Apparently this affinity for Crete extends to touring German rock groups. Yes, indeed, I am referring to none other than the 1980s music legends, The Scorpions, who descended upon Chania this evening to deliver a heavy dose of nostalgic hard rock!

I could hear them from the rooftop of my flat in Splantzia. They totally RAWK!

Making this even awesomer (is it possible? I mean – THE Scorpions!) were the opening acts: DOKKEN and Greek ‘melodic metallers’ Firewind. ROCK! Fully Awesome!!!

OK, so maybe I’m being a wee bit sarcastic. I’m not a huge Scorpions fan, at all really. Recognizing a few of their more famous tunes from my roof was cool, though, I’ll admit, as I definitely remember being rocked like a hurricane as a kid. They’ve really got the anthem rock thing down, and they sounded pretty good for retirees.

A few people asked why I didn’t go to the concert, particularly since the Scorpions probably are the biggest music act coming to the island this summer. I certainly noticed when the posters for the concert went up around town a few weeks ago, but I just never looked into getting tickets. I suppose in part it is b/c I had nobody to go with (Kristy is not a fan).

What’s really funny is that they played, at the end of their last set, in order: “Wind of Change”, “Rock You Like a Hurricane”, and “No One Like You”. Guess that’s what the paying crowd was waiting for…

I got my money’s worth from my private rooftop seating, thank you very much

Some pics and video here:
Living In Crete blog’s “Scorpions Rock Chania”

So here goes, a more personal recollection and post-chaos update, with apologies to the folks who already got a variation on this via email replies – but hey, think of it as you having got the exclusive story first! (there’s the old newsman in me again…)

Chania wasn’t as deep in it as Athens or Thessaloniki (1st and 2nd biggest Greek cities respectively). There were street protests in and around the city center, but nothing really violent.

To my knowledge, the worst that happened here were some smashed bank windows, slogans against the police and government graffitied on buildings (nothing new there, actually), some garbage was lit on fire, and a bunch of up-to-no-good punks looted the local OTE phone office.

All this happened relatively close to where we live – it’s a small city. But from our vantage point, we just heard a chanting crowd and police sirens.

“The villagers are getting restless” kind of went through my head and during the height of it all, maybe I opted to not venture too far out of our neighborhood at night when taking the dog for a walk. There was definitely electricity in the air – the waxing-to-full moon lent some appropriate “craziness” to the ambiance – but there was no real sense of danger.

I hear reports that Athens and Thessaloniki continue to have sporadic rioting and protests, but things have calmed down here in Chania over the last 48 hours — at least it seems that way. Earlier this evening there was a relatively normal event of some sort with music and people cheering in one of the big local squares, where protests were held just days earlier.

Certainly the underlying socioeconomic issues are still very much in need of attention. But regarding the recent civil unrest, at least here in Chania, ola kala. Everything is OK. I guess. For now… we’ll see.

We certainly manage to keep ourselves busy in the more traditional sense: Kristy is (still!) working on her thesis, and I’ve got chunks of client web design work coming in plus some ongoing personal projects. So we’ve got enough work to, well, keep us busy.

But as they say out here, you work to live – as opposed to the “live to work” attitude that seems prevalent elsewhere. More simply, all work and no play makes TKD a boring pair – so here’s a quick update on some of our more recent avocational activities.

Kedrodasos

Kendrodasos, beach camping

Kedrodasos (literally “Cedar Forest” in English) is near Elafonissi in southwestern Crete. This was the perfect way to say goodbye to our good friend Stephane, who left Crete soon afterwards. Ata and our dear koumbaros Yiorgos joined us for the camping trip. Really, this deserves more than my words can convey – some photos and a video will have to do.

The Spice of Life

Friends are the spice of life, and summer nights should always be generously seasoned with plenty of quality time with good friends. We’ve hosted several parties at our flat in Chania with many of the usual suspects, as well as enjoying the occasional night out wandering the harbor and local tavernas.

There have of course been numerous trips to the beaches in and around Chania, but time is just as well spent meandering through the empty, quiet streets of the old town while the rest of the populace is taking their mid-day nap.

One Year Anniversary

One Year Anniversary BBQ

August has been trucking along. We took an incredible camping trip to Balos beach on Gramvousa peninsula, celebrated Kristy’s birthday, and had an always wonderful visit by our dear Koumbaros Christos… but I believe these more recent events can be given greater attention in future posts.

Suffice it to say, summer in Crete has been another season in paradise and we don’t want it to end any time soon.

• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 3-4 tsp water
• 4 ice cubes
• Enough water to fill the glass (a normal 9 oz. glass)
• Sugar and milk to taste

Put coffee and 3-4 tsp of water and sugar as desired into a jar with a water-tight lid. If you have a milkshake machine or a hand blender, you can do this right in the glass you want to drink from. If using a jar, tightly close the lid and shake until you can’t shake no more. If you are using a hand blender, blend until the mixture turns into pale frothy coffeeness. Pour from the jar into a glass; add ice cubes and enough water to fill the glass. If you want, add milk. Place straw in glass and drink.

Some notes about Frappe…

The coffee: Nescafe is ubiquitous. In fact, I can’t remember seeing ANY other brand of instant coffee. For a proper Frappe, I suppose it must be Nescafe. However, I have heard rumors that outside of Greece, the formula is different. Try it out and let me know.

The water: In Crete, in the summer, there is no cold water. It comes out of the tap warm, no matter how long it runs. The bottled water never sits in coolers long enough to get cold. It’s hot and dry here and so you drink warm water. And you use warm water to make Frappe.

The drinking process: To feel the true Frappe experience, sit outside house/on roof/at cafe and nurse coffee for 2-4 hours. Talk about everything you can think of.

UPDATE: In case you were wondering about the authenticity of my story, there is a whole book about the history and use of Frappe.

We have been blissfully absent of any major American brands (save Coca-Cola, of course) since we arrived here. I have heard there is a McDonald’s on the island, but it is only open for the tourist season and it is in the next town over. Our more “intellectual” city has shunned the presence of such American trash, until the American trash got a new more intellectual appearance.

I have been keeping an eye on the place, and it never seems as full as some of the other coffee shops in the harbor, so I am hopeful that the American invasion will fail. We, in distinct protest of the presence of this place, will continue with our happy adoption of the true Greek coffee: the Frappe.

The camera follows the story’s protagonist, a little Greek boy riding all over town on a stolen bicycle (actually, he just borrowed it… it’s a sub-plot). As the boy takes his journey, the narrator describes the neighborhoods and important sites from the old town and harbor through to the newer city and surrounding areas.

Nearly ALL of the locations shown in the video are very familiar to us (it’s a small town). Hopefully it will give you a good feel for this incredible place we call home.

In fact, if you watch carefully, you can even see *exactly* where we live! At 6 minutes and 45 seconds into the video (nearly the end), the boy rides down an alley way (passing another bicycle parked against the wall) — that’s our street, and the house seen at the end on the left with the second-story balcony is directly across from our house (hidden behind some bushes). How’s that for a tour!

Dinner was a success, despite on-and-off rain all day that nearly put the kibosh on our barbecue plans. We finally caught a break by mid-afternoon, as the rain stopped long enough to allow for a fire to be lit. From there, the triumvirate of BBQ masters (Ata, Stephane, and myself) went to work, while Kristy wrapped up her cooking in the kitchen (which had started hours earlier in the morning).

On the menu this evening:

• Something like ratatouille (but not exactly) consisting of fava beans, eggplant, tomatoes, onions and misc. spices
• Barbecued chicken, marinated in red wine, lemon juice, oregano, and salt
• Barbecued lamb/pork or maybe it was pork/lamb… we actually asked the local butcher for lamb (“αρνί” στα ελληνικά) but upon inspection it may have been pork. We settled on pamb… or lork.
• Homemade bread (Kristy’s been baking A LOT)
• τυρόπιτα – “tyropita” or little cheese pies… yummy
• Dakos – dry bread husks, topped with lots of olive oil, tomatoes, and feta cheese
• Eggplant wrapped around graviera cheese
• and of course… plenty of wine and beer!

For dessert, we had coffee and fattened up on a box of sweets that Stephane and Ata brought – “super sweets” is more appropriate, I think; only the Greeks would take baklava (a pastry made with chopped walnuts and almonds, cinnamon, cloves, and phyllo dough, drenched in light syrup and/or honey) and cover that in chocolate!!!

A (surrogate) Family Tradition

As I’ve said many times, the best part about living out here is the quality hang-time (usually spent drinking and BS’ing – “boro boro” as the Greeks say) with friends who literally come from all over the world.

Tonight, we had some fun discussing language and cultural idioms, and Ata taught us the Arabic names for several common vegetables (there will be an exam later).

And we explored weighty linguistic questions such as idiosyncrasies in how different languages represent the sounds animals make — just what noise does a cow make in French? In Arabic? Not “moo,” as it seems there is no international standard for “Old McDonald Had a Farm” – a topic that most certainly needs to be explored further.

We ended the night with a tradition we will try to repeat many times over our remaining time here in Crete – an official “family portrait.” Goofy exaggerated smiles (Stephane!), ugly sweaters, and embarrassing holiday hats are optional.

The official start of Easter was at 12 midnight, marked by an ornate mass at the local churches. The ceremony is capped off and highlighted by a candle-lighting ceremony, complete with fireworks and gunshots vying for your attention during the “pappas” (priest’s) singing sermon.

We took some video (click the video to watch a bigger version on youtube…), though I was trying to be discreet so angles are a bit bad. It’s more about the audio – listen for the “pop pop pop pop” of gunfire and small cherry bombs exploding all around us!

Through all commotion, the pappas kept singing, as did the nice little old lady (surely, somebody’s yaya) who kindly shared her candle’s flame with Kristy and I.

It looks looks like I get popped at the end of the video, but I was just klutzy and dropped the camera – nobody was harmed (that I know of!).

Time to EAT!

After last night’s noisy kickoff, the party continues for the rest of today: a big, fat, Greek day of eating, drinking, eating, eating, and more eating.

We’ll be barbecuing lamb, chicken, eggplant, and other veggies, and enjoying the company of Stephane and Ata, two of our fellow “out-of-towners” coming over for dinner. I’m sure we’ll have some photos to post later… maybe we’ll even do a “family portrait” – they had also joined us for Christmas dinner, so it’s becoming our own little tradition.

καλο πασχα! “Kalo Paska” = Happy Easter, from Chania, Crete!

OK – enough with the history lesson. The church also has a clock tower, complete with a carillon featuring large bells that are audible for quite a distance and most definitely heard quite clearly from our home.

The bells serve as our neighborhood’s timekeepers, ringing to signify the time. They ring every hour, on the hour, every day. At ten o’clock (morning or night), the bells are rung TEN times; at five o’clock (afternoon or early morning), the bells are rung FIVE times. You get used to it…

The bells are also rung for special events. Today is Good Friday, and the monks served up a special holiday rendition of the ringing bells this morning starting at 7:45am and lasting for 15 minutes.

So here now, for your enjoyment, is a short video shot this morning from our rooftop, featuring a sweeping 360-degree view of our local domain here in Chania, Crete, accompanied by those (frequently) ringing bells.

Video Link: watch on my Picasa page for now. We are uploading a copy to youtube which will show above shortly (and will thereafter remove the Picasa video).

Update: The auditory experience has been repeated two more times since this morning, at 10:45am and again at 12:45pm. Lots of church faithful going to mass today!