Creta (a Study Break Time Jump)

For spring break (part I), I spent a weeklong jaunt around Crete with some properly hilarious friends. Some of my favorite photographs of the semester were taken on this Greek Island. Tali, Hila and Marissa, (and Juanes) I raise my raki to you--for the fun and photos, Yasu!

A few stories..
We rented a car from the resort we were staying in on the NE coast. We drove to various places including the capital, Heraklion & the famous caves on Matala beach in which a hippie settlement lived for 2 decades. American singers like Joni Mitchell lived in them for a few months in the '70's & wrote some pretty famous songs there.
The photo above was taken on bathroom break in a "town" on our drive across the island to the south coast & Matala. The goat was tied to pole, & for some reason I was the only member of the party it wouldn't let get near it. We paced two circles eyeing eachother until this photo was taken.

Contrast is so satisfying. Anyone who lives with climate change knows the delicious feeling of snuggling up in layers, only to have some skin peek out into the cold. That bench was a few yards from a baby cliff that was absorbing the sun like a natural solar panel, & after a lot of raki (Greek wine/vodka), a nap was in order. A sun warmed hoodie has never felt so cozy, & the Mediterranean crosswinds provided the contrast.







Smoking hookah in the Mediterranean,
and somehow I was cold.
Props to the tobacco flavor
combo master Hilabilla.
















No need to talk about Greecian scenery, it's beauty is a given. Moving from New York to Prague was spatially freeing--from one major city to another, you don't realize the absence of a skyline (with a sky) in New York until you leave tightly packed skyscrapers.

Crete was freeing because it was spatially free in all direction. As often as not, the horizon dropped out of sigh with a cliff. On our last night with the car, we stopped again and again just to look at the sights and feel the openness. I was taking a picture of Hila on Tomas (our dinky rental car). It didn't turn out as well as Tali's shot here.

Anyway, I'm between exams & being pressured by my family to think of what I want for Christmas...there's some stuff I "need" but the only thing I can think of that I want, and I want it achingly so, is double spring break across Europe again.

Yasu, slanjivaa, l'chiam, cheers!