Happy Greeks, and angry Greeks
Almost as soon as our alarm went off this morning I was booted out of bed. Sent to the door of our apartment, my task was to see if it was raining – thankfully it wasn’t. But in the time it took to shower and shave, rain had begun to fall, another damp day beckoned. We were, of course, disappointed, but all the locals we encountered, whilst sad for us, welcomed the rain , knowing the olives need the water, and the punishing summer to come will be eased with full streams and rivers and reservoirs, so they were all happy.
I bought myself a practical “souvenir” – an umbrellas for 5 euros (Becky, had of course, packed one in her luggage before we left the UK) and found ourselves a warm, indoor coffee shop to while away an hour or so. Whilst sipping coffee and looking out on the damp streetscape in front of us, we heard hollering and hooting, which heralded a hundred or so protesters marching down the road.
Worried that there signs may say “Tourists go home” and that their ire be directed at us, we asked some Greeks in the coffee shop what the protest was about. It was the workers protesting against the government, that wages are not keeping up with the cost of living, that they have endured years of pain following the financial crisis of 2008, and bailout from the EU, but now the Greek economy is growing faster than many in the EU, but wages are too low to live on.
And whilst all flights in and out of Greece were cancelled today by an air traffic control strike, and many ferries and trains also didn’t operate, fortunately our onward travel plans – by bus from Rethymno to Heraklion – were unaffected by the strike (OK, we left circa 20 mins late, but I think that that was just due to traffic) and around 3.30 pm we arrived back in Heraklion and made the 10 minute walk to our apartment just before it started raining again.
We headed back out to explore, but our endeavours were a little half-hearted, thwarted by the rain and cold – which stung even more knowing that back home everyone is enjoying something of a heatwave. Even some very pretty trees festooned with spring blossom did little to lift the mood.
A good meal in a wonderfully warm restaurant did raise our spirits, and there was a little more spring in our step as we walked through the streets back to our new apartment, with plans hatched for what the forecast promises to be a warmer and dryer day tomorrow!
Kalispera!