29 Monday Jul 2013
We don’t have a car here on Crete. We could rent one (or rent a motorcycle, which was our original plan), but after ten minutes of watching Cretan drivers, no one in his right mind would choose to drive himself, especially on a moto. It’s best to take the bus, and there are lots of buses.
28 Sunday Jul 2013
This is post #100 on the Expat Almanac. It’s a milestone, of course, but one without any real significance. It does serve, however, our psychological needs. Why do we post? For the same two reasons, I suppose, that people post on Facebook or tweet on Twitter: the need to belong and the need for self-presentation. (The link points to a Boston University study that found those two primary reasons for participation in social media.)
25 Thursday Jul 2013
22 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Travel
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Two weeks. That’s how long we’ve been in Chania. We’ve pretty well scoured the city (it’s small: population ~55,000) and are now taking an inventory of all the beaches within a day’s outing. Louise is learning the language (note the absence of the plural “we”), and we’re becoming gourmands, having now visited – oh, I dunno – maybe 500 local restaurants. (Lord, thank you for the food on this island.)
But now, some of the things we’ve learned (and that you won’t read in the guidebooks) about the local culture:
19 Friday Jul 2013
Treasure Island (Elafonissi) was once used by pirates, but the pirates have all moved to Somalia, and Elafonisi (modern spelling) really isn’t an island any more – it’s an outcropping of the mainland connected by a strip of sand that occasionally submerges. That sand, however, is stunning.
15 Monday Jul 2013
Above, old Chania (HAN-ya) harbor. (Click to enlarge.) Below, a gallery of photos from around town, taken during our first three days here. (Requires Java; mouse over for controls.)
11 Thursday Jul 2013
Posted in Travel
(NOTE: We traveled all night Sunday, slept all day Monday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday wandering around in awe of Chania, and only now has life become quiet enough to allow for a blog entry.)
The residents of Crete are Cretans. Their art is Cretan. They speak a dialect of Greek called Cretan. Cretans are proud of their home and their culture, and even though most of them speak fluent English, few are aware of the word “cretin” (note the difference in spelling) and what it implies in the American vernacular.
05 Friday Jul 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I’d like to do,
Is to save every day,
Till Eternity passes away,
Just to spend them with you.
01 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
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27 Thursday Jun 2013
Posted in Sentiments, Travel
Tags
“Meet us under the big clock at the railroad station.”
When our friend Simone suggested that meeting place, we knew exactly where that clock was. We knew how long it would take to walk there. We even knew that at that time of day, the clock would be in the shade. We have lived here three months, and three months is long enough to know things like this.
And now we’re about to leave.
The Expat Almanac 