Rethmyno, Crete, Friday March 14th

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Keith spent time sorting photos for the blog and actually posted some of our backlog. I did lots of hand washing and hung it up to dry in the sunshine. I was still behind on writing the blog so, since we had to check out at 10.30, we set off to find a square to sit in, have breakfast and write. The church has an excellent square so we headed there. It is perfect for soccer, riding bikes and simply relaxing. The church building is enormous and looks to be fairly new or recently renovated. We see priests everywhere, and this morning two were swinging the child of one of them between them as they strolled around the square, chatting to people. There are lots of shops that sell icons and other religious items, and these are displayed in shops. Religion seems to be very much a part of everyday life and priests have played a brave and active part in resistance movements along with the people. The church bells ring the hour and half hour from 6 am. Not knowing the time would not work as an excuse for being late here and oversleeping was not possible for us. Maybe residents become used to it, like being able to hear but not register the 5.30 am call to prayer in Muslim countries.

While we were eating, Steve, a guest at the same hostel, came along and stopped to chat with us. He was a Canadian with very similar travel plans to ours, in terms of wanting to go to the island of Santarini and then to Rhodes and Turkey. It is possible that our paths will cross again when we return from our next couch surfing visit to Plakias. We enjoyed eating oranges and chatting together with no big agendas for the day for once.

Giving up on the writing, we headed off to the Archaeological Museum, which Steve had reminded us of. He went to find a minaret to climb. We kept encountering each other at every second turn, which was pretty funny. Unfortunately the minaret was closed for renovations, as lots of things seem to be, since this is the off season for tourists. We followed some students on a school excursion and they stopped after a while. They seemed to be having a great time chatting with a lady in a dress shop so I thought that maybe she was a relative of the young teacher and they were having a digression from whatever they had come to see in Rethymno.

At the start, we were the only visitors at the Archaeological Museum. It was very interesting with a large coin collection and there was pottery from Minoan times. There is usually so much to absorb in a museum and so, even though we are seeing similar exhibits again and again, each time of reading and viewing helps things to become clearer. One of the most fascinating aspects of this museum was that they had a glass wall separating the display areas from the working areas. We could see two archaeologists sorting through boxes of items, referring to text books and photos, with floor to ceiling shelves full of yet to be identified objects in boxes behind them.

With a little bit of time in hand before collecting our back packs and heading to the bus station, I settled down in the shadow of the fortress walls to type and Keith took a little nap in the sunshine.

The bus to Plakias left at 2.15 pm. We ate some bread with nothing on it for lunch during the journey. We were travelling south through mountainous areas so the scenery was spectacular. The final dip into Plakias was along a gorge where the road seemed to cling precariously to the cliff face and evidence of landslides could be seen everywhere. The woman in the seat in front of us crossed herself as the bus entered the gorge.

At Plakias we were met by Johannes, our couch surfing host, and we joined him and some of his friends for a drink. This particular group consisted of English ex-pats who have all adopted Crete as their home and have lived in Plakias long term. One couple runs a supermarket and they said how, although they keep very long hours, they are able to spend a lot of time in the bar opposite in the off season and just keep an eye out for anyone entering their shop. If they don’t notice their customers, the customers will pop over to the bar to get them. Two of the women manage rental properties and Johannes works from home for a Dutch company, visiting head office in the Netherlands regularly. They were involved with animal welfare and said that they work with a German animal welfare group which sends money and pays for unwanted stray cats to be shipped to Germany for homes to be found. Andy arrived, fresh from a stay in hospital, and told us about the lending library he runs – “the most southerly lending library in Europe!” Next opening times would be 10.30 – 12.30 on Sunday. Apparently tourists all arrive with stashes of books to read on the beach, they read them and then donate them to the library. When the library has two copies of a book, it donates one to the animal welfare second hand book shop. A tourist buys the book, reads it, donates it to the library, it goes back to the animal welfare book shop and so on forever sometimes. All these people loved Plakias and were enjoying their lives there, and were members of a supportive ex-pat social group that met to watch the football and for barbecues etc.

Johannes lives about 3 km out of Plakias on a hillside. He built his house a few years ago, having spent three holidays in Plakias and a year looking for the right piece of land. A stream runs down the mountainside on his property so we crossed a little bridge to reach the house. We are staying in a caravan parked amongst olive trees beside the sheep and pig field, close to the gushing water.

Johannes used the stream for washing in and for washing his clothes when he lived in the caravan while his house was being built. The nearest neighbour is some distance away; an elderly professor who said that he had had so much to do with people in his profession that now he wants isolation and peace. Despite this, he knows and is neighbourly with Johannes and sometimes leaves a message on his gate if he wants help with anything.

After being shown around, we walked down to Plakias and bought supplies for cooking, since the caravan has a gas stove top. It felt like we were playing in a cubby house and it was so peaceful and comfortable that we went to bed early for once.