Quarantine in paradise: what lockdown is like in the Greek Islands
Quarantine in paradise: what lockdown is like in the Greek Islands. A stiff wind gusts across the flat-roofed houses of my village at the heart of the Lasithi Plateau, riffling long-fingered palms and shaking the silver-leafed olive trees. Throwing another log on the fire, I take a sip of Cretan kotsifali, savouring the fruity red wine, when there’s a ping on my phone: the text message says we’re in lockdown.
Living in a far-flung village in Crete is like being in a time warp at the best of times, but now – with no one allowed in from the mainland and island movement severely restricted – our isolation is as complete as it was some 30 years ago when my 85-year-old neighbour Giorgos would make the two-day 20km round trip to the nearest coastal town on the back of his mule. ‘Wish I’d kept the miserable thing – at least it would have kept me company now,’ he jokes, when I phone to ask how he’ll cope without his daily outing to drink syrupy elliniko coffee at the village kafenion in the company of his parea – the group of men he’s known since childhood
Text & images copyright "Conde Nast Traveler"
