“Follow The Idiot” readers have asked me a number of questions since I’ve been in Crete that merit short, crisp answers with a sentence, a photo and a caption.

Here are Idiotic responses to the first ten:

1. How do you interact with normal tourists?

I took a photograph of a contemporary French hippie chick taking a photograph of the once hippie-inhabited caves at Matala.

Contemporary French hippie tourist.

2. Why are there so many miniature chapels on the road?

One reason is to commemorate lives lost in automobile accidents.

Roadside miniature chapel.

3. How are the Cretes (sic) trying to improve driving habits?

They’ve started to shoot delinquent drivers.

They shoot bad drivers, don't they?

4. Where is Nikos Kazantzakis, the author of “Zorba the Greek,” buried and is he highly regarded on his home island?

He’s buried in a grave atop a fortified wall in Heraklion and Crete’s largest airport is named after him.

Nikos Kazantzakis grave.

5. Are there still fishermen in Crete?

There are old school fishermen in every port and fresh fish in every market.

Fishermen are still hooked.

6. What do you eat when you MedTrek?

I’m usually a Greek salad and giros kinda guy but occasionally, after a long outing, I’ll have a mixed-seafood, mixed-grill combo.

Meal for a hungry MedTrekker.

7. Do you notice the sad state of the Greek economy when you MedTrek?

Some projects, like this new road in eastern Crete, are at a standstill.

Stalled highway near Malia.

8. You mentioned that Zeus was fed by a bee named Melissa. Are there beehives in Crete?

Yes, and they come in all colors because the bees here are not colorblind like those in some other countries.

Bees are big business, honey.

9. How often do you see Minoan ruins?

I just walked to, through and above Gournia, a Minoan settlement dating from 1500-1450 BC east of Agios Nikolaos.

Dig this Minoan village!

10. How expensive are hotel rooms in Crete?

Here’s the view from the Lato Hotel, my squat in Agios Nikolaos, that cost 28 euros a night with breakfast included.

A room with a view.

Text and Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure

Follow

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."