Rethymno is the third city we visited on Crete. We’ve done it because of bus changing “in transit” – on our last day when travelling from Chania back to Heraklion to catch inbound flight. We had about 5 hours to kill there. And in my very honest opinion, that was quite enough to get an impression of this yet another historical cuty with yet another old town and another Venetian port and another fortress. It is not even that we’ve been to other places before Rethymno. But when the place stands out from the other places, it doesn’t matter in which order you saw it. Rethymno is a place that stands…back…from the three of we’ve been to, this one is an “Ugly Sister” kind of place. Not that it is not pretty enough or not enough historical…But you know how sometimes you come to the place and feel you are welcomed there, the spirit, smiles on the streets, friendly locals…and some times it feels tourists are annoying necessity to the everyday life. I guess it is clear that I didn’t like Rethymno much…However, I never cast out places just because of the people living there. We all can be different and I’m sure there are mean creatures in paradise as well. So let’s give Rethymno some credits he deserves.
What I found interesting about my travels is that in the end I get pretty good picture of the every place I’ve been. I mean – it might sound logical when you read: every country has its own character, own architectural style, own cultural heritage, own history and own ways of making the best of it. But it is so much enhanced, or should say – visualised, when you actually see it all in reality! From now whenever I hear "Crete", my mind pictures the old town’s maze of narrow passageways, Venetian port and mixture of Venetian and Turkish architecture, fortress in Ottoman style and restaurants that expand to the streets and merge seamlessly into the next one so that you walk between the tables when you walk along the street…
So...Rethymno of course has all these typical Cretan features. Its mix of architecture and history, cultural influences and styles ranging from Venetian to Ottoman empire. Though when you look at the state of the buildings and see the abuse of this historic area you may be disappointed…However, there is no shortage of places of great character to stroll, stop in cafes, eat and generally enjoy whatever it is Rethymno offers.
And it offers "the usual" - the Fortress which dominates the city it stands on the top of a mount and the views of the city from up there are fantastic! As are the views of the sea if you look in another direction. The fortress is poorly kept though – not much has been restored to the point of historical interest and at current time the Fortress is just the place on a hill with the photoshot opportunities
Pedestrian streets below, full of charming old buildings and overcrowded with toruists. Numerous shops for souvenirs, as you would expect in a tourist place and the most expensive restaurants we’ve seen on Crete. I don’t know how to explain this phenomenon, but in the place that looks “cheap” as a tourist attraction the food was overpriced. Well, not totally true, because as you walk away from the seafront’s cafes, you find the places where the balance is in the favour of locals. And there you’ll be certain to get real local food at a real local price.
Since we had our fair share of the “dining with the view”, we weren’t too fussy to try something different. And on the edge of the old town, where people you see on the streets are mainly not tourists, we found a local tavern to have our farewell Cretan meal and it was a very good choice. The owner is of course a local resident, he also happened to be a talented member of a folk group – he dances and plays lyra – a national musical instrument of Crete. His tavern was decorated with the photographs of his friends, granddad, dad, of himself from the various occasions – weddings, village celebrations, concerts, some are pretty old faded black and white photographs. So interesting – you can truly learn a lot of true history from these. On the other wall there was a painting. When we talk to the owner, he told us it was his friend who painted this wall for tavern as a gift. The picture is very professional and feels so right for this place! It had also a saying inscribed in the corner, looked like a verse to me. And since it was in Greek, of course, we asked the owner to translate it for us. Apparently, it was his favourite saying that his friend wrote in the corner of the picture. And in English translation it goes something like this:
“Life is a river – never runs backwards. You must remember this when you live your life and enjoy every moment of it as it will never be repeated”…
well, who would’ve known that in the least expected places you can get more then you bargain for – you can have a great authentic meal and a piece of philosophy to go with it! To me that was somewhat symbolic – it was as if on my last day, just before I leave, I’ve got what I came for to this nook of the World.
Still more to come…
What I found interesting about my travels is that in the end I get pretty good picture of the every place I’ve been. I mean – it might sound logical when you read: every country has its own character, own architectural style, own cultural heritage, own history and own ways of making the best of it. But it is so much enhanced, or should say – visualised, when you actually see it all in reality! From now whenever I hear "Crete", my mind pictures the old town’s maze of narrow passageways, Venetian port and mixture of Venetian and Turkish architecture, fortress in Ottoman style and restaurants that expand to the streets and merge seamlessly into the next one so that you walk between the tables when you walk along the street…
So...Rethymno of course has all these typical Cretan features. Its mix of architecture and history, cultural influences and styles ranging from Venetian to Ottoman empire. Though when you look at the state of the buildings and see the abuse of this historic area you may be disappointed…However, there is no shortage of places of great character to stroll, stop in cafes, eat and generally enjoy whatever it is Rethymno offers.
And it offers "the usual" - the Fortress which dominates the city it stands on the top of a mount and the views of the city from up there are fantastic! As are the views of the sea if you look in another direction. The fortress is poorly kept though – not much has been restored to the point of historical interest and at current time the Fortress is just the place on a hill with the photoshot opportunities
Pedestrian streets below, full of charming old buildings and overcrowded with toruists. Numerous shops for souvenirs, as you would expect in a tourist place and the most expensive restaurants we’ve seen on Crete. I don’t know how to explain this phenomenon, but in the place that looks “cheap” as a tourist attraction the food was overpriced. Well, not totally true, because as you walk away from the seafront’s cafes, you find the places where the balance is in the favour of locals. And there you’ll be certain to get real local food at a real local price.
Since we had our fair share of the “dining with the view”, we weren’t too fussy to try something different. And on the edge of the old town, where people you see on the streets are mainly not tourists, we found a local tavern to have our farewell Cretan meal and it was a very good choice. The owner is of course a local resident, he also happened to be a talented member of a folk group – he dances and plays lyra – a national musical instrument of Crete. His tavern was decorated with the photographs of his friends, granddad, dad, of himself from the various occasions – weddings, village celebrations, concerts, some are pretty old faded black and white photographs. So interesting – you can truly learn a lot of true history from these. On the other wall there was a painting. When we talk to the owner, he told us it was his friend who painted this wall for tavern as a gift. The picture is very professional and feels so right for this place! It had also a saying inscribed in the corner, looked like a verse to me. And since it was in Greek, of course, we asked the owner to translate it for us. Apparently, it was his favourite saying that his friend wrote in the corner of the picture. And in English translation it goes something like this:
“Life is a river – never runs backwards. You must remember this when you live your life and enjoy every moment of it as it will never be repeated”…
well, who would’ve known that in the least expected places you can get more then you bargain for – you can have a great authentic meal and a piece of philosophy to go with it! To me that was somewhat symbolic – it was as if on my last day, just before I leave, I’ve got what I came for to this nook of the World.
Still more to come…