traveldiary.stracke.us

Today we spent a sunny day at Elounda Aqua Sol Resort, diving off the rocky wall into the silky warm Mediterranean waters. The view from our balcony goes across the Gulf of Mirabello with the Thripti Mountains shrouded in haze in the background. The whole scene appears unreal, like from a dreamworld. In the meantime, I am reading Gabi’s book ” Dinner With Persephone”, trying to obtain some insight into Greek customs and culture. The land of the beginning of our idea of democracy appears to us in stark contrast: for example, there is a stiff fine for mutilating classical statues but there is no statute in the country’s criminal code for wife-beating. Greek soap operas on TV frequently show episodes of women being slapped and often violence is portrayed as part of a romantic relationship. On the other hand, we found the Greeks on Crete to be very religious and making the sign of the cross each time they pass one of the 1000 one-room chapels on the island. They use very strong language when they are upset. If you get into a Greek drivers way, he may call you ” Masturb……”.
As far as the Greek driving style goes, it is taking high risks, resulting in the highest road fatality rate in Europe.
I am driving our Suzuki Wagon R and a Greek driver will always pass me after a few seconds, regardless of speed limit, no passing zone, or upcoming curve. We are trying not to be called “amerikanaki”, which is the racial slur for tall naive Americans.
Gabi and I are heading for dinner now and are faced with the most critical decision of the day………which wine to order. We currently favor Cretan “Kritikos” white wine.
From sunny Crete, Lothar and Gabi

This entry was posted on Friday, October 15th, 2004 at 12:15 pm and is filed under Greece. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.