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Happy New Year! 
Southern Crete entered 2006 peacefully and quietly. I went for a walk to the square in Pitsidia just after midnight on New Year's Eve and absolutely NOTHING was happening. Shortly afterwards I heard 2 firecrackers go off and saw the distant light from one single rocket, a short outburst of a shotgun - and that was it! :-)
The first day of the new year was sunny and warm, a beautiful start on a season that can only get better, so I decided to go for a walk. From Pitsidia several small roads that quickly turn into earth paths are leading towards the beach of Komos. The path I am following goes right through a lot of olive trees - well, don't they all? - and even though it was around 2 in the afternoon - lunch time - people were still busy working. Green nets are put under the trees and then a lot of shaking and cutting is going on, filling the nets with olives.
Further on when I reached the top of the path with a beautiful view to the sea all was silent. Well, the silence on Crete is actually quite noisy: you can hear sheep bleating, dogs barking, insects humming, the waves rolling onto the beach, the wind whistling among the olive trees - but besides that, nothing. An overall impression of peace.
And while I was watching the sea from up there, looking down over Kalamaki and Agia Gallini on the other side of the sunny bay I tried to imagine this view "polluted" by big container ships entering and leaving the new harbour which the Chinese want to build near Timbaki, a silhouette of cranes interfering with the view of the green hills, imagining the silence broken by building, hammering, drilling, foghorns and various machine noises, and I was struck with the absolute absurdity in wanting to establish such a monster creation here on God's own island!
My only consolation is that what Johnny Dee wrote in the forum is true: it will take them at least 10 years just to finish the drawings!
Southern Crete entered 2006 peacefully and quietly. I went for a walk to the square in Pitsidia just after midnight on New Year's Eve and absolutely NOTHING was happening. Shortly afterwards I heard 2 firecrackers go off and saw the distant light from one single rocket, a short outburst of a shotgun - and that was it! :-)
The first day of the new year was sunny and warm, a beautiful start on a season that can only get better, so I decided to go for a walk. From Pitsidia several small roads that quickly turn into earth paths are leading towards the beach of Komos. The path I am following goes right through a lot of olive trees - well, don't they all? - and even though it was around 2 in the afternoon - lunch time - people were still busy working. Green nets are put under the trees and then a lot of shaking and cutting is going on, filling the nets with olives.
Further on when I reached the top of the path with a beautiful view to the sea all was silent. Well, the silence on Crete is actually quite noisy: you can hear sheep bleating, dogs barking, insects humming, the waves rolling onto the beach, the wind whistling among the olive trees - but besides that, nothing. An overall impression of peace.
And while I was watching the sea from up there, looking down over Kalamaki and Agia Gallini on the other side of the sunny bay I tried to imagine this view "polluted" by big container ships entering and leaving the new harbour which the Chinese want to build near Timbaki, a silhouette of cranes interfering with the view of the green hills, imagining the silence broken by building, hammering, drilling, foghorns and various machine noises, and I was struck with the absolute absurdity in wanting to establish such a monster creation here on God's own island!
My only consolation is that what Johnny Dee wrote in the forum is true: it will take them at least 10 years just to finish the drawings!
