traveldiary.stracke.us

Since the internet was so unaccessible onCrete, Greece, it is hard to determine what to write about and what not to, since there is just so much to tell:smile: Looking through my diary, I’m going to try to highlight my impressions of the Greeks and their beautiful country.
1. The Cretan Greeks are a hard working people, many have to spend long hours either in the fields, on the water fishing or catering to tourists during the “tourist harvesting season” of April through October. This does not deter from a daily siesta though, when it is difficult to accomplish anything except eat and sleep.
2. The Greeks are a religious people that seem to live a lot in the past but want to really be part of the modern world. It is very important to them that all know their history of the ancients and much seems to still be regulated by these Gods in modern life, as many interpret their dreams to determine what will come next in their futures. They are definitely at a crossroads between East and West, much of their history has been ruled by Europeans or Ottomans. Makes for an interesting cultural mix.
3. The Greek men are reckless testosterone driven fools when they get behind the wheel of a vehicle. It must be their religious convictions that allow them to drive this way because they must feel they are immortal–that history thing! The worst experience there for me was on a “no see turn” mountain road at about 7000 feet to the valley without guardrails; an approaching male Greek bus driver, handy in one hand and the wheel of the bus in the other, decided 3/4 of the road belonged to him, leaving us little choice except to hope and pray the other 1/4 was enough for our car—my life was already starting to flash before my eyes and my heart was racing so that German driving at 180 km/hr, which usually causes my heart an aerobic workout, was nothing in comparison.
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We saw some interesting shopping places in the more remote mountain villages. A van driving through town selling clothing, like a Macy`s on wheels, a bakery shop on wheels and several combo building- material- and- beverage- market establishments.
We met a lady from Lebanon, who lives with her German husband in Crete, selling carpets. We talked with her for some time and actually bought a small carpet from her.
The water supply consists of rubber hoses running in the ditch alongside the “highways” from village to village. The houses are all built with stone and cement and a flat roof. You can tell, if there are plans to built another level in the future. In that case steel rods are sticking out of the flat cement roof to anchor the next level.
In the meantime we have made it back to Biberach,Germany ( license plate B.C.) The oldest house is from 1318 A.D. , which was determined by dating the annual rings of the trees used for construction. Our next stop is Würzburg,Germany. This is a town with a lot of history, since Gabi and I met there in 1976 !

Cretans = people from Crete, cretins = French meaning idiots or mentally retarded people.
I am in Europe and I do not have to be politically correct, just straight forward like the people here are.
We drove to the end of the world and ended up in Frangokastello on the southern coast of Crete. It was a very nice beach in front of a 14th century Venetian castle and a village of maybe 20 houses and 4 tavernas. We had no phone, TV,internet; just sun, blue skies and the warm Lybian sea for swimming. Greek people in that area are nice, but not overly friendly. Crete was occupied by Venetians from 1204 to 1669, followed by the Ottomans from 1645 to 1898 and finally under the rule of King Otto of Bavaria prior to independence in 1913. The people here are tough and still live a pretty hard life. Smiling for an official is considered a weakness in Greek culture, e.g. in history a picture of a smiling FDR was strange for a Greek person. Smiling means insecure here, but in our culture conveys confidence and a sense of having things under control.
We took the road from Frangokastello climbing over the White Mountains to the northern coast. This was the interesting part ( the road ! ). It meant climbing from sea level to 6000 feet, negotiating numerous hairpin turns up the side of the mountain on a road,which was in most places wide enough for 1.5 cars! My copilot Gabi had the best view of the abyss from her side, especially since her view was unobstructed by any type of guardrail ,tree, retaining wall etc.
It was pretty much down a 60 to 70 degree slope mountainside, dotted by the occasional carwreck from prior accidents. Apparently it is not customary to clean up carwrecks or, for that matter, any type of garbage. We found that the Greek seem to have a great disrespect for the environment with a lot of refuse all over the place. Back to the driving : Gabi got a little tense when I had to make it around tourbuses coming from the other direction. I only noticed the busdrivers taking up most of the road, driving with one hand and holding the cellphone in the other ! At one point, I saw 2 buses passing each other up the mountain just above us and was contemplating if a bus might crush our trusty 3 cylinder-engine Suzuki, in case the bus would start to roll down the mountainside( sideways, of course). To make a long story short : It was an interesting experience to share the road with the Cretes (Cretins?), but we made it. I am more curious now to see what lies ahead in the next coutries of our voyage.

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

After our wonderful tea with the Greek owner of our apt., it was time for a swim and a siesta in the sun because we had been invited for an evening of music and dancing. Our neighbor in the next apt is a Greek lady in her 60’s, that was born in Egypt but lives in Italy–she was visiting her brothers here on Crete, who are musicians and were playing yesterday eve in a local establishment. We were asked to be ready at 7:30, which in Greek time means about 8:30. We had already thought they had forgotten us, but we had forgotten that we are not only on Crete island time, but also southern time, hence the double whammie of a whole hour delay.:shock:
It was a beautiful evening with Greek songs, dances, and audience, that’s us, participation. You should have seen Lothar dance the night away, one would think he had Greek blood in him. After the Greek portion, the band also sang lots of English songs of the 50’s to 70’s, which reminded us of how small the world really is. After midnight, us poor jet-lagged Americans needed to go to bed, but our Egyptian,Greek,Italian friends kept partying, as it is custom in these southern lands. When do they sleep?:roll:

One would think that the Greek language would pose a problem for foreigners, since they not only have “their own vocabulary” but also a whole new alphabet to boot. No worries–they are totally accommodating to tourists, everything in English and German, at least the essentials, like food! —which by the way, is great. Only yesterday I read that the Cretian Greeks are the healthiest within the Europen Union. We asked our hostess, Johana, why this is. She claims olive oil, herbal teas, wine and lifestyle——-well, we are on the road to good health.:grin:
It’s time for a siesta, who knows what tonight will bring.
Gabi in Crete, Greece

October 6th : We arrived on the Greek island of Kreta (Crete), and our first surprise was the rental car ( budget operation booked over internet). It was a very old, faded green Fiat Panda Convertible without power steering and a hole in the roof. ( It rained as we arrived at the airport). I realized, that I could not negotiate any type of quick turns with this car and was able to rent a much better new car at the same price ! You have to have quick reflexes, if you want to keep up with Greek drivers and I would have had an unfair disadvantage barely being able to turn the steering wheel of the Panda.
We had a reservation for Maravel Beach Appartment and discovered that the Maravel family owns about a dozen hotels/ condos in town. We found the correct one after only four tries. The apartment is a little house on the beach and very romantic and “local”. The doorlock was broken, and we could not use the front door. We locked ourselves out the next morning and JoAnna Maravel, our very friendly host, invited us into her house. She served us Greek tea and told us the story of the Maravel family.
Greek families are very close knit, and grandpa Maravel made his money working in a coal mine in the USA. According to Greek custom, he sent all his savings back to the family in Greece, and they started to buy land, built hotels etc.
JoAnna moved us to a different appartment after I flooded the whole place. I had taken a shower and apparently overworked the drain, resulting in the water running out the front door. I did not even throw any toilet paper in the WC, which is a no-no in Greece. The drain pipes are too small, and there is a bucket for paper disposal next to the toilet. With dry feet again, from Crete, Lothar