September 2006. Back in Elounda but this time its really special. The house is finished and we will be staying in it.
Back in June we had ordered some of the furniture from Carrefour, a huge supermarket in Heraklion, a double bed, three bedside cabinets, two dressing tables and a large 'L' shaped settee. 1400 euros the lot. Also I had found a company on the web called G. Nikiforakis in Chania, a town at the western end of Crete. Just from the pictures off the web site we ordered two single beds a dining table and four chairs and a kitchen table and four chairs, 1150 euros total including delivery on a Sunday! So for 2550 euros (£1600) we had furnished a two bedroom house, only in Greece.

Sunday arrived and Mr Nikiforakis arrived as promised with his wife, son, and daughter in a van full of our furniture. Like a well oiled machine the Nikiforakis family leapt into action, the van was unloaded all of furniture was put into the alotted rooms, Mrs Nikiforakis armed with a cordless screwdriver assembled the beds and placed them where we asked whilst the rest of the family were carrying mattresses, chairs and tables, within 20 minutes the job was done. Such beautiful furniture, better than the pictures. Our house was starting to look like a home.

In November of 2005 I went to a company just outside Aghios Nikolaos called Fifiris, a shop specialising in everything electrical. Cookers, fridges etc. There I met Peter. Having said I had a budget of 1000 euros I chose a cooker, a fridge and washing machine total price 1047 euros. Happy with my purchases I tried to pay, I can give you a discount says Peter, 830 euros is now the price! So I bought a microwave for 150 euros. I tried to pay again, more discount, 75 euros for the microwave. Can you deliver to Elounda next September and how much I asked, of coarse came the reply and no charge. Needless to say everything was delivered, wired in, plumbed and tested. Only in Greece.
What happened to the 95 euros change I hear you say, lunch and a few cold beers with my friend Dimitris who took me to Fifiris.

Thirty years ago I was working in Folkstone in Kent, one evening I was talking to the owner of the bar I used to drink in. She told me on a summer's morning she liked to sit on her balcony watch the sunrise and have fresh peaches and Champagne for breakfast. At that moment I promised myself that if I ever had a house overlooking the sea where I could see the sunrise I would do the same thing. On the 12th of September 2006 my wife and I stood on our roof terrace had peaches and Champagne and watched the sunrise. Heaven knows what our new Greek neighbours thought. Crazy English probably.

Now that the house is finished and furnished it was time to think about insurance for the building and its contents. I started to look on the internet for companies in the UK that specialised in properties abroad. As soon as I metioned Crete some insurance companies weren't interested because greece is an earthquake zone, others said they would insure the house but at a price, quotes in excess of £630 per year. Back on the internet and I started looking for insurance companies in Crete, I came across a site called Brits in Crete. Here amongst all the very helpful info was a link to Stavros Sideris Insurance based in Heraklion. A couple of emails and a couple of phone calls to Stavros sorted it all out, and he could not have been more helpful. The house and its contents are now fully insured including earthquake cover for 396 euros (£264). Thanks Stavros.

Will & Lynne Newbert