Living The Good Life in Greece

One of the roads leading to the villa I'm caring for on the island of Crete.

More than two weeks ago I arrived at Chania airport on the island of Crete, the largest island in Greece, where I'm caretaking a villa.
I took a chance on this trip, not knowing what I was getting into when responding to a travel forum solicitation for someone to take care of the property, which includes a dog and a cat, for 11 weeks from mid-November through January.
I was thousands of miles away in Malaysia when I started corresponding with the owners, a young, American ex-pat couple. The photos they posted were gorgeous and we seemed to work well together online, so I was inclined to go for it after a lengthy stay in Southeast Asia, just for the change.
Still, you never know, right? They didn't know me either. But we played our hunches, struck a deal, and I booked my flights.
Now I'm so glad I did.  What a wonderful place to be!

I enjoyed a lamb barbecue with new friends on my first day at the YesCrete Retreat, a rural villa on the Island of Crete, Greece. In the foreground are villa owners Rob and Christine, while behind them are neighbors, l. to r, Babis, Dimitrius, and Andreas.

Tav and I have become good friends, but I know he misses his owners.

I'm just going to post photos, captions and some of my journal notes, only slightly edited instead of rewriting everything. Beginning at the beginning, I think you'll get a feel for how much I like this place.

(9/14/19)
Arrived yesterday afternoon after a long tiring trip, five flights in 36 hours, but made all connections: Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur, from KL to Bangkok, from Bangkok to Dohar, Qatar, then to Athens, then to Chania, Crete. My hosts picked me up for the 45-minute drive from the airport in Chania to Vrisses, where I’m staying at the YesCrete Retreat.
It's beautiful and quiet here nestled in the foothills of Crete’s White Mountains. The air I’m breathing is crisp, clear, fresh and cool, quite a difference from the warm, sodden, often smoke-laden air in Southeast Asia that I’d gotten accustomed to for most of this year.
Food in the local village market in Vrisses is fantastic. Everything I hoped for and imagined. Fresh yogurt, tons of beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh-baked whole-grain breads, nuts, olives, a variety of locally made cheeses, great bakeries, and my fridge was stocked with homemade Crete wine on arrival.
​The main house where I’m staying is surrounded by olive trees, lemon trees, pomegranates and grapes. I hear sheep and goats bleating in the distance.
​Tav, the dog that I’m taking care of, is a sweet, friendly rescue pup, about a year old, and there’s a cat.

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Bags full of olives from the day's harvest lie beneath the olive trees behind my house. They'll be picked up and delivered to the factory for pressing into oil.

Olives harvested for oil are not for stuffing -- they're quite small!

Day 2
It’s harvest time for olives on Crete. In the afternoon, several of the neighbor men came to pick the tiny olives off the trees surrounding the retreat. They brought fresh wild lamb for their meal which they shared. The young sheep are hunted for food in the White Mountains behind the retreat. My friends killed, butchered and barbecued the meat, and served it with tasty homemade wine, bread and a salad of fresh greens. The meat’s not cut to exacting requirements, just chopped up with the bones, and it was delicious. Andreas, who had to cover his laryngectomy hole to talk, took a ball of foil out of his pocket, opened the foil and took out a pinch of black pepper to sprinkle on the meat, then offered the pepper around the table. 
Tomorrow we’re all going to the house of Dimitrius, another neighbor, for more grilled lamb and wine, this time there’ll also be a pilaf made with the water that the meat was cooked in. And I understand Dimitrius plays ping pong.
I was also invited for a walk in the morning with Dimitrius, and for hikes in nearby mountains with the owners of the house I’m staying in, Rob and Christine. (Their trip was delayed, and they are leaving in a few days, and staying in the guest house while I’m here.) Meanwhile, I’m learning much from them about the house, where to get things, etc. So it’s working out well. They are American entrepreneurs, looking to market the villa and other empty properties in the area, that often stay vacant in the winter, to independent, long-term travelers like me during the off-season, which is now. Practically no tourists anywhere. But I’m told the island starts getting hot and crowded in the Spring.

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The village of Vrisses lies off in the distance along the 40-minute walk through the hills I take to get there.

Now, at dusk on my second day here, the sun’s rays are blocked by the mountains and dark shadowless blue-gray skies are turning toward evening. A fire is crackling in the fireplace, I’m making fresh ginger-lemon tea for tomorrow, listening to Chopin’s Nocturnes.
Things are working out.
(I should have more from Crete in another post tomorrow. Stay tuned.)