The Cretan Way of Life

Everyone told me I would LOVE everything about Greece: the food, the beaches, the history, and more importantly, the wine. In fact, most people questioned why fabulous, picturesque Greece was even on my bug-infested, rough and tumble Asian itinerary. (I can’t answer that question. Avery and Seth planned the whole thing).

I gave Greece the benefit of the doubt when Athens was a bit on the undesirable side, but I had high hopes for Crete. After all, Crete is an island--a Greek island--and therefore (in my mind) it was supposed to fit the following description: beautiful beaches, friendly fisherman, and quaint seaside villages. Maybe if I did a bit more research I would have seen that Hersonissos, our home base in Crete, was the Greek equivalent of Seaside Heights on the Jersey Shore. I’m talking boardwalk and all. The place was gross. Really gross.


This is a picture of the coastline in Hersonissos. I know that it looks all nice and pretty, but this picture is deceiving.


The boys seemed pretty happy with their routine: 11 am wake up, 4 or 5 hour hang at the beach, dinner at a local restaurant, and then the dance clubs at night. I tried to put a smile on and feign interest, but by day 3 I was ready to go. Avery was having similar thoughts, so we decided to ditch the boys for a day and explore the lesser known villages around the island. We rented a car and headed for the hills to a teeny tiny town called Anogia. (Side note: I must give Avery credit. She isn’t a big fan of driving, but since our car was a stick-shift she was forced to take the wheel. I tried to provide emotional support, but that didn’t make the 367* hairpin turns any less treacherous. Thankfully we made it unscathed.)


Here I am, in all my touristy glory, on the windy road to Anogia. It probably wasn't the safest idea to stop for a photo op on a just-barely-two-lane road, with cliffs and hairpin turns...

We picked Anogia mostly because every guide book raved about its weddings. Every weekend the town holds a wedding and all 2000 citizens attend. Tourists are invited (and encouraged) to celebrate with the town and experience Greek culture firsthand. Of course the day we get to Anogia is the only day that a wedding isn’t going on, but I digress…

Anogia has one main road and it’s lined with small cafes and tons of outdoor seating. As Avery and I strolled along looking for a coffee shop we noticed that we were the only women on the streets. The only people in all of Anogia were black tee-shirt clad men with thick moustaches. (And aside from the 12-and-under crowd, EVERY man had the moustache and the black tee.) Later in the day women emerged from their homes, but they were also clad in black from head to toe.

The town didn’t look too exciting, especially since there wasn’t a wedding, so we decided to meet some locals and learn about the town. We met the owner of a coffee shop who told us that we were the first Americans he had seen all year. Some other townspeople told us that everyone wore black because the town for unity; Anogia was burned down during the World War II and the town wears black because it's still in mourning. We even came across some football (soccer) players who told us about the towns large mob population and then treated us to dinner. By the time 10 pm came around we found ourselves drinking coffee and Raki ** and discussing Anogia’s history with the head priest/mayor of the town, affectionately known as Papa. (Apparently he saw us wandering town earlier in the day, noticed that we were outsiders, and wanted to tell us exactly why Anogia was the best city in all of Greece. It was a great town, but the best? I think that’s debatable).

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I will be more diligent about updating this blog, but up until Anogia, Greece just wasn’t that interesting. I am now in Santorini and heading to Naxos tomorrow, but will fill in the gaps when I get a chance.

-Jess


*A local in Anogia told us that there were 367 turns you have to make in order to reach the town.
**A local Cretan drink.