Matala

I was ready to leave Gavdos when Monday arrived and it was amazing how much the seas calmed overnight. It was a smooth crossing back to the mainland of Crete and the village of Hora Sfakion. Since it was already late in the evening I wasted no time and took the first hotel I looked at. It seems like 35 to 40 euro is a standard price, at this time of year, for one person in a hotel room. If you bargain they will sometimes go down 5 euro and maybe even 10. I use to always bargain but now my attitude is if I feel like it’s a fair deal and I’m ok with it, I don’t bargain. It’s a seasonal business in this part of the world and people are not that well off so I just assume not taking advantage of the situation. I guess it’s my way of paying it forward. There’s a time to bargain and a time to be fine with the asking price. Overall, the cost of traveling Greece is very affordable, reasonable and sometimes cheap. Of course the hot trendy spots are just as expensive as any other posh destination.

From Hora Sfakion I drove a scenic route and wound up in the former hippy village turned tourist destination beach town of Matala. Hippies use to live in the sandstone caves above the beach. Before that, in ancient times, the caves were used for burial. Today the caves are a tourist attraction. Cliffs and caves to the north, appealing beach, and village dwellings stacked up around towards the south make for a pleasant setting. The tourist shops don’t detract too much.

Since I had time I took my time looking for accommodation for the night. I wound up paying a little more because the standard was high and my gut was telling me that’s were I needed to be. 50 euros with a good breakfast included.

The next morning, at breakfast, there was one other person so it was easy to strike up a conversation. Elena is from Moscow and I suspect in her 40’s. She had been traveling with relatives but was now traveling on her own. Her English, with a prominent Russian accent, was pretty good so we were able to converse ok. Since neither one of us had any plans we decided to spend the day together. First a swim in the sea, lunch, a short afternoon hike over to Red Beach for another swim then dinner. It was really nice to have company for a day.

You can only get to Redd beach by foot or boat. It’s kind of a hippy beach. There’s a makeshift business there that serves drinks and snacks. The guy running it is a nut case and claims to make the best Mojito in the world. Elena asked about the ingredients and he appeared to get angry. Something about it being a secret. I told Elena to wait and order once back in town but she decided to try one anyway.

She made it through two small sips and couldn’t stomach the rest. I suspect the rum is crap. In the meantime the owner seemed to oscillate between halfway nice and halfway angry with anyone who set foot within his domain. The one true asset he did have was shade. He yelled at some guy and told him not to come back. While sitting under the shade with Elena and the bad Mojito a guy in 60’s, toasted on alcohol and who knows what, was having episodes of some sort. A couple of people thought it was funny but it made me uncomfortable. He was off his head and in his own world. The hippy vibe was nonexistent at the Mojto stand until a bonafide hippy showed up with a makeshift guitar looking thing that had a built in speaker playing traditional Greek music. The wacky 60 something year old got up and started dancing. Elena and I left the Mojito and went for a swim.

I really didn’t need to see the backside of a naked Indian man with hair covered butt but I didn’t let if keep me from getting in a swim. Elena and I swam, in swimsuits, then left Red Beach feeling no need to return. The hike to and from wasn’t long but it was a semi rugged up and down path. The heat didn’t bother me at all but I think it was at about the limit for Elena. Moscow never gets hot. Fortunately the hike was short enough that I didn’t sense fault from her towards me for taking her on a hike in the midday summer heat of Crete.

Elena had been in Matala for a few days so she knew where to eat. After a very good dinner she wanted to go for a short evening drive to another beach for the sunset. She said she would drive which was fine by me as she had rented a very nice BMW suv. She put on her fancy designer sunglasses for the drive. I think she does ok in Moscow.

The next morning I saw Elena again, at breakfast, and told her what my plans were and she was welcome to tag along. I had planned to stay in a mountain village to do a big hike over Mt Psiloritis to the highest point in Crete. The mountains somewhat interested her so we followed each other to Anogia.

We had lunch in Anogia and spent the afternoon visiting a cave and touring the area. While doing so we happened upon a small stone chapel that caught her attention. Small chapels are all over the countryside and some can be hundreds of years old. She seemed to be drawn to it so we stopped.

The structure was quite small and built out of thick stone with a steep narrow pitch to the inside roof. The chapels tend to be in honor of certain Saints and so fort and are Orthodox Christian. Elena expressed how she got chills when she recognized that the one we entered represented a female Saint who fought off demons. She took a moment as she went through the motions of crossing herself and paying respects.

She told me that it was rare to find such a chapel but she had heard about this one in Crete. It just so happened that we stumbled across it by chance or maybe some kind of divine direction. It’s interesting how things work. Had she not followed me up to the mountains she would never have visited it.

We parted ways in the evening. She was wanting to get back to a beach before flying to Tel Aviv for something in a couple of days. I needed to get ready to the next days relatively big hike. I think we’ll keep in touch.