#070 – Crete & Santorini

Read online on my website 

Read time 3 minutes 

Third week of the trip down…(crazy).

3 nights in Chania. 1 night in Heraklion. 3 nights in Santorini.

Sensational.

Watermelons & Time

The last week has been filled with not much more than beaches, sightseeing and an abundance of restaurant experiences.

Aside from that, I did manage to have another interesting interaction with a local in Chania after my chat with Fred last week.

This time a lot less short.

But it has actually left a markedly larger impact on my thinking.

***

Mihali was leaning on the side of his periptero (pop-up convenience store, similar to a bodega) intermittently smoking his cigarette and sipping on his freddo espresso as he gazed out into the onslaught of tourists passing by.

Since it was the only spot of shade on that stretch of the port, I came up alongside him, and bought a cold bottle of water for €0.50.

Naturally, to pass the time, we struck up a conversation and I started getting all of the usual questions one receives as a Greek-speaking Australian.

“Where is your family from in Greece?”
“Are there a lot of Greeks in Sydney?”
“Where else are you going while you’re here for the summer?”

Our conversation is broken up by the odd customer who fumbles through the bottom of their bags in search of coins to pay for their refreshments since Mihali’s store has always been and always will be, “cash only”, as not-so-discretely emphasised in capital letters by the sign stretched on top of the counter.

When he resumes his post, I start telling him about how different the lifestyle is over here and how I am consistently amazed how no one is in a rush. At all.

In Sydney, and in the Western world more broadly, it feels as though there is an incessant infatuation with progress and trying to do it all.

A desire to be everything to everyone.

I understand that this is by no means a groundbreaking revelation to any of you reading this back home.

But to a 55-year-old man who has lived on one Greek island for his entire life, sleeps all winter and ‘works’ all summer, this is quite the culture shock.

He turns to me and says, “You know what the problem is? Everyone in Australia is trying to do more than what they are capable of and more than what they have been called to do. My Grandfather used to always say to me, ‘You can’t hold two watermelons under one arm.’”

I begin to replay that last sentence in my head for the next few minutes as Mihali temporarily closes up his shop for another much needed coffee break.

***

It’s made me think greatly about the ‘buckets’ of my life and how I have been choosing to fill them over the past few years.

Learning about myself more and more whilst I’m here.

Still a lot more to go.

You can read all previous editions of Five to Thrive on my website here.

Think someone else will enjoy reading Five to Thrive?
They can subscribe here. 

Get in touch with me via email ([email protected]) or you can also find me on LinkedIn.