mysterious Milli and a breezethrough of Crete

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After a somewhat fitful sleep on the collapsable shipseats on the fery from Milos, i was happy when we docked at 9 in the morning in Crete. The sun shone and Agios Nicholaos spread out (and up!) before me. I walked around the harbour and over a small pedestrian bridge to where the town began. Without a definate schedule yet i thought i would just get a feel for Agios Nicholaos and decide if i wanted to stay or move on. As I stood on a corner looking around I overheard a woman giving directions very loudly. I looked across the street to see a young asian girl trying desperatly to repeat the directions and hand gestures that the woman was quickly giving her... (in greek). I walked across the street to help her out. She was looking for the bus station to take her to Iraklion. I decided to accompany her and learn the schedules. As we climbed the steep hill that was supposedly to lead us past the hospital and left to the bus station, i realized just how little english she knew.... and for that matter absolutley no greek! I am still astounded how she was traveling. I dont know that i would be daring enough to travel around a country whose language i couldnt even remotely understand, without a map, and without being able to speak a fair amount of a commen language.... but i suppose people do it all the time, perhaps i'm just more cautious than most..... Anyway, the most i was able to get from her was that she had been to Santorini before Crete, she was going to Iraklion, and that she liked greece because of the old history.... or as she put it "old..... Poseidon...." She was very sweet and when before she parted her bus to Iralkion she gave me a tiny little yellow stuffed trinket for, i assume, just such occasions where someone helps her out. At first she had pulled out a blue one but then shook her head and reached back in to get the yellow. At that point i got a cofee and a tiropita (cheesepie) and sat down to figure out what to do. Realizing that i didnt have many days before heading back to athens to spend time with my family (i had not yet extended my trip) I decided to push on to Iraklion myself and then to Rethymno & Hania, unfortunately leaving behind the eastern coast i really wanted to explore.......

By the time i arrived in Iralklion he weather had taken a definate turn for the worse....looking back, i wish i had taken it as an omen and just pushed on through to Rethymnon. the clouds poured in and a cold wind started which i had to brace myself against. the City center is walled, one of the only signs of its historic past, and not knowing that the stairs to my left would have led exactly where i needed to go, i walked down to the bay (where the wind inevitably worsened) and back up a street to the hostel i planned to stay at. the sign at the desk said "be back at 5:30" so i sat on the cold marble stairs for an hour reading my guidebook to decide where to go next. Well after 5:30 i got a bit peeved and called the number for the hostel, the phone in the booth rang and soon a girl came out to answer it. she was not exactly welcoming. I walked up to the second floor where i was to sleep, and opened the door to a girl in side sitting on one ofthe beds. I smiled and said hello. she returned me not even a nod. 'boy, people aroud here sure are friendly' i thought to myself. the wind whistled outside and banged against a door somwhere in the hostel. Rather than spend the next paragraph describing why i decided not to shower here and to return as late as i could from dinner and leave as early as possible I will move on...... After walking awhile up and down the city streets window shopping and peoplewatching, Derek called me and i was very glad for the brief company and diversion.... If you've been to Athens and hated it, never ever come to Iraklion. though it is smaller it somehow seems dirtier, noisier and colder. Construction seems to be taking place somewhere on everyroad. Maybe it was all the circumstances piling up but i was not impressed. So i searched for a place to eat and after awhile happened upon the perfect place. A little taverna called "Siga-Siga" (translates roughly to "easy does it") was sandwiched between giant cinderblock buildings behind a row of cars. Inside were youngish, arty looking greeks. The welcoming decor (woodwork, red walls and colorful cushions) made me feel as if i was in the Dallas 'Cosmic Cafe' turned Greek. I sat down and ordered some Calamari, wine, tzaziki, and salad. So i spent a good while there writing, eating, thinking and so on til the place began to fill up at the traditional evening mealtime of 9ish. As i only had a little wine to finish i asked the waiter if he would prefer that i moved to the bar. he said "not only would i apreciate it, so would they" pointing to the group that was trying to figure out how to sit 5 at a table for 2..... so i moved to the bar where i was soon greeted by the couple sitting next to me. they offered me a toast with some raki and we chatted on and off, whereupon the waiter soon filled my wine glass again and gave me some dessert (here we begin to see the Cretan hospitality kicking in). the man next to me was Panayotis and next to him Asteria (i assume his girlfriend). Panayotis asked what it was i was writing, if i was a writer.... I replied that not in the least was I a writer, i was just journaling. He said "oh i see, so your writing what you see and so on... will you write about meeting us then?" and Asteria giggled to his right. He had begun speaking English to me when he found i was from America, Asteria also spoke in English but not as well. Panayotis is a Forensic (Path?)ologist... and Asteria is still in training and i think school for it. He has been to the US several times, Philly, Detroit, and NYC to do residencies at medical centers because as he said "alot more happens in the US that we dont see here in Crete" (hmmm.... wonder if that has anything to do with our gun laws... you think? or perhaps its just our affininty for violence) We chatted for the next few hours sharing drinks and more mezedes (food that accompanies any alcoholic drink) talking about alot of things: mostly their work and the differences between greece and america (and b/w Crete & Greece.) they were incredibly sweet and fun to watch as Asteria would often throw her arms around Panayotis and giggle when saying something about their work or alternately roll her eyes and waive her hand about. Or she would, as all good greek women do, try to feed him whereupon he would make a face and say he wasnt hungry and push it away. occasionally she won him over though and he would eat the bit of Saganaki or Tomato salad she held on the fork. When we started talking about me and my interests, Panayoti asked what i liked to photograph the most, i told him about my interest in things going to ruin, not just ancient but even more recent, abandoned places and so on. He immediately turned to Asteria and said "Dont you think she should go to Milli?" Milli, he told me, was a small older settlement that has since been abandoned 20 minutes outside of Rethymno where the weeds have grown up into the houses and roofs fallen in. "Be careful of the wooden floors though as they are rotting in the centers" he said. I promised him i would only step on stone and earth. he told me how to get there on the terrible little map that i had with me, and said i would likely run into people there. this puzzled me (who besides crazy me likes houses in decay?) and i asked who, "oh, i dont know, tourists, kids, people go there and walk around." The evening was still young by Cretan standards but i said that i must get back to the hostel i was stayig before they shut me out at 12, and i had to still find my way back...... well it turns out that Asteria lives just next to the youth hostel and said it is 2 minutes away. We spent the last 30 or so minutes fighting over my bill, and my tip. Greeks love to pay for you. if you are a visitor and they have a liking for you most will insist on paying. As i had already had many people treat me i was particularily stuborn this evening..... So after the pushing back and forth of money, i forced upon the waiter a hefty tip and scooted to the door at 2 minutes to 12, where Asteria put her arm around me and said, "dont worry we will get you there on time." Sure enough the hostel was only 2 minutes away and i swept in at 12:00 under the gaze of the grumpy man behind the booth. The next morning, with an inevitable bit of a headache, i awoke early as i had planned and headed off to the archeological museum..... which was closed for repairs. one of the 2 reasons i had to be in Iraklion. So after i wandered around to find an umbrella (the sky and the hostel owner had threatened rain) I pushed off to the Palace of Knossos, probably the most famous site in Crete. Which was, well, fine i guess. Perhaps it was the slight hangover, but i was only mildly interested in Knossos. It has a bit of controversy attatched to it because the archeologist who invested in its unearthing has done a fair amount of "reconstruction" a lot of which is highly pressumtive. So there are painted walls here and there, reconstructed columns (again presumtive), and new looking steps and platforms throughout as well as the guided woodwalkways complete with ropes. As mentioned above, i like old things, places that have been abandoned, let be...... and while archeologists must unearth, i like to see the place as it is naturally unearthed, broken as it may be. So yeah, as you can see i took not one photo at Knossos. It was informative though, and not a waste by any means (the Mosaics are fantastic) but it just lacked........ mystery...
Milli, on the otherhand had loads of mystery. After Knossos I had left Iraklion as soon as i could for Rethymno. Which was a world of a difference. the old town near the beach guarded by one huge fortress was an absolute delight. And i found the best little pension to stay at. Called "Olga's Pension" and home for many students studying at the University nearby, it is a quirky, homey, welcoming and fabulous place. The owner George is a sweet dear older man who is very chatty (but not overwhelmingly so) and very happy to see the same people returning to stay at Olga's year after year. You can see how much I loved the place by all the pictures i took. When i return to Crete, it will definately be to Olga's in Rethymno. Anyway, so the next day i explored the fortress (see photos) and the old town and learned the bus schedules for my next day's trip to....... Milli.....
Milli-full-of-Mystery...... Milli lies 2 km north of Chromonastiri which is where the bus dropped me off at 7:50 in the morning. (it goes out to Chromonastiri only to pick up kids for school). So I explored Chromonastiri for a little and took a few photos but soon walked back towards Milli. The modern town called something like Millos is on a hill above the road, but the old town lies in the middle of the gorge below. A short walk down a rocky path leads to a small concrete pedestrain bridge over a small stream and up to the other bank where the first building to greet you has a tile roof that has caved in on itself.... Here i am in heaven i thought..... and began exploring. I dont actually have many shots to share of MIlli as I took all RAW, so you will have to wait. But to tell you a little of the set up, some houses are built into the cliffwall but most are piled against oneanother near the stream which runs clear cold water. there is one house that is in good shape and looks to be still inhabited (infact i think i heard a TV inside) and a taverna for which there is a painted wood sign up on the road reading "Gorge Taverna." But the Taverna was certainly not running in March and likely had not since at least last August. The path along the cliff wall leads past the house settlement and eventually to a little church which is still kept up. the yard is filled with lemon trees and above is a little cemetary. the path leads further down the gorge but I didnt follow it as there was water from a hose running down it and te last thing i wanted was to slip and fall in the middle of a gorge, where someone might not pass by for days...... So i turned around and headed for the houses. They all are made of stone walls, with dirt floors or wooden floors where there are stories, and either stone or thatched roofs. Lots of the doorways are arched and each house contains a fireplace and at least a few shoes lie around. (why is it that the thing most left behind is shoes?)Something wonderful i discovered in a few of the houses were large ceramic pots. Large ceramic pots abound in Greece, the tradition going back quite a long time. they are mostly used to store huge quantities of things such as oil. my great-grandmother had a few that she buried in her yard during WWII, when the Germans came through. Most of the pots were broken halfway, but i did find one in a corner perfectly preserved, and another below open sky which had gathered water. Some of the buildings where the roof has fallen in, grass grows on the floor and in some cases, trees too. I found one room which was an old machinery room and perhaps also the stable. There was a strange machine with large gears on a circular stone platform, and another machine attatched to the wall above the doorway which also had large gears. Walking around here, hearing only the sounds of birds chirping and the stream running, i felt i had stumbled into a magical secret place, and that i was the first to discover it. Of course i was not, and after a few hours i heard some loud talking aways off and it slowly drew nearer. It sounded like teenage kids yelling to eachother and climbing around. Sure enough it was. I ran into them near where a building and the stream come close. There were 3 boys and a girl. One of the boys carried a sort of sickle and chopped at the vines and weeds by the stream. I believe they also were pretending to have discovered it themselves as they were surprised to see me. by 2 pm i started to head back up to catch the bus back when i ran into 2 German women. we chatted for a little while. They were very nice and i ended up catching a ride back with them later so that icould stay a litle longer... if i could have i would have popped a tent in Milli and stayed for weeks..... but my days were running out and i still had to make it to Hania to catch a flight back to athens..... I have a coffee with the 2 German women in Rethymno where they told me about other beautiful gorges in Crete. One is a potter and the other ("I used to be a tradtional German farmwife" she said) trains horses and greek riders. The horses she says are a special once endangered breed of Cretan horses. they are more wild by nature and actually on the small side. They gave me their phone numbers for my next visit to Crete and we said goodbye.

That evening i made my way to Hania where i spent a day. I dont really have anything interesting to report from there. Theres really not much to see besides the archaological museum and very nice naval museum. It seems the more Stylish place to visit, with loads of shops and also tourists. I saw and heard more Americans there than anywhere in greece so far.......

So that about sums up my whirlwind 4 days in Crete..... I look forward to processing those photos from Milli and look forward to returning one day to share it with someoneelse...... if you are interested in seeingthe photos, keep an eye on my MNartists page, in the next few months they should begin to show up there....
love to all,
avye

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Photos

buildings on the Fort at Rethymnon.. which are still in use...
for what use, i'm afraid i dont remember

old builidngs in the fort
which i unfortunately never made it back to to photograph....

the steep stairs down to the little church in the gorge
this is a little detour i took between Chromonastiri and Milli......

water routed out the rocks
just to the right of the church, this hose stuck out of the rocks, i'm not exactly sure why though....