Crete - The Island

The People of Crete

"First a Cretan, then a Greek". This statement of "who I am" has been true for several generations, from simple villagers to Nikos Kazantzakis, the famous writer. The Cretan Character is formed by two important factors in their lives, the family and the land. Family, and extended family, are the foundations of Cretan society and way of life. If you ask where you can buy something, there is always a brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin who can get it, has a shop or an apartment. It is still common for many generations to live under the same roof and adult children, even if they leave to work in the tourist industry in the summer, always return to the family home for the winter. All the family help with the olive harvest, the wine making and of course, always return for a family wedding or christening. These celebrations are very large here and certainly an experience. There are photo albums of local weddings etc, take a look and see what you think! The people are very warm and generous and the fact that they have one word "Xenoi" which means "stranger" and "guest" is an indication of their nature. They will love to give you their own produce to try and are amply rewarded if you thank them and tell them it is very good, "poli kala efharisto". The people here live long and healthy lives due to the diet here, which is renowned for being the healthiest in the world. Check out my Amazon store for books on Cretan Cooking here.

The Island of Crete

The island of Crete is the largest and most southerly of all the Greek islands. It is 250 Km long, 60 Km at its' widest and 12 Km at its' narrowest. Its highest mountain is Mount Ida at 2456m. There are varieties of wild flower in the spring which are only seen here and there are also wild eagles and even rare vultures in the mountains. The climate is excellent, with hot, dry summers, warm spring and autumn and mild, but sometimes wet winters.

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Useful Links About Crete

There are many excellent sites full of fascinating information about Crete. If you want to know more take a look at some of these links:

• Explore Crete - The travel guide about real Crete
• Crete Gazette - The online English-speaking magazine for Crete
• Crete Travel - The Crete you are looking for.
• Living in Crete, useful information about life in Crete
• Travel to Crete - Guide to Crete including cretan picture e-cards.
• Ellada - Information site with museum addresses and opening time as well as travel info - beware strange sound effects though!
• Crete by Greeka - Specialist Greek island travel site.
• The Brits in Crete Forum - The expat reality of moving abroad and live on Crete. Find out from those already there. And click here for the main BritsinCrete site

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