An Orthodox Greek church in Sfakia, where a traditional wedding was taking place
After my energizing
but slightly brutal hike yesterday, I will take it easy today. My destination
is Chania! Easy to get to on a 1-hr bus ride from Rethymno, easy to get around
with lots to see and appreciate in the condensed and beautiful old town as I
recall from my brief visit to Chania last time I was in Crete. Bus terminal is
a chaos, which is the nature of existence in Greece, more so in Crete just like
in Turkey, after all aren’t these the lands that tried to explain the “Original
Chaos”?.
Sunset from the terrace of my hotel in Rethymno
Before coming to Greece this time, I read a bit more about the Greek mythology.
It was interesting to recall how chaos in mythological terms led to the
creation of Gaia, the mother earth then to Uranus, the sky, and how from this
union the titans Rhea and Cronus were created among others. The union of these
two then led to the creation of the genealogy of the major Gods in Greek mythology
including, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Ares, on and on… I
wonder how in the world the peoples of these parts were able to imagine the Big
Bang millennia ago. Is it all the wars, occupations, rebellions, and adaptations
to survive that they had to go thorough have something to do with this. Who
knows, a question to pose to social anthropologists I guess.
Even Greeks can’t
figure out what bus to get on, we tourists speaking Turkish, English, Italian,
French among all other handful of languages I have heard around in the last
week, shouldn’t feel bad then. Finally, I am on the right bus, I take the first
row seat to appreciate the vistas. Our driver is a dark complexioned,
sun-scorched looking sturdy man. Throughout the hour of our co-existence he is
either calling somebody or somebody is calling him! I am pleased to notice that
I am noticing the tenses of his verbs, he uses mainly past and present tense. I
really should keep up with my Greek. As soon as I go back home, I will look
into registering for a formal language class at the University. This is but one
of my resolutions out of this trip.
The old hamam (Xamam) in Chania converted into a boutique
Once at the leoforio
stazi (bus station), I ask the beautiful Cretan youth with large black eyes,
framed sharply but elegantly into a doe’s eyes with eye liner (a Turkish
expression to define the most beautiful eyes) the direction to the old town.
She is somewhat shy but very helpful. I recognize this smile now, on every
Greek’s face when I try to speak to them in Greek. I am sure I have an accent
and pretty sure make grammatical mistakes. Nevertheless, it is so clear how
they value this effort. This has historical roots I suspect, which I recall
from my days in Turkey, especially from a time when the world was not so
globalized and the borders of national identity was also more sharply defined:
Both Greek and
Turkish generations are raised with pride mostly based on what their imperial
predecessors/ancestors had “accomplished”. I was also raised with that
brain-washing until 18 years of age, when I discovered political economy,
evolution of philosophy through millennia, religion and nationalism and their
role in contemporary societies… I then fully understood the background of
Ottoman’s colonial imperialist occupations just like every empire had done in
history. Ottomans considered themselves as the rulers of half the world, made
Istanbul the economic, cultural, and artistic center of the then world they
could occupy. But when they excluded science from this domination and their
sole goal became expansion at all costs just like the ancient Greek empire,
they started to decline. For Ottomans; Europe was already into its
enlightenment on the basis of scientific developments and reforming their religion, which
would translate to Ottoman’s demise by their own choice of confining themselves into Islamic framework.
Turkish land would
have become but a colony for multiple European to-become-imperial powers had it
not been for the nationalistic movement Ataturk led totally independent from
religious context. It is interesting that this was preceded by the Greeks revolting
for their national identity, against the disappearing Ottoman Empire. It would
be certainly appropriate for the Western Allies to feed into Greeks’ deep
desire to become the Neo-Byzantine Empire again, take back Istanbul and other
lands in Asia Minor that naturally inhabited scores of Greek speaking Christian
communities, remaining from the Byzantine, Ionnian, Lycian, or Frigian rules.
It was a time,
though, neither the Ottoman Empire could survive, nor the Byzantine Empire revived!
New imperial powers were appearing in the political economical system of the
world: America, Britain, Germany, France, and in their fight for redistributing
colonial lands, erupted the WWI. That is why even the USA was on the table when
it came to sharing the control of parts of Turkey! In the end, Britain became
the major imperial power 2 centuries ago. WWII reshaped the world panorama one
more time, when the USA became the new imperial power in the world under the
banner of pretending to be the saint of democracy. Hence, English becoming the new language of
the world!
I sense, societies
that are pumped with “Be proud, you are the sons and daughters of so and so
empire, who ruled half of the world some hundreds or thousands of years ago”, who
now has a minimal impact on the contemporary world discourse, culturally,
scientifically, artistically, especially economically, face ambiguity when it
comes to associate with people of the societies that rule the world panorama
nowadays. They are proud of their past, but their governments and societies as
a whole have little to show other than the productions of their predecessors
from some 6-7000 BC to 1000 years ago.
The entrance to the harbor from the top of the castle where the banner above was hanging
Hence, this subtle, hidden, perhaps impossible to verbalize insecurity before an American or British or German, who tries to speak their language. This perceived or presumed humility may be what brings the once glorious, now (feeling) secondary to equal grounds with a customer from a now developed, neo-imperial society. As we learn each other’s language, we will also be able to learn our cultures much better. I hope and trust that globalization is going to seed into every society the equal understanding of one another in the coming decades…
Hence, this subtle, hidden, perhaps impossible to verbalize insecurity before an American or British or German, who tries to speak their language. This perceived or presumed humility may be what brings the once glorious, now (feeling) secondary to equal grounds with a customer from a now developed, neo-imperial society. As we learn each other’s language, we will also be able to learn our cultures much better. I hope and trust that globalization is going to seed into every society the equal understanding of one another in the coming decades…
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| Part of old town in Chania |
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