Fri 05.Dec.2009
Paleohora, Crete, Greece
Southward Panorama at Sunrise
Dawn broke this morning with a calm sea and mostly clear sky. I thought
that our big windy rainstorm of the last couple of days had past.
Here is big panning sequence from east to south to west.
Now, in the wee hours of the next morning, it looks like this lovely
day was just the eye of the storm. The wind is back, if less of a gale,
and the rain has poured intermittently this evening, more heavily than
before.
This waterfront was the first place I walked to when I got off the bus
here. I met a nice young tourist man sitting on one of the benches,
wondering what to do with a homeless baby puppy he had found howling in
an alley. The li'l critter was sleeping, exhausted, in his lap.
At my request, Jake - his name - suggested a place to find a
cheap room - the very place I am now ensconced in. I met him again
today, and thanked him. He still has the pup dog for now, though he'll
have to find a local person to take it before he leaves mid-December.
He is a kind person and - no big surprise - a Grateful Deadhead. We are
still everywhere.
More rising sun light on my little balcony.
Here it is reflected in my mirror
through the sliding door.
Later that Afternoon
I have decided to remian here in Paleohora for a second week. It is a
relaxed town, accomodation is cheap - I am saving ten euro per day over
(or under) staying in Hania - and packing up and moving every week is
getting old. Soon I'll call the owner in Rhodes of the cheap monthly
rooms
in a good location in the old town, and spend my last month there
before returning to California in late January. (Doctors' orders - they
want to scan me again.)
If you look real closely at the horizon
a bit left of the boat, you can just discern the outline of the island
of Gavdhos, where tourism is said to be in its infancy still. I
may
visit there next time I am in this part of Crete.
You see, I met another ex-pat here, a painter (art, not houses).
Back up. It is usual and customary in small Greek towns for people
passing each other on the street to greet each other, rather than
maintain awkward silence. The usual greeting is yassas (or yassou
if you are on
first-name terms) , the equivalent of ciao or aloha.
(Literally
"Health to you.")
So I yassas this chunky middle-aged woman in a costume that
looked kind of like
a gypsy. She replies, Wie geht's? Says I, Danke, gut. Und
Ihnen?. I
can slip into German easier than keeping up in Greek, and she did use
it on me first. Over a couple of days I met this woman again, and
learned she is Prussian by ethnicity, German by citizenship, and living
here in Crete as an artist. She is
accompanying a friend to Stuttgart now for reasons I forget. "Next time
you are here", she says, "ask for me on Gavdhos". A colorful local
character - outgoing, amiable; why not?
A rocky pool at the edge of the ocean.
A temporary pool on the edge of the
street.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf