Tales from Crete | 69

Don't know about you…. but as far as I'm concerned, it's really starting to pull in me, like a circus horse just waiting and waiting to get into the arena after a long winter period. It is of course Crete that attracts me and neither Circus Nemo, Mascot, Arena or whatever they are called, because even though I am not too old to do arts, I am not exactly a circus horse.

But there is still a certain similarity, because I love to be in the "manege" in Crete and show others some of all the wonderful places that are away from the bustle of tourists, and I love to spice things up with a little stories about the individual places we go to there, on the group trips I represent in Elena's Travels. And even though I have been to Crete countless times and now I think I know the island like the back of my hand, fortunately there are still a lot of new discoveries to be made for me as well.

Yesterday I came across a post called "Notes of Leif" written by a man named Leif Hansen. He had been on holiday in Crete with his family and, out of sheer interest, set out to find out if and, if so, how and where the Crete Bible was mentioned. He put the search function on the Bible Society's website to investigate, and several references turned up. You can all read more about it yourself if you are curious enough about it. I thought it was a lovely liberating read, because it was great to read about someone who had the same passion and curiosity as I do, to find hidden treasures in Crete and investigate the stories behind them. His story led me on slightly different tracks than I'm used to, even though as recently as last autumn I drove around the exact same area he mentioned. On the south coast of western Crete, there is a small harbor town, Chóra Sfakion, from where you can sail to the southernmost Greek island of Gavdos, which is also the southernmost point in Europe. Both Gavdos and the small town of Finix are described in the Bible, where the Apostle Paul is on board a ship that will transport him and 275 other prisoners and the ship's crew to Rome. The ship sails from Jerusalem north towards Tyre, across Syria to Tarsus and further west to Myra, north of Rhodes and sets a course due south to south to Crete's easternmost point, then follows Crete's south coast Finix. The ship was not going to Finix, but in the story it is told that they considered wintering in the small natural harbor, where the ship could lie sheltered from the wind, until the onward voyage to Rome. The ship never made it to Rome, but instead drifted out into the Adriatic Sea before being shipwrecked on the island of Malta. A story that reminds one of the journey many refugees have taken across the Adriatic Sea from the north coast of Africa, which for many unfortunately ended up in the same sea in a tragic way.

The exciting thing about Finix is ​​that the small harbor town with only a few inhabitants is centrally located if you want to lie sheltered from the southerly wind, just as you would like. But it is also a city that is so isolated that you can only get there on the back of a donkey, in a 4-wheel drive or on a motocross bike. 6-7 km on a stony gravel road with one hairpin bend after another and so narrow that 2 cars only have the opportunity to pass each other in very few places are the conditions for getting there, if you don't choose the sea route and take one of the boats there sailing from Chóra Sfakion. Unfortunately, our minibus in Elena's Travels cannot handle the drive at all, so I, like the narrator Leif Hansen, did not come to Finix myself, but had to settle for standing and watching the azure sea. But who knows, maybe one day I'll take the trip with a group of guests by sea to either Finix or Gavdos, to see a few more of the gems Crete hides. But right now it is the sign of spring, where I am putting the finishing touches on the excursions and experiences that I am looking forward to presenting to the guests who come to Crete on the first trips of the year with Elena's Travels.

Have a really nice day

Michael