Going through all of my photos and I still can’t believe how beautiful Crete was/is. I was wishing I could be back there. We did one main thing each day and had plenty of time for relaxing and reading.
On our drive home from the botanical gardens. People actually live in these towns. Real life.
I can’t imagine living in this kind of adult Disneyland.
The village church — I have no words to describe how cute this is.
Once we got home from our garden exploration and gourmet lunch we walked down to our local beach. This was the first time (of many) that we saw nude sunbathing. The amount of nudity here is shocking coming from a place where some women won’t even show their elbows (or faces!). Kids are completely naked at the beach up til around the age of 7, women go between tops on and topless without a second thought, and men switch their swim trunks for underwear and shorts without retreating to a bathroom for shelter (generally with a towel in their laps for a bit of modesty).
When I say topless, I don’t mean the American version of topless: lie face down on a beach towel, untie bikini ties and then carefully adjust if needed. The Cretan version: grandma lies back on a beach chair face up, arms crossed behind her head. She sits up and pulls a triangle top out of her bag and puts it on before she strolls across the beach to buy a drink the way we would put on a pair of socks — 1/2 on 1/2 off, mid conversation, tuck in the boob, and off you go. I rather like it. Not because it’s attractive, cause it’s usually not, but because it’s so relaxed. Cellulite hanging out and wrinkled belles are no big deal.
No one stares here, unlike where we’re from, where everyone stares at everything. I’ve gotten used to that, but it’s nice to feel invisible for a change. I felt a bit like a woman in an abaya on the beach — fully covered in my long pants and sweatshirt while the people behind me were sunning sans clothes (not in this photo, don’t bother zooming in), except it was nice to know that no one cared what anyone was wearing, fully clothed or not.
It was warmer today than the day before (but still not warm enough for me to swim).
The boys and Josh went for a swim out and across our cove. I’m thankful that they are all strong swimmers and can enjoy the beach without having to worry about them.
We stayed until sunset and then headed back to our villa where Josh made a dinner of fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, greek yogurt and feta, grapes, and wine. The kids ate dinner inside and Josh and I shared a dinner for two (with a few cats for company) outside on our patio under the olive trees. Paradise.
