The minoan heritage of Crete as represented in the archeological museum of Heraklion, portray however a totally different world of imagery. 

greek-ortodox icons

The greek-ortodox tradition with icons is also present in Finland, but since we have been brought up within the protestant wing of the church they felt still new and interesting to us. Here is an example from the south coast of Crete.

From Chania to Paleochora

From Chania we took the bus over the hills to Paleochora on the southcoast. The aim was to walk through the national park Samaria Gorge.
The picture is from the entrance to the Samaria National Park; a rough scetch over the west of Crete written in two kinds of letters. The greek alphabet triggered many questions about signs and sounds during the trip...

One sound we would have liked to escape though was the meaowing of the hungry skinny cats in Rethymnon. But that as well seems to be an ancient one, judging from this sculpture of a cat with an empty bowl in the Heraklion archaeological museum. The cat sculpture was even accompanied by a small clay figurine holding the hands over the ears...

Chania on the northwest coast of Crete has a venetian heritage with many narrow streets. It is also something of a cultural crossroad where east meet west and south meet north. In the synagogue of Chania we attended a meeting and contemplated the various religious traditions in modern society: How are we to be able to meet and reach an understanding with so many disparate traditions behind us? In Chania there is beside the synagogue also an old mosque, and a greek orthodox church. In the synagogue the guide told us about the fate of the jewish congregation of Chania during World War II. They were to be deported to concentration camp in Germany but were lost in a storm at sea, only one girl who had been on an errand in Chania was not present in the synagogue the day of the deportation and she escaped to tell the story of the deported congregation... 

Images from Crete, Santorini, Serifos and Athens

Now some months after the trip to Greece I am sitting here watching all the colourful photos we made at Crete, Santorini and Serifos. Here the autumn is sending its first greetings and I enjoy being inside the cottage, dreaming of a new odyssée next summer...

Chania colours