Hippie hippie sheiks

Another overcast day, but the sun would burst through from time to time and it wasn't cold. This was the only time we drove down to the south coast of Crete, visiting the ruins of the palace of Phaistos en route, (admission included) as we were frequently reminded! Quite interesting, but the palaces did tend to merge one with another after a while! I did see a very interesting caterpillar there!

Our destination was the town of Matala where there was the original of the store Matalan. I made that last bit up. It was apparently a hippie stronghold in the 60s and 70s and it lives on its past glories to this day. They were not very welcome at first, we were told, but became better liked as time went on and rather took over the town. One of them, local I think, but with a long ponytail, picked up a receipt which I dropped in a shop and handed it back to me saying 'To remember Greece'. Outside the shop he asked for some money, but I'm afraid he got short change  from me!

Murals and hippie decorations abound in the town, though the one I've used as my Blip today appears to have been surgically altered! On the other side of the bay, which was wild with spray, the cliff is studded with caves where the hippies apparently lived. I suppose that accommodation, as well as love, was free there!

On the way back to the bus we were met by our guide, UtKu (OotCoo), who asked if we could identify the four carved faces on an ancient olive tree. I got three of them right, but misidentified the fourth as George Harrison, as it was meant to be Zeus. He liked that and I suspect that it might appear in his spiel for the next tour group!