Impressions of Crete

How can we possibly be able to describe these three days in Crete in just one entry? This has been absolutely fascinating in so many respects! The first surprise has been in realizing how much our travels are affected by language.

Before when we have traveled, it has been to countries influenced by the far western-European countries, whose languages and lettering are like what we see in the US. What a surprise to realize that we cannot read a word in Greek! In the words of Shakespeare, "It is Greek to me!" We have truly realized how difficult it is to understand the directions, phrases, food, etc. when the language is totally foreign. I keep wanting to revert to French like we have been able to do previously, but it just doesn't work here. Fortunately, many people speak at least some degree of English, although it is frequently difficult to understand. We have learned a few very basic words: thank you, beer, cheers, and raki.

For those of you who have never heard of raki, we at first thought it was "Rocky," and that it was the restaurant manager's name, when an after dinner liquor was sent to our table, along with some fruit. Nope... it means a VERY strong liquor which tastes a great deal like straight grain alcohol. Almost every place serves it after a meal, and yesterday at the co-op, the ladies served it to welcome us. It is not to be tasted really, but rather gulped down in a hurry, much like the Russian custom of serving vodka!

While on the topic of food, we have thoroughly enjoyed our meals, and it's a good thing we are getting so much exercise! We have had the usual Greek foods of souvlaki, moussaka, and tirumosalata, as well as Greek "pizza," Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and onions); red mullets (small red fish, fried and served with heads and tails); swordfish; meatballs; braised veal and beef; all kinds of olives; all kinds of fruit; and desserts that are so sweet that the sugar fairly rolls off. The coffee is strong, and the local treat is Nescafe fredo, which is a coffee with frothed milk, sweetened, over ice. The local Cretan wine is dry and delicious. The buffet breakfasts at the hotel are unbelievable, with everything imaginable, including freshly squeezed orange juice. We are not complaining about food at all!

The dress here is fascinating. Tourists can be identified by their shorts, as the weather has turned quite warm. The older Greek women all wear black, and they really remind me of the women shown in Zorba! Phyllis and I have yet to get a smile from ANY of them.... we get the "Trollop, why aren't you in black with gray hair and no make-up?" look. Oh, well.... The young women dress in tight, low pants, regardless of age, and the tops vary from skin tight to layered, and they wear wild high spike heels or wedges. Make up and hair color are definitely "in" here! There is a distinct youth culture easily seen here, beginning probably at age 15, the last year of compulsary school here. There is a whole district of night clubs and outdoor bars which are frequented by them, usually after 9 at night. It has been rather depressing to see young children like 6 or 8 years old, alone in the city square, playing an accordion to get money in a hat, both in the morning at quite late at night. That is another difference in cultures... The Cretans really live different hours from Americans! The normal working Cretan begins the day at 7 or 8, having a breakfast of strong Turkish coffee, and then working straight until 2 in the afternoon. At 2, almost everything comes to a halt except tourist places; everything closes until around 5:30, when shops re-open for business until 9:30 or so. They are also closed on Wednesday afternoons and evenings. While Americans and other tourists eat dinner at 7:30 or 8, many Cretans do not show up until 10 or 10:30 for dinner. They have their large meals at lunch time, followed by a nap or rest. Their late night dinners consist of snack-type foods, such as a table having a variety of appetizers from the menu that are shared by the whole table. It's probably healthier, but the hours end up being so late as a result, that we wondered how the businesses could function!

We have so enjoyed seeing the museums, churches, and old buildings, but we have been so saddened by the huge amount of grafitti everywhere, even on the old buildings and churches. The other night, on our way back after dinner, around 10:00, a fight broke out on the main street, one which we figured could have been just boys or a gang... In either case, we did not hang around. When 1HW asked our tour guide about gangs yesterday, she carefully dodged the entire topic, kind of laughing it off with a "kids will be kids" attitude, which is not at all how it appears.

The antiquities and archaeological finds we have seen have been some the most fabulous we have seen in all of our travels to Europe previously! The ruins at Knossus still exhibit incredible examples of the Minoan culture, and the museum exhibits are absolutely fantastic. The degree of skills and artistic excellence by the people 4000 years ago is beyond our comprehension. They are simply exquisite. We took so many pictures, which we have been unable to download yet, that I think we will later need to form a Flicker site to show all we have seen.

The view of the sea, the old Venetian fortresses and buildings, and the sunsets are also lovely. This afternoon we are heading out to the historical museum, where El Greco works are also displayed. There is just no end to the art!

Tomorrow we leave to fly back to Athens for our four days there, before boarding the boat for the tour of the Greek islands. So far, the people we have met on the first part of the tour have been delightful, so we are expecting the rest of the trip to be just as much fun! We'll keep you posted as we are able! Yassou!