This post is also available in:
If you celebrate your Mid-August on the island
And you want to “live something typical” or rather live like the inhabitants of the places you visit (as we do), you absolutely cannot miss the party in Damasta, Iasmasta a small village perched on a mountain, in whose square of the church many tables are set up, there is a set menu and for a few euros you will eat grilled meat and good wine.
The party in Damasta, is a leap in traditions; abandon your smartphone and camera and enjoy the moment. Listen to the Greek language, inebriate yourself with the scent of good Cretan wine and if you want to dance to the rhythm of the typical music but if you can’t dance then get up and watch how boys, girls, men and women dance in a circle a Cretan dance and then.. wait for the fires.
Being in Crete
and to live it as we chose to live it, it also means discovering and loving its deepest roots and those of Crete are quite well known. Always, in the history books, there is a chapter dedicated only to the Cretan people, a people of navigators and traders, known for the refinement and elegance that manifested itself above all in art. A symbol of Cretan power and pageantry was the Palace of Cnossos, also and above all known for the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Even today, the Palace of Cnossos,the residence of one of the greatest kings in history, Minos, shows the splendor that not even time and natural disasters could affect.
The most complicated part of a journey is always the return to “reality”
but there is a way to lighten everything and that is to bring with it something that strongly remembers that place, whether it is a smell, a taste or a color that has accompanied us most on this journey. Walking through the streets of Retimo,crowded and colorful helped us a lot. there we also chose something significant that embodied the essence of this journey, even for the people dearest to us, so that they could “know” this island too and despite having never seen it, to keep a piece of it in their homes.
Retimo has a charm that does not know the temporal conventions, beautiful both day and night, preserves in itself the history of peoples who have succeeded each other over time and have left their mark: from the Venzian loggia to the Raimondi fountain.
As usual, the journey teaches me something and this time I had a great lesson that I will always have to keep in mind: never let yourself be conditioned by unfounded prejudices; If a place is not defined as “trendy”, if it is not in the most popular Instagram, if it is not at the top of the wishlist of the holidays of the most, this does not mean that it does not have something to give you. Crete gave me a wonderful color palette, a bouquet of scents, the flavor of spices and yogurt, hot rocks, deep sea and fresh wind and … you leave with that veil of melancholy that only a great journey leaves you inside. Crete gave me unforgettable days, gave me music, dancing, rakì, white sand and red sunsets on the sea and in the mountains. Crete will always give something, because Crete is so… Rich.
Leave a Reply