Traditional Village of Anogeia
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
I left my accommodation in Rethymno around 11.00am yesterday. With 3 hours to wait for my bus to Anogeia, walked to Cafe Galero next to the Rimondi fountain. A great place to pass the time people watching… enjoying a club sandwich with fries and a beer.
Approximately 2 hours for the bus trip to Anogeia, a traditional Cretan village located some 750m up on the north face of Mt Psiloritis, the highest mountain of Crete. Anogeia has two aspects… old Anogeia is the lower part, I’m staying in the upper part.
Anogeia has a history that is powerful and tragic… burned by the Turks in 1822 and again in 1867, then by the Germans in 1944 as reprisal for kidnapping German General Kreipe. The Germans also rounded up and shot all the men they could find in the village and within one kilometer.
There is everything to love about this village. The air is mountain fresh, the locals are warm and hospitable. Last evening after exploring the upper area of the village, made my way down to Perahori Square. Fans of the legendary singer and composer Nikos Xylouris (known as the Archangel of Crete) will know Anogeia is his birthplace. Sadly, Xylouris died in 1980 aged 44. His house in Perahori Square is now a small museum and open to all… I visited there yesterday and will go back again before I leave.
Also located in the Square is Cafe Michalos… my chosen venue for every time I wish to eat and/or drink during my stay in Anogeia. Sat there last night with a 1/4L of the house red wine and a plate of meze… a predominantly male domain, of course, the men mainly dressed in black, many wearing the traditional clothes. I absolutely love hearing the old dialect still spoken here… the only other sounds being the clicking of worry beads, “a viva” as the tsikoudia (raki) is about to go down and the wonderful music of Xylouris playing in the background.
On my return to upper Anogeia, met up with Aristea (Yiayia – grandmother) from my accommodation. Aristea had told me earlier in the evening that she would be going out to a celebration. There were people everywhere and a very long table laden with food. I think, but I’m not 100% sure, that it was put on by the political party Nea Democratia. Yiayia insisted that I return to my room with a plate of food.
This morning after more exploring, I returned to Cafe Michalos for my morning Greek coffee. Later a good hike up to a small church high above and overlooking the village. With my current left hand disability shall we say, I needed an able bodied person to open and close gates on the way. I approached a couple from France and we made the ascent and descent together.
For me, it was then back to Cafe Michalos for a late lunch… lovely Greek salad, potatoes cooked in the oven with lemon and oil, toasted bread and a beer.
I’m not long up from a 3 hour siesta… it is a Greek tradition. I know there is going to be something happening in the village tonight and I want to be a part of it.
