 | ||
 
After four great days of "Greek Boot Camp" with Sergeant Tony, including driving lessons and eating lessons, we flew as far south as we could, to the large and fascinating island of Crete. We spent a forgettable night in Iraklio, then took delivery of a car and headed west to "the REAL Crete".
| ||
 view from our apartment in Agia Marina |
Well, there isn't much REAL Crete left anywhere there's a beach; "first world" tourists have been flocking to Crete, the farthest south significant bit of Europe, for the same reasons we were here: a lingering, gentle summer.
The stacked-crackerbox architectural tradition of modern Greece is here continued in endless heartless whitewashed resort developments. We didn't mind because this was our base for exploring the western half of a big island. We could see a slice of ocean from our bedroom, and we could walk to plenty of good restaurants. |
If we wanted real food, Xania (that starts with a guttural Ch: Chania) was just 6 kilometers east along the shore, and there we found a small, thriving agora (market) specializing in fish and seafood. Restaurant food in the markets always seems to be fresh and unpretentious. Lunch was delicious grilled shrimp, half a dozen different kinds of fish, and our staple, horiátiki salad.
We did a little shopping here, but most of our food came from the supermarket on the edge of Xania. In both places, we got the feeling we were the only Americans, and part of a very small minority of visitors who had "gone native" to the extent of shopping. |
 fish lunch at Xania Agora |
 Venetian breakwater and harbor |
Xania was for centuries the principal port in Crete, and in the 15th Century the Venetians merely improved the harbor facilities. Xania served as their most important ship-repair and marshalling point in their domination of the eastern Mediterranean. Five hundred years later, the works they erected to serve commerce and protect their interests in Crete are impressive ... more can be seen at Frangokastello and Spinalonga. |
The Venetians brought a quality of workmanship and mastery of engineering to Crete which revolutionized building. This slender tower has been standing, if a little less than perpendicular, in an exposed marine environment for five centuries.
The Venetians are responsible for a much broader effect on marine architecture: the importance they placed on lighthouses and snug harbor facilities started a revolution that carried to every corner of Europe. The coastal Chinese may have been more advanced, but in the western world, the Venetians were the first to build commercial structures to last for ages. |
 Venetian lighthouse still stands 500 years later |
 detail of the Venetian lighthouse |
Building with rock is an art much improved by an abundant supply of workable raw material, and rocky Crete is fertile ground. Buildings go up slowly, and the workmen must be at least competent, and in the space of something like the lighthouse, gifted. The sharp contrast between this structure and the corrupt but quickly-built concrete buildings that pass for architecture in modern Greece is painful. Greek buildings could be done so well, if they weren't in such a hurry. There's no doubt in my mind that the heartless and ugly buildings from the past fifty years infuse present-day Greek culture with an overwhelming burden of impermanence and poverty.
 |
Greece is proud to be part of Europe, and a staunch member of NATO, but her people are not united in this view by any means. Greece has recent Turkish memories as well as glimmers of ancient and independent glory, and these sentiments are strong in Crete ...so we were not surprised to encounter graffiti opposing NATO and "Bush's War" in Afghanistan. We at no time felt unsafe because of these expressions, and as the war escalated, we found ourselves wondering if they might be truer than the propaganda from the White House. When I asked our Cretan contact about these writings, he laughed and said "don't worry, you aren't supposed to be able to read them..." |
 anti-US sentiments on an ugly concrete wall? but what does it mean? Greek decoder |
 delicious Cretan pear |
From Xania we drove out across Crete's fertile fields and sharp mountains, along windy roads where we encountered little traffic -- the northern European guests seem to cower along the coast, soaking up rays, but we were interested in all of Crete. We took along picnic lunches and ate at viewpoints along the way, or planned our trips to leave us at interesting places at mealtime.
In addition to the omnipresent olives and fish, Crete produces oranges, pears, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, squash, goat cheese ...all the necessities of life. |
As soon as we left the coast, we were impressed by the pastoral sense of age and well-being, of a level of comfortable subsistence stretching back into a time before the Venetians. The olive harvest now uses plastic netting where once harvesters stooped and picked the fruit from the ground, but these same trees have been here for centuries. Olive trees, we were told, never stop growing or yielding. |
 ancient olive trees and nets for harvest |
 the southwest coast and Paleochora |
Our wanderings took us over the mountains to the shore of the Libyan Sea and the remote but intensely touristed area around Paleochora. Autumnal winds were whipping along this part of the coast, making the tourists scurry and the Greeks and others providing services cranky. The typical Cretan pattern for service workers is seven day weeks from April through October, then at least a month off, then preparations at a more leisurely pace until the new season starts. |
Back in the hills, winding up and over the rocky spine that separates Paleochora from Souyia, the next village to the east, we saw this rocky little chapel. Crete is crisscrossed by an amazingly good network of roads that negotiate astonishingly tricky terrain. The only place they're narrow is when they pass through villages, where buildings and streets were laid out long, long before cars came along. Crete is also crisscrossed by an amazing network of big tourist busses, and watching them navigate through these villages and around sharp corners onto narrow bridges provides excitement for residents and visitors alike. |
 another roadside chapel |
 coastal trail passes up a gorge |
West of Souyia, a tiny resort village on the south coast, the coastal trail that connects the villages where a road could not go, turns inland and travels up a beautiful little gorge. Since we had decided not to visit the "touristic gorge" at Samaria, we thought this would be a good sample of the gorge-walks that are found all along Crete's precipitous south coast. The goats agreed. In such deep folds, abundant vegetation makes this a green, but dry, place. |
In the mountains on our way home, we were reminded that the population has shifted away from the rural areas of Greece, leaving many buildings and farms untended. The roofs of these structures, made of inadequate timbers holding up heavy tiles, fail first, then the plastered exteriors, leaving the "bones" exposed. These walls are not up to Venetian standards, and probably not as old, but stout and lasting nonetheless. |
 typical upland stone building |
 roadside chapel |
After our week in Agia Marina, we were happy to relocate to the remotest western corner of Crete, on the plane of Falassarna. On the way, we stopped by a roadside chapel to light a candle for a safe stay and return, and to enjoy the brightly colored crêche and heavenly host hung in the cave nearby.
The Greek Orthodox tradition is built on an animist foundation reaching back before Zeus and the classical Greek lineup. No matter how remote, these little chapels and shrines have a cared-for appearance. |
The churches are richly painted and adorned, although not gold encrusted Catholic-style, and there is a sense that religious experiences may also be found outside. Greeks have bee elaborating this religious experience for millennia, and little chapels and holy places like this are scattered everywhere across the landscape, atop the unlikeliest mountain spurs and in the humblest valleys. |
 cave angels |
 the plain of Falassarna |
After climbing over several mountainous spurs, we reached the western end of Crete, where we found a plain covered with greenhouses and a long curve of white beach interrupted by volcanic outcrops and white stacked-crackerbox resorts. The press of tourism was over for the year, but the water was still inviting, and so we decided to stay and enjoy it for a few days. |
After our first lunch here, the water was so inviting that I couldn't resist, even though I was unprepared. Skinny dipping is not an approved Greek activity, but we had this rocky stretch to ourselves.
The water was refreshing, the beaches uncrowded, but the shoreline was surprisingly devoid of life -- few fish, no coral or interesting rock-bound life enticed me to find snorkel gear. Just sun, sand, and gently lapping waves, and a horizon enlivened once a day by a sunset.
We had come provisioned, knowing that the pickings would be slim here, and lived on simple fare prepared in our primitive kitchen. |
 Mr. Natural afloat in azure waters
photo credit: Rochelle Elkan |
 Rochelle relaxes under her umbrella
A short walk along the shoreline reminded us that this pristine and forgotten shoreline is exposed to the world's commerce, much of which still moves through the Mediterrannean and has the gooey, life-drowning consistency of crude. |
At night, the stars and moon dominated this remote corner of Greece, and at all times the sea seemed to stretch westward endlessly.
A couple of quiet days at Falassarna completed our recovery from the battering of our recent travels. We enjoyed soaking up as much sun as we could stand, the simple food; we caught up with our reading, and even began to miss CNN and knowing what was going on in the world.
evidence of a recent oil spill
|
 |
 |
updated 9 December 2001 : 12:27 Caspar (Pacific) time this site generated with 100% recycled electrons! send website feedback to the Solarnet webster |
© 2001-2002 by Caspar Institute. All Rights Reserved. | |
