Rethymno Views

Rethymno is like a motion picture set, be it because old deserted monasteries have been turned into guest houses, or Turkish mosques into high-class restaurants.  But, above all, it is the city where the famous Nobel prize winning author Borjes was awarded the title of honorary doctorate of the University of Crete and where, according to him, he felt surrounded by the ghosts of the island's deities.

 

In Rethymno you have the revelation of a different way of life; vaulted archways, winding alleyways in the Old Town, Time ticking wildly back and forth between the old and the new; where theatrical performances, thematic film festivals, concerts in “Neratze Mosque” set fire to warm city evenings.  Rethymnians treating you to their local raki “tsikoudia,” visitors insisting on their stay being temporary but, suddenly, deciding to move there permanently. Villagers on the Rethymno plateaus, caves, and fascinating gorges up there, where only diktamo and thyme grows, being only eager to teach you all the secrets of cheese-making and survival on the mountains living on just herbs and hand-kneaded bread.  And, at the same time, a few miles away, here, in Rethymno Town, a lot of photo studios, medieval music festivals, contemporary art exhibitions, intellectuals from Spanish speaking countries roaming the alleyways and exchanging views on the problems they encounter trying to translate Vicenzo Kornaros’ “Erotokritos” into Spanish.  Like Natalia Moreleon Guizar, professor in the National University of Mexico, who has come here to Rethymno to get help to slowly but magically weave the translation of this legendary poem expected to circulate in the Spanish Literature market.

 

Before you leave, a last visit to lonely Preveli, next to the sea (with its staircase, useful only to those wishing to cross to the other side of the coast), humble Arkadi Monastery, with its solemn atmosphere and heroic History, the springs of Aghia Dinami (=Holy Power)… 

 

And, then, you come back.  You immerse yourself into the alleyways of the legend, urged by the desire to buy thyme, honey, olive oil, herbs, and old books.  You find yourself at the Venetian Port, endlessly discussing ways to make the “ideal” coffee, trapped in pointless discussions on philosophical or pseudo-philosophical issues, with students and tourists alike, discussions of which the real benefit is that they teach you how to pave the long journey of creative indolence through Time… 

 

You can only be certain of one thing: don’t let yourself be carried away by the round-the-clock rhythms of Rethymno, because the only inviolable rule here is to let Time go slowly by and yourself lead a good life.  In other words: take it easy!