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 section or scattered around as ‘laika‘ or…
Pascha or Pasxa, Greek Easter. Megali Evdomada, This week, the week before the Easter celebrations, is known in Greece as Megali Evdomada, Holy Week or Great Week. Today is Megali Pempti, Holy Thursday, the day that traditionally, the people of Greece hard boil and die their eggs the colour of the blood of Christ –…
Tomorrow is clean Monday, the first day of Lent, and the day that all Greeks go and fly a kite on the beach or a high hill. But today, today was Carnival Day. Here are some pictures of our local carnival in the town of Kalives, Hania. These are a few of the well-dressed locals…
The island of Spinalonga (actual name Kalidon) lies just off the coast of the village of Plaka, near Elounda, Agios Nicholaos, in Crete. The name Spinalonga is Venetian meaning ‘Long Thorn’. It came to note in the year 1579 when the occupying Venetians created a fortress on the island. Some years later when the Ottoman…
We decided to visit the Skinakas Observatory. Here is the blurb info: “The Skinakas Observatory is located on the peak of Skinakas at an altitude of 1750 m., a few kilometres after Anoyia and 60 km from Heraklion. The Skinakas Observatory has been built and operates as part of a scientific research collaboration between the…
Those of you who may have read my book Secret Crete, Searching for my Home, will have come across my visit to Matala in 1966. Or you may have heard the stories from the days when this tiny bay became the hippie capital of Crete. Why Matala in the sixties happened I don’t know, but…
The Labyrinth of Crete is situated around 3 km northeast of the archaeological site of Gortys in central Crete. It is an underground quarry in marly limestone, excavated probably during the Roman Period. It was first described and mapped in the 18th and 19th centuries. More detailed descriptions have been published recently. Below is the…
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,…
My wife decided, as she often does, that we should go to Preveli Bay. It has a good beach and palm trees, we had heard. I had also heard that there was a road that now went close to Preveli which started right by the taverna beside the pond and the beautiful old Venetian bridge…
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, and state against state. The…
