18 replies to this topic

[Laid Back Lil]

HI everyone peg-leg here (op worse than first thought and now off my feet for 6 weeks !) Thought I'd mention a little shop in Chania where on our last visit we did some Raki tasting. It's in the Venetian old part of town in the same street as the El Greco hotel and sells honey, wine and raki. We tasted Raki with Mandarin, Raki with Orange and Cinnamon, and Lemon Raki. The first one was nice but extremly sweet and sickly. The second one was I would have thought a good comforting drink/shot if you were suffering from a cold. The third, the Lemon Raki was delicious, still sweet but not too muich and a good taste of the lemon. Obviously bought a bottle to bring home. I believe they had the honey raki in the shop too if anyone is interested.

[Wim]

Tastes great Lil !!

Hope your feet 'll do what you want them to again. But take care for the rachi for they can disorganise them again

Have you got there email address, and do you know if they send abroad?. Are the prices touristic or local?

Would love to buy some from this chap

[Emma1310]

So are you drinking raki purely for medicinal purposes, Lil?

[harribobs]

So are you drinking raki purely for medicinal purposes, Lil?

good for progressive trance as well i hear!

i hope the knee improves soon Lil

[Tim]

I picked up some raki with honey last time I was in Hora Sfakion- very pleasant in small quantities, but not sure I could drink it all night like the orginal

[Laid Back Lil]

Thanks for all your good wishes - feeling a bit poorly today. Just read my original post and saw how many mistakes in it wasn't wearing glasses and also typing on one leg as I can't carry the laptop to the table and use the crutches at the same time - poor excuse I know.... Will break down answers:
No, not drinking it for medicinal purposes really, but tell everyone I am....
Haven't got an e-mail address, but there is a telephone number on the bottle: 2831091220
We paid 7 Euros for 250 ml so yes, tourist rates!
Quite happy to pick up their business card when I'm back in July if anyone is interested as we pop into Chania often - let me know.

[Wim]

Dear Lil,

Maybe I missed some info about your op. What exactly happened and what did they do to you?

[Emma1310]

She's transforming to be a fully-fledged legal pirate. The excessive raki drinking is merely one step in the process. Eventually it is hoped she will be able to yell "more rum, me hearties" along with the rest of the one-legged pirate fraternity.

[Laid Back Lil]

Long John Silver here .... Emma you do make me laugh! Wim - A few years back I met a Mr Arthur Wrichus... Only being a young 40/11 as you all know the hospital believed it to be a standard arthroscopy (keyhole) where they make small incisions, put a camera in the knee joint and have a good look at what is happening and vacuum out any spare bits floating about (did ask them at the time to put the tube higher up my leg to my stomach and suck a bit of fat out at the same time but for some unknown reason they declined....) They thought it would just be a case of cleaning the joint but on closer inspection I had a tear, which they duly repaired, they cleaned and shaved the bone one side of the knee - all good, but when they looked at the other side (arthritis is given a grade of 1 to 4, 4 being the worse case scenario), they realised it was a 4! There was no cartilage left to trim/repair and was bone on bone, which was obviously what was causing the pain. And so, they drilled minute holes down into the bone to make it bleed and hopefully stimulate new cartilage growth. Off feet for at least 6 weeks to give it a chance to work. It won't cure the situation completely but will hopefully give me another couple of years before they have to do it all again. Long term, knee replacement no doubt but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

[Emma1310]

Well I hope it's successful for you Lil. A knee replacement is a biggie. My gran had one a couple of years ago at the ripe old age of 83. Luckily she had taught dance and keep-fit until a year or two previously so was quite fit and more importantly had a lot of muscle. She only had to go to physio twice and recovered really quickly.


So there's your incentive for getting/keeping really fit while you're healthy and mobile enough to do so.

By the way, if you need the loan of a parrot for special occasions, let me know. My friend has one. Admittedly it's an African Grey rather than the usual Macaw, but she can yell profanities quite nicely. My friend adopted her as her owner made a mess of caring for her and at first this parrot was really quiet. Then one day she accidentally flew into the window which elicited a response (from the parrot) of "oh fooking 'ell"

[Xander]

Wow, 7 euro for 250 ml Raki......
That's 28 euro per litre !

At the local store in our village I pay 5 euro for 1,5 litre of the finest raki. This Raki is packed in a plastic water bottle, and they make it themselves.
The 'special tastes' like honey cost 6 euro per litre.

[Pam]

Lil, so sorry about your op and the arthritis - sounds really painful! I do hope this won't stop you coming out to Crete on your next planned trip in July. In the meantime keep on with the Raki, I hear it has curative properties.

Pam & Bob

[Brook]

A great Raki (tsikoudia) which I purchased in Canada before and is from Sitia Crete was Varvaki. Amazing stuff but was a special item that I have never been able to find again!

[Wim]

Jez...Lil that's not cats piss as we say in Holland.

Hope you'll do fine and must admit that Emma is a bit too anticipatory with her parrot but I think this one will do great on your shoulder



It's a Hyacinth Macaw

[Brook]

was the comment about the cat's piss intended for Varvaki, Wim??

[harribobs]

i know the answer

the best raki is the one you drink with your friends!



the medousa in plakias ( photo takem by babbi!)

now who's that rascal in the check shirt!

[Wim]

Let me guess?

No Brook on the contrary, cats piss for that price? But here's the story of Varvaki and the reason why you can't buy it abroad any more.

[Brook]

Agreed Harribob! Friends make everything taste better!
I pride myself in having fairly good tastes when it comes to fine spirits and great food so when I read the comment about the cat's piss, I thought maybe I was losing my taste buds!

[Xander]

You're absolutely right. The best raki is the raki you drink with nice people and friends.
I still have memories of the best evenings on which (lots of) raki was served after a nice Cretan dinner.

And, very important to me, I never had a hangover from raki. And sometimes I drink a lot of raki when it's a pleasant evening.
I can't say that about other liquors.