpeed 5) seems to be that company, although they seem to have problems getting their schedule approved by the appropriate authorities

In the meantime, ANEK, who provide a ferry connection between Piraeus and Rethymnon with F/B Prevelis, have decided to stop this 3/week service - last available online booking on Monday, March 10th, leaving Rethymnon at 20.00hrs

This would result in Rethymnon not having a ferry link with the mainland for at least a week, if not longer. We'll keep you posted.

Leon - Update: a new and good home for Leon has been found. Thanks.
Anybody interested in adopting an animal or helping Friends of Animals Rethymnon can get in touch via the telephone numbers below.

07/02/2008
Message from Friends of Animals, Rethymnon

URGENT
A GOOD HOME NEEDED FOR LEON

He's male, 2 years old, recently neutered and a very loving, and as you can see from the photos, a very beautiful dog.

TEL: NELLIE 6937240399 OR CHRISTINA 6977130981