Crete as seen through the eyes of a foreigner A brief story by Christos T. Panagopoulos* “Always salute the pedestrian while riding your horse, so that he will salute you too, when you will ride off of it” (an apothegm of Nikos Kazantzakis)
By the time that these lines are being written, there will have been remaining about ten days before touristic season in Crete officially begins. Seeing all those multinational flocks bound to visit for the first time with astonishment, yet with great respect, this Aegean Sea’s jewel, makes me think that even I, in spite of having been living here for more than a year, still, feel as if I were a pilgrim in a blessed land. Verily, one could not squeeze into a single paragraph all those marvels and beauties, which are to describe Crete. From the astounding city of Chania in the western part, to the small traditionally-made port town of Sitia in the east, the island awaits, willingly to unfold its wonders to all visitors. Once, the renowned British novelist H.H. Munro (1870-1916) wrote in one of his books: “The people of Crete unfortunately make more history than they can consume locally”. I totally resent that quote; the people of Crete are proud; there’s a unique word we use here in Greece: “λεβέντης - levéndis”, a word which engulfs bravery and pride in one single word. The citizens of Crete are hospitable. You can feel it. You can see it through their smiles, even hear it sometimes in their loud stentorian voices. One cannot walk through a Cretan village’s center and not receive even a warm “kaliméra” or even “kalóston (=welcome)”. It’s a unique feeling: you are indeed a stranger, but they definitely do not make you feel so. And yes, their history is unequaled, reflecting the splendor of a noble civilization that lived thousands of years ago in this land. You cannot come to Crete and not plan to visit the Minoan palaces of Knossos in Herakleion, Phaistos and even Zakros. You cannot miss the supremacy of the Fortezza castle in Rethimno as well as its warmly-colored alleys in the Old Town. “Healthy” entrepreneurship is also another key element of Crete. I often hear the accusation that Cretan people apply localism in every aspect of their lives. This is bias. In fact, if localism equals a positive way of thinking in order to protect your own markets from being savagely ravaged by multinational companies, then I do not see why this consists a problem. Surely, we live inside a globalized economy, but this doesn’t mean that we should abolish every form of respect and protection as what has to do with local traditional markets. I am not Cretan, I come from another Greek city, approximately 816 km. away from Chania. Still, I have been living here for a whole year and already have felt as if I were back in my homeland. Lately, a good friend of mine told me: “You cannot come to Crete once, without coming back twice”. He was right. *Journalist, editor working at Regional TV Channel “New Television of Crete”