An Athenian Diary

42

On the Road with Kids, Part 5.

Krete with Denise

April 13-17, 2004

Edie's cousin Denise came to visit us in Greece for 10 days in mid-April. What to do with a first-time visitor from the US? The answer was obvious -- the day after her arrival, dump her back on an airplane and transport her to Krete! Krete is the biggest Greek island, the boundary between the Aegean and Libyan seas; nothing lies between it and Africa, a mere two hundred miles south. Krete has the mildest climate in Greece; the flowers bloom there sooner than anywhere else; and the hopes the sea will be mild enough for a dip even in April are better than anywhere else. Plus, Krete has its own traditions, its own history -- its size and diversity make it something of a country unto itself (with its own pronunciation of Greek). It's endlessly fascinating, with stunning topography (high mountains, big plains, dazzling beaches), welcoming people (big enough to absorb the invading hordes of tourists with room to spare, unlike some of the small Kykladic islands), complex and fascinating history. Edie's already written about our time in Krete from her perspective, so here is my take.

Our base in Krete was the town of Ierapetra, the only substantial town on the south coast. Ierapetra's a lively place with a nice seafront (invaded long ago I fear by the ubiquitous tourist restaurants which, however, don't completely overwhelm its character). There's a playground right by the sea that attracted the kids, and, just off the seafront, a dilapidated little house said to have hosted Napoleon for a night on his expedition to Egypt. We came back every day to its lovely environs and discovered something new and interesting every time.

Lasithi Plain. Way up high in the central mountains there's a stunningly beautiful plain, flat as a frying pan. You could walk across it in an hour or two. It looks to be surrounded completely by mountain, including the snow-capped Mt. Dikte (pictured above), on whose lower slopes is a cave reputed to have been the birthplace of Zeus. The story is that his father Kronos, having been told that one one his children would overthrow him, devoured each as Rhea, his wife, gave birth. She contrived to substitute for her youngest born a stone, and delivered the baby to nymphs who kept him in the cave. They disguised his cries by playing cymbals. (There are other versions of this myth, which, as you can easily imagine, fascinated Freud.) The cave isn't big but it's a classic limestone cave with stalactites and stalagmites and a creepy pool of water at the bottom; everything's kind of wet and gooey, like some slimy left over from the presence of the baby god.

Where we stayed

Our host in Krete was Nikos Aspradakis, owner of the Filoxenia Apartments in Koutsounari, which stands above the south coast of Krete about 7 km east of Ierapetra. Left is the sitting area in front of the reception, which Denise loved; below the view up from our balcony. You can contact Nikos by naspradakis@ier.forthnet.gr">email (naspradakis@ier.forthnet.gr) or phone him at 011-30-842-28361 (cell: 011-30-946001664).

May 000-000, 2004

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