My little village — What Now NYC

In 2021 I moved from crazy New York City to the beautiful, island of Crete. I have now settled into a tiny village and sometimes I can’t believe where my life was a year ago and where it is now. The Greeks don’t quite understand. They think I’m crazy to prefer the quiet village life with the more animals than people to the more bustling cities of Crete or even Athens. The Americans totally understand though. In fact to my American friends it sounds like a dream. Escaping the high pressure life of America and disappearing into nature and a more simple life is often a fantasy for most Americans. I absolutely love my little village. It’s one of those “don’t blink or you’ll miss it” villages that you will completely miss if you don’t know what you are looking for.

I wake up every morning to the most amazing view of a beautiful valley with orange groves and olive trees. I walk through the village most days just to take a stroll and see the baby goats and lamb that were born in the late autumn and are getting bigger every day. The weather is not exactly what I expected in winter. I don’t think I’m the only one who believed that in a place like Crete it would be summer all year around. Boy was I wrong. It rains about 7 out of 10 days here and the wind cuts through you with the humidity. The homes in Crete are quite cold also, and if I don’t have a fire going which can take an effort to start then it can be very chilly inside my house, even more so than outside. We just had a week of snow and ice in which I stayed indoors for most of it. It’s a different kind of winer, but then when the sun comes out it’s as beautiful as ever and feels like spring. It can go from storms to beautiful sunsets in mere hours.

Living in a village I have been cooking alot. I often get my ingredients daily by walking to the local supermarket but mostly my absolute favorite place to go for grocery shopping here is Lidl. I love the store! It has so many great products at great prices. It’s kinda like a mini version of costco and you don’t need a membership to go.

Melomakarona - Traditional Greek Christmas cookies

My community here in Crete is probably one of the things I love most about living here. I have made good friends over the past 8 months and there is usually always someone to go for coffee with or to pop by the house for a chat. Life is just more simple. We don’t have alot of money, obviously with work being seasonal the paycheck ends when the hotel closes, but at the same time you don’t need a lot to get by. Life is just much more easy going. Sometimes I do feel that urge to return to America back to my career, especially now that after two years the opportunities in the US are very good. If I need to return, then I will, because I am too young to retire, but the truth is I would love to stay in Greece. I’ll eventually have to move to one of the cities especially if a job comes along. Athens is not an exception to the rule of long working hours and stressful days, but for now I am enjoying the experience of peace and simple freedom to just be myself and the beauty all around me. In my life, there has always been a battle between the head and the heart. My head is saying it’s time to return and get back to my career, but even if that is the case, my heart has been permanently attached to this beautiful island and I think it will certainly remain that way until I return one day.