We’ve spent a total of 3 days in Crete since our arrival on Tuesday morning. It’s been a delightful, peaceful three days. We didn’t do any sightseeing other than a quick trip to the old town of Rethymnon today but that was mostly so Yiannis could do some banking. The village (Archontiki) is about halfway between the port towns of Chania and Rethymnon on the north coast of Crete. On past trips we’ve driven all over the island visiting villages and historical sites. This trip has been a different one.
Yiannis and Judith bought an old (300+ year) house in an old village back in the mid-80’s. People thought he was crazy for renovating an old home instead of tearing it down and building a new house. It is a simple rustic home where the living happens outside. Now many other homes in the village are being renovated.
We’ve talked for hours and hours about our families, travels, politics, history, our work. We reminisced about past trips together and about my parents and grandparents. We touched on economic problems in the world and Greece in particular. We talked about politics but not near as heatedly as in the old days when my father and Yiannis would argue for hours on end. Actually Bill and Yiannis have done most of the talking.
We swam both days at the local beaches which are about a 5 minute drive from the house. Water was clear and cool and refreshing.
Of course we took naps every day. Sometimes not getting up until 6pm or 7pm to watch the sunset from the backyard, sip a drink and think about starting dinner at 8pm.
One afternoon at sunset Bill and I wandered through the village so I could take some pictures to share with Bonnie. A couple of the photos are of the second little house that Yiannis owns where Bonnie and Jim would have stayed.
Lots of people were out on their porches watching the sun go down. And they all wanted to know who we were and who we belonged to . I’m the niece of the “professor”. The Greeks are very friendly and helpful if you make an effort to talk with them and it helps if you can speak the language.
Yiannis has been sharing stories about this village – apparently it’s an infamous village with a history of fights, vendettas and murders. Most recently the house across the street was raided because the woman living there was harbouring a man who had escaped from prison. The police broke into the house and killed the man before it was over. And this is just one of many stories. So there isn’t any worry about this place being taken over by tourism.
We only ate out one evening at a tavern down by the sea on our first night. They know Yiannis and as soon as they saw him coming they threw octopus on the grill. We specifically went for fresh fish and then we ordered lamb and salad and moussaka and then forgot to order fresh fish. So the next evening we bought fresh fish from the local market in the nearby village of Episkopi . As you can see in the picture below this is no Joe Patti’s – a small selection of fish. Yiannis cooked the fish on a grill and they were fabulous along with fresh fish soup. He’s quite the cook.
The boys go to bed early and I get on the laptop and do some work and some planning and stay connected. I did some work on a website for my uncle who has recently published a book on the history and current political situation in Ethiopia (www.johnmarkakis.com).
Tonight we talked to my sister on Skype and to Yiannis brother in California. Too bad we can’t all get together at one time. With all of us scattered across two continents those stars don’t align very often.
I’m grateful that my uncle is so healthy and that we get this time together. Now off to a day in Athens with Bill and then me off to Rome for a week.