The Good Times

The holiday was everything and more I had hoped, mainly because the island was such an amazing, spectacular place. Phrases like breath taking views and picture postcard scenery sound cheesy and over used – but fit the bill perfectly.

In one day you could drive through clouds at the top of a mountain, come down through tree lined hills, stop off to look at some historical ruins, sun yourself on a beautiful beach with clean white sand and jewel coloured sea, and eat out in a taverna in one of the little villages, with fresh fish caught that day on the menu.

I loved the lack of shops, noise, traffic – the place we stayed is supposedly the most tourist-y village on the island. It has a choice of about six or seven tavernas and a couple of bars – the café type bars where local chaps would gather – two small supermarkets and a couple of touristy shops with the ubiquitous fridge magnets and take home tat.

I loved the lack of bustle, hassle and rushing – the pace is relaxed, chilled, slow. It took me two hours to hire a car during which the car rental owner and me had great debates about state of Greece, the UK and the universe, two cups of coffee, and several cigarettes (him not me).

I loved the lack of roads, signs, and imposed rules. There is one main road around the island, every other route is dirt track. Some parts of the main road are tarmac lots are not. There are very few signs, the road is a bit hair raising, most corners are scary and occasionally some of the worst have a warning sign. But nothing more. There is nothing to force motor bike riders to wear crash helmets – so they don’t. There is no ‘no parking’ you abandon your vehicle wherever you feel like it (which suits my parking skills just fine)

I even loved driving along the roads and tracks once I realised that driving in the middle of the road is the norm, getting tooted at isn’t a bad sign, and how to avoid goats on the road. You would also swerve to avoid people, usually old people, walking on the road seemingly in the middle of nowhere and heading for the other end of nowhere, or at least miles from any identifiable houses or village.

I loved the friendliness, hospitality and community sense of the place – maybe we experienced it more as there were few tourists this time of year so had lots of time to talk to local people. In restaurants and bars if they didn’t have the right change we were told just to drop the money in the next day. The owner of the hotel where we stayed wanted an early night one night and just left me and a couple of others who’d got into a deep conversation to it in the bar, asking us to turn off the lights when we’d had enough. I asked a lady who ran a local gift shop for 10 years whether she closed for the winter. “I don’t open my shop,” she said, “But because I sell gifts and presents, not just for tourists, everyone here knows me and if they want to come and buy anything they just knock on my door or ring me, and I open up so they can get what they need.”

Most of all I loved the space, the uncluttered-ness, the different priorities people had to those we have here. They have no old people’s homes – they have close family and have different generations living together. People have a house which is seen as a home and just needs to be big enough to live in, rather than an investment, money maker, or for their pension. Just about everyone seemed to have some element of self sufficiency, growing vegetables and fruits, usually with a goat or chickens nearby.

There were no chainstores, business parks, or queues for anything. Shops shut after lunch and opened again for a few hours in the evening – if they felt like it. There were bus stops, but buses were of the infrequently spotted variety.

I know, I know I know – it is a completely different place and environment and comparing there and here is like comparing apples and pears. And I am sure I’m seeing it through a holiday makers rose tinted spectacles – or sunglasses. But it sure has made me unsettled, restless, and questioning everything from what I'm doing to whether I'm living in the wrong place!!