“For some reason I recall New York Mayor John Lindsay telling a television interviewer back in the 1960s that he was thinking of giving up politics to join some hippies living in the caves in Crete. That seemed like such a revolutionary idea for a politician that it’s always stuck with me.” “The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean,” Page 208

Lindsay obtained his Cretan cave info from a “Life” magazine article and photo spread that ran in August 1968 about the hippie-inhabited caves in Matala. They were such a rage that Joni Mitchell alluded to them in her song “Carey” and it became very important to your hippiedom status whether YOU were a Cretan caveman or cavewoman pre-“Life” or post-“Life.”

I still find Lindsay’s comment off the wall but now think that every contemporary politician could certainly benefit from some meditative downtime in a Cretan cave. But forget the ones in Matala that were originally tombs and/or dwellings for troglodytes.

They’re still in great shape (the sand “floor” in one I checked out was as neatly raked as a Zen monastery) but no one, not even a certified hippie, is allowed to sleep in them. The caves, and the beaches (the “Red Beach” is for nudists) that were also a hippie allure forty years ago, are now a major tourist draw with the usual pros and cons associated with such development.

Tourists replace hippies.

Rooms with a view.

Hole Sweet Hole.

The Idiot, fortunately, didn’t wait to sunbathe nude at the crowded Red Beach as he walked south towards Matala on a large stretch of sand. It was warm and inviting enough that he got nude in Kalamaki.

The beach north of Matala.

Proof of a nude Idiot.

And it’s worth pointing out that Matala and nearby Kommos have more than caves in their legendary history. They were both ports for the nearby hilltop Minoan city of Phaistos, which flourished between 1900-1450 BC and has a view of the Messara valley that doesn’t quite take in the hippie caves.

No one’s allowed to sleep in Phaistos either.

My last look at the Cretan caves.

Text and iPhone Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."