Finn with a milky white skin

El Greco is our hotel by the very Beach in Rethymnon, east from Chania. The hotel is four-five star and is designed to entertain their visitors, preferably so that they never leave the hotel on their trip. There is no need. The breakfast, lunch and dinner are served with fabulous variation of buffet Greek food. Lots of Greek salad to serve mummies, stakes and fries to serve daddys, macaroni and cheese to serve the kids and possibly 12 choises of pudding, including chocolate mousse, tiramisu, meloni, greek yogurt with honey – even its own ice cream cubing possibility. After browsing the salads, I find olives and feta. I know what I’ll be having for the whole week. It’s going to be both easy and hard to keep one’s diet in here – on the other hand, there’s good salad options, but then you are spoilt for choise with all the tastes around the huge area of food…

This is a holiday destination for many, but a work for me. I would probably never pay for this kind of place for a holiday – Even if swimming, eating and sunbathing might be someone’s dream, I’m a Finn with a milky white skin, all my skin does in the sun is burn. Therefore, and for reasons of interest, I would much rather climb mountain, shoot temples or statues with my camera or find some interesting people talk to. Even to sweat like a pig kicking high, rather than sitting in the sun. Don’t get me wrong, I love that work has sent me here for a week, I am lucky, because I get to be here as my job and I don’t have to choose it as a holiday. The sea is stunnigly beautiful in colors and I cannot remember the last time I swam in one.

The hotel has its own shop that sells pretty much everything, including make-up and german novels. I can see this is not a Finn-resort, they would never pay these prices. The cost of a room is 172/night and then there’s also food on top of that. There’s about 3-4 pools for what I have found so far and of course the sea is twenty metres away, so one can pretty much find their own spot and just stay there. Must be very nice for those with kids. Somehow, I still feel like in a prison. It’s too hot to go anywhere else, so I am stuck here. Also, there’s no wireless in the rooms – I am going to go and check if there’s wireless in the lobby though. But if not, El Greco for me is missing the one thing that I cannot work without… I am tempted to go for a swim, but decide to leave the bikinis in my suitcase for a couple of more hours, the non-sleeping last night has caused a real need for the siesta. Work begins again at 5pm. I plan to be ready.

You know how some hotels give you chocolate as the treat? This one has given me a bottle of white wine and a fruit basket. Could be worse. Looking for a little more carefully – white wine *and* red wine. I am wondering if my husband and I will some day have half Finns and say: fuck it, we want an easy life with pools, sea, sun and wine poured on to our room and just come down here… Who knows.

When the sun sets with glorous red dusk over the Mediterranean, I walk in the sea with my legs getting soaked. The unbearable hotness has slowed down by the cool air breeze and it’s the best time of Greece. Just at sundown, perfect light, sea’s voice is harsh, call of the poseidon, somehow feels like heaven for a second. It’s the same as with so many times in my life when travelling, I wish I were here with someone else. I once was in Samos with my dad. Sometimes you get only one chance like that. But that time might make all the difference. Because it at least happened and I was there. Life is so momentary and fading, he said to me. He might be dead, but goes on with me.