Turn Left at the Fridge

Of all the walks I’ve enjoyed on Crete over the past three decades or more, my favourite, and the one I’ve done most frequently, is from our house, which Lynne designed and we had built during the winter/spring of 1998/99.

It’s a route of only around 6 km, but will take me anything up to two hours, depending on the diversions and distractions en route. 

Depending on the day’s weather, I’ll take sun hat/cream, or gloves and windproof, and always dried fruit, nuts and a bottle of water.  So, off down the drive, and …. 

Turn Left at the Fridge …. 

…to join the track which rises steadily via several loops and bends into Spaniakos.  As I climb higher, the views unfold, down and across the valley, and in turn northwards to Spaniakos’ main church, Panagia, and to the ridge of hills beyond Kalamos and above Vlithias.

Soon I’ll reach the houses of Giannakiana, uninhabited now, and a spring from where emanates our water supply, as pure as any in Crete, and I’ll usually go to check the flow, and the pipes for any leaks and splits.  A little higher is Spaniakos ‘Talos’, once a ruin, now restored into peaceful high-quality holiday accommodation.

One bend more, and I’ll join the surfaced road, where a right turn would take me on a longer walk over to Azogires, or higher up the valley to Kadros, Kakodiki, even Kantanos, and a return home by bus.  But I’ll turn left into the ‘centre’ of Spaniakos, still called Tzami, the Greek for ‘mosque’, after that built by the Ottomans c. 1670 and destroyed immediately after the Turks left in 1897. 

The village population is now barely into double figures, but the 1881 census records 136 inhabitants, at a time when only 36 people lived in Paleochora.  I’ll pass between the former school, the local pupils long since gone, and the last of three cafenions, this one closed since 1970.

A short distance further I might divert just five minutes to the hidden church of Agios Giorgos, which is far older than its exterior might suggest, and usually open to look inside.  I’ll often climb the small hill at its rear, and on a cold day find a sheltered viewpoint with the flask of hot chocolate I’ve brought.

Back to the road, and easily downhill ; built only in the 1960s, there are several ‘shortcuts’, not easy to find now, which made the walk down to Kalamos more direct.  There are almost always wild flowers growing on the verge, and I’ll pick some to take to Lynne.  “ I’ll always bring you flowers,” I promised her soon after we met all those years ago, and I still do.

One of the ‘shortcuts’ leaves the road left, and will take me down through olive groves into the ‘platea’ above the main road in Kalamos, where there is ice-cold water and, in spring, oranges and mandarins.  I’ll relax under the old plane tree and enjoy both, and may look into the 13^th century church of Agios Giorgos.

Just 300m down the main road is the way to Agios Antonios church, and of course I’ll walk up there.  Lynne has been at rest here since June 2011, and one day I’ll join her.  It’s a beautiful location, surrounded by hills and olive trees, looking down our valley to the sea.

There’s a direct way back to our house from the church, a donkey path through the olive trees which Lynne and I located, cleared and waymarked two decades ago ; but now it’s neglected and overgrown, and if I tripped and fell over loose rocks, no-one would ever find me ….    So I’ll return to the main road.

Across the bridge, around the bend, and up to where, in the immortal words given to so many friends and visitors over the years, I’ll  ……. Turn Left at the Fridge.  And final confirmation from a purloined road sign means I’m almost home.

If it’s a cold winter’s afternoon I’ll hurry inside, close the shutters and light the woodstove ready for an evening by the fire.  More often I’ll make a pot of tea or coffee, take a beer from the fridge, or if the sun is downing and dusk is nearing, sit on the terrace with an iced ouzo.

        And, to misquote Tennyson, enjoy the view, peace, tranquillity and serenity from 

                                “ Our island home, far above the waves ….”