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| With Cousin Sema in Istanbul |
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| My cousins |
“In Greece, we say ‘Siga, siga.’”
It’s like the God’s had heard me. I had learned after 9 years of travel, after living the foreign life, the beauty of travel is in following your nose, having no agenda. Angels appear upon the path to push you where you need to go.
Traveling with so many people, there were a lot of different wants and needs so when the Greek man happened upon the path just as I was telling B I didn’t want to search for things to do on our phones, I knew the travel angels were listening.
He goes on to say the Greek’s enjoy life, take time to be with each other and have a leisurely meal. Siga, siga means slowly, slowly.
It’s funny how when you travel you can drink too much, eat too much, not sleep enough and you feel great. I miss the road for how it dissipates the small stuff I was sweating.
So, this trip was Kiara’s fault. She made some comment about how she wanted to celebrate her 40th birthday renting a villa in Tuscany and I took her idea and ran with it. But, I choose Crete because that’s where my grandfather was born and his father was the first Turkish photographer who captured all the history of Crete. The island is a special place for me.
I sent out the invite and 10 of my best friends came. I cry every time I talk about it. My friends who made the journey to the middle of no where on Crete for me. They took the time, spent the money. Kiara brought her entire family to Switzerland and left them there (left her 6 month old baby) to come. Everyone was on a budget and to spend their resources to celebrate with me...I feel so loved. I am one of those people that doesn’t want to rock the boat. I don’t ask for much from anyone. I don’t ask for what I need but this time, I put it out there and it brings me to tears how many people were willing to show up for me.
So, day two at the villa. We wander 10 minutes away down country roads to the village to find a market when we see men drinking Raki (like Ouzo) in the square and we join in. Hours and hours spent drinking raki, they feed us, dance with us, play games with us. I haven’t had that much fun in years. Lauren jumps in with the old men and learns to dance traditional Cretan dances. They feed us plate after plate of grilled meats and cheeses and Nicholas pays for it all because he is drinking his sorrows away because his daughter went away to college.
This I have learned: First order of business when you are combining all your friends you’ve met from the ages of 18 til now: get ‘em drunk, soon they will all be friends.
Low and behold Crete’s wines are all natural. There’s a reason I was drawn to this place. We went to wineries, beaches, had long lunches. We checked out Santorini which was beautiful for the “égoportrait”. Really, just a beautiful place flooded with people taking selfies (myself included…)
We ended the trip with a quick stint in Istanbul to see my stylish cousins. It’s true what they say about Erdogan and Islam taking over. Never before had I been given such dirty looks in Istanbul for not being covered. A truly different Istanbul.
I went back for one more night in Athens and one last meal. Greece felt so good, it felt so right- the heat, the mellow vibe, the wine, the food, the kind people…I long to go back.