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Crete as Heaven

August 22, 2013  •  1 Comment

 

There is something about Crete that makes it a magical place to visit. When I go there, I feel at home and it makes me feel truly relaxed and content. It ticks all the boxes. It has beautiful beaches, clement weather, mountains, history, lots and lots of interesting history to explore. But most of all, the people who live there are gentle, kind and very hospitable.

 

When nights begin to close in earlier and the dull British winter sets in, I reach for my photographs of Crete to remind me of the summer to come. We usually hire the same beautiful villa with an infinity pool, tucked halfway up the mountains overlooking the marvellous vista that is Souda Bay. It's our secret retreat, the place to shake off all the stresses of work and grey skies and begin the journey to redeem ourselves.

 

 

It's also an opportunity to read snuggle into a local café with a nice hit of coffee. Zorba the Greek was filmed in the area including the village near to our villa. There are some in the village who remember the week Anthony Quinn came for filming. It still provokes discussions with the villagers today and forms the mortar that binds villagers and visiting tourists together.

I had a similar experience about ten years ago when I visited Savoca in Eastern Sicily. I met a woman who ran the local bakery and was an extra in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. She talked about the gentleness and easy going nature of Al Pacino. These conversations are universal.

 

In Crete fishermen meditate and meditators fish. It is the way of things. Through the throb of ice creamed tourists and port restaurants, old men cast their line into their deep still, pool and be.

 

 

All holidays end, but the memories linger on. I remember sunsets, calm evenings and drowsily watching the night ferry pass as subtle sounds of Miles Davis filled the air.

 

 

 


Comments

Lesley Woolnough(non-registered)
Happy contented days.
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