Walk around Crete in 50 days - Day 45 from Perama to
Anogia
Number of steps 43314
Burned calories 1636
Distance 33 km
Walking time 06h 05'
Pulse at arrival 85
Weather: Sunny, strong wind, average 22C
Woke up at 07.00. Breakfast (coffee, paximadi, sweets
and cheese). Anna, (the friend of Yannis and Maria from the cafenion
yesterday) the "lady of the house", where I spent the night,
said the weather would be good today.. She was already working on a nice
tablecloth and listening to real Cretan music. She was the only one in
the village with rent rooms, she told me. But when her husband died,
her children would not continue and she stopped the business. Thanks
to Maria, I found her.
After she gave me some "koulouri" and
oranges, I left this helpful woman and started my walk to Houmeri at
08.00. At the junction to Houmeri, I find the house of STAVROS KALLERGIS
(1865 - 1926). He was the pioneer and leader of the Greek socialism
and organized the first Labor Day in Greece on May 1, 1893.
The hous is nicely renovated but closed. It is 08.45, 20C and
windy..
09.25 I am in Houmeri, farming village where everybody
looks suspiciously at me. Especially when I take some pictures of old
doors !!
09.40 Another, small farming place, called Krasounas.
A pick-up is passing. The driver sells all kinds of household and calls
the locals via a speaker on his car, to have a look at his goods. He
goes from village to village..
10.00 I meet Stavros, a shepherd from Keramota
and watching his small (20 sheep) herd. Yesterday, he said, I had
too much raki (can still see it)..! He asks for a cigarette.. Signomi,
Stavro mou, den kapnizo ! Sto kalo ! All the best with your walk,
he says, when I walk on to his village Keramota, arriving there
at 10.15. I pass on the lower part, on the old asphalt road. Almost
nobody to see..
10.45 Avdelas village, leaving a climbing, winding
and boring road behind me. Everywhere the keys are at the doors
and I smell goats and sheep. Many people make their own cheese, to sell
or to consume themselves.
11.00 Entering Agios MAMAS (Hi Mamas, thanks
for burning your candle everyday, for my safety!) I take a small break
and continue at 11.20.
I arrive at Agios Ionannis at
11.45 and meet Nikos, a strange local... He shows me an old Turkish
villa (huge one !), currently being renovated to be used as
guest rooms... Will be back here in a couple of years... All the
original stones (pieces of
art) are kept intact... What a beautiful place... Curious to
see when it is finished.
12.50 Arrival at Kalivos and stopped
by a woman from a cafenion.
She asks me if I speak and understand German... Yes, I do. "Well,
can you translate a letter for me, very important with information
about my pension?".
Of course.. I explain to her that it is better to see the insurrance
office in Heraklion. She is waiting for 6 years now to get a
pension from her late husband who worked many years in Germany.
All papers in Germany are ok, but the ones from Greece are since
4 years on their way... For "my
work" I get a raki and an "elleniko sketto"..
Very friendly woman, Efthimia, running the cafenion on her
own. Dimitris, a blind man, wishes me good luck for the walk,
when I leave them at 13.30...Lovely people..
As I continue towards Livadia, I gave the road a new
name : Skoupidia-dromo (the rubbish road).. My God, from Agios Ioannis
until now, nothing else than rubbish....everywhere down the
hillside and in the slopes and gorges.. A real pitty..
14.15
I am in Livadia, a big moutain village with a few hundred families
living here. Many "cheese making" machines and a lot
of unfinished houses. From a big "tirokomeio" (cheese
making factory) I have a fantastic view on the valley and
the Ida mountains (Psiloritis), still covered with a lot
of snow..
14.30 I am in Krana, where, I guess, everybody
makes his own cheese. No wind here and 23C. Steal blue
sky...
14.50 Arrival at Zoniana, laying in a fertile and
green valley. One can
compare this village with Livadia.
15.45 Passing the monument
of Stavros Niotis, a hero, from Anogia, in the war against
the Turks, in the 19th century (1866). A German couple is taking
a sunbath, next to their camper, but sleeping. Stavros does
not mind, neither do I...
16.15 Arrival at the backyard of Anogia
and looking for a room.. I stay at "Crete" rent
rooms.. 30 Euro for one night, hot water and breakfast
included. Although I am not very satisfied, (dirty, general
bathroom) this will do for today's overnight. Since I decided
to change my program a bit (today I could not stay at Zoniana
- no rooms), I will walk towards Arolithos tomorrow and sleep
there. The next day I'll go to Heraklion and stay there for
two days.. It will be possible to visit the mother of
my partner Christina, who is in the hospital, after a bad stroke,
since she visited me in Spili.. She will probably be repatriated
to Belgium in the weekend.. So. Saturday and Sunday I will
overnight at Verena Well's place (Animal Welfare Heraklion).
It is 18.45 and I am in Kato Anogia at Michalis' cafenion "I
Plateia tou Syntagnatos" and drinking a "Mythos", surrounded
by only men, dressed in black and discussing, even without drinking something.
Michalis, in his traditional Cretan costume (vraka
and boots) smiles.. He recognizes me from my passage, in the winter..
And he knows I am walking around Crete ! Ela, na piume raki, yamas !
Behind the cafenion, women are selling all kind of carpets,
tablecloths etc.. All hand made.... In front of the cafenion, the house
of Nikos Xylouris, the famous born in Anogia lyra player and
singer (I like his songs !). He left this world too early, many years
ago ! The "black
men" are
leaving and I stay alone with an older one, wearing a traditionnal
black scarf.
It is getting cold (Anogia is a real mountain village
at more than 600 m above sea level) and Michalis burns some wood
in his stove.. I am going to look for a meal.. It will be a cold night,
here in Anogia...
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