Deep in the heart of Crete, in the forever wonderful Amari Valley high in the hills south of Rethymno there are five or six villages on the western side of the valley on the slopes of the Kedros mountains. These villages, in 1944, were attacked by the occupying Germans and each one was razed to…
Nikos Kazantzakis was probably the greatest author to be born on the island of Crete. His books included Zorba the Greek to Freedom or Death. His book, The Last Temptation, was banned by the Pope and his writings in general led to his being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church. He thus could not be…
High in the mountains of Crete, there is a plateau that once, some years ago, was famous for windmills. The scene of so many fluttering windmills was a sight to see. It used to look exactly like this. Lasithi Windmills as they used to be In fact, these were not so much windmills, but windpumps….
Here in Crete, we have a relatively large collection of jalopies – most still on the road. Some of them go back forty years and consist basically of a rotovator without the blades with a seat and trailer on the back. Later they joined the front engine to the trailer and then we had, hey…
Rebetika is one of those Greek words that has no translation in English. We have referred to it as ‘Greek blues music’ except that it differs from what we call blues music in English. Today we can go into a Greek record shop and see rebetika music either in its own section or just scattered…
I was asked recently by someone to post some of my old pictures of Crete. Well, this meant digging them out if I could, and I have lost most of them over the years. Then it meant scanning them and trying to present them at their best and the truth is that there are not…
What is the Crete Messara Plain and Why is it so Special? The Messara Plain is a picturesque landscape on the Greek island of Crete. It is known for its stunning natural beauty and its unique combination of high mountains, rolling hills, and wide open plains. The area is home to a variety of wildlife,…
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the foundation of the new Greek Kingdoms, mostly in the east, the island of Crete rose in importance. Hellenistic Greece was a real bed of influence and threat as well as downright attacks on each other, kingdom versus kingdom, state against state. The island…
