Creeping Along the Northern Coast of Crete One More Time

I am always underestimating the distances along the Crete coast. It is much bigger than it seems. And while its history is one of domination of other countries for centuries, it still has strong Greek roots that date back literally centuries ago when the city of Athens dominated this part of the Mediterranean. The people think of themselves as Cretans first and Greeks second. While we were there, a big political rally was held in the center of the capital. It is actually the first signs of political activism I have seen since being in Greece. Everyone is yelling about the austerity program imposed by the EU. But in reality, this is a government that needs a bit of a reality check. The locals tell us there are far too many people employed by the government through political connections, but actually do very little work.

We spend the next couple of weeks retracing our steps back along the northern coast of Crete, and retracing our steps all the way back to Rhodes. We visit the friends we met on Kapathos who were delighted to see us again.