Chóndros/χονδροσ
In Southern Heraklion, in the region of Viannos, there is a lovely little village between the high mountains and the Lybian sea, called Chόndros. Nestled in a fertile valley, once a prehistoric lake, with small rivers running through it over and underground as they have for ages, feeding it's many fruit bearing trees and lovingly-tended gardens, before flowing into the striking Portella Gorge, carving its way though the high narrow canyons, falling over rocks, swirling in ponds, pouring, bumping, and eventually spilling into the Lybian Sea, 400 meters below this sweet little village.
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some pictures of inside the house post-reconstruction, as it evolves. there are two bedrooms with double beds. (one pulls out from below. One is decorated with needlepoints of women flowers and animals in tribute to the wonderful strong women of Crete, and the other, is more about water and the beautiful Lybian sea just 10 minutes away. The fireplace includes stones i collected from the sea, and all materials in the house are natural, no plastic. i tried to create a harmony with stone, clay, glass, and metal.
Here are some images of the garden, and some guests in it, also constantly evolving. However, I was lucky to take over the care 7 Old olive trees, 2 big walnut trees, 2 carobs, 3 different types of grapes, 2 different types of figs, a variety of oranges and mandarines, and many other wee trees popping up- apricot, plums, POMEGRANATEs, Bay, and i have added a Little lemon tree, some herbs, a baby palm, a yucca, a lilac bush, an almond tree, strawberries, sunflowers, peas, an artichoke plant (1 of 7 survived the rough builders), a tiny kumquat tree rescued from my berlin balcony, and other pretty flowers, some edible, and herbs.... much more to come. Other garden projects ahead include beautifying the old well, a fountain and a a pond which is also a clever irrigation system, building an outdoor oven with the clay bricks which were in the house for almost ninety years, more terraces with coloured concrete tiles and stone mosaics, a pretty shading structure for the caravan ( see below) a maze of grapes, wall murals, and maybe many clay figures hidden about..
Here in the images below are my first visits to Chóndros and what the house looked like when i found it. broken roof, a wonderful home for lizards, the garden-wild and overgrown, but full of history to respect and care for, and potential to get really excited about.
living in a tent on the beach, next to a nest of sea tortoises.
between the tent on the beach and the house, i lived in the caravan which is from 1970's France, but was owned by germans, but i found in a lot in athens, where a large turtle was roaming around. After seeing some horrible camping trailers on Crete, I asked the man in athens to put it on the boat and send it to me.
