fishing in the desert

Xora Sfakía

Sunday 1
Nearly a fishing village - 2: food

Five tables with customers, one American pair, one trio of young urban Greeks, me, the rest locals ... Neon lighting inside, naked bulbs outside, under a reed-roof.

Delicious home-made chips, very generous three-and-a-half lamb chops made on a gas grill, and half-a-lime; but no other vegetables ... and I find 18 SKr / 2 USD for coffee after the meal rather steep ...

click for a larger view!

A friendly black Labrador decides to adopt me, competing successfully with four cats who arrange themselves in a circle around us; Labrador somewhat fickle, abandons me for the neighbouring urban Greeks who give him a bone; cats still too scared to come close enough to take the bone bits I put down for them ("when in Greece ...")

Very delightful and friendly young guy, ready to talk; born here, studied in Athens and came back, works all the time:

'If I go somewhere I have to spend money, better to stay here' ...

300 winter residents, fishermen and people who go to school in Xania; they sell what they can locally, the rest they have to drive to Xania, in the summer they might get together to use a truck, in the winter they drive their own cars - it's an hour ...

There is a local accent, different but not very different from the rest of Crete; but in Athens they don't understand very well.

Those broken parapets on the road are indeed accidents, tourists looking around, we know the road, if we come back late and have been drinking we stop ... The road used to be worse!

By 8.30 pm everything's silent, but then the Post Office opens at 7.30 am so I guess everything else starts up about then too.