In Alikianos

"Alikianos or Alikianou: small town belonging to the Kidonia eparchy, Prefecture of Chania, in Crete. Capital of the Mousoura municipality, it is situated 12,5 km to the south-west of Chania city, 65 m high above the sea..." This is how the tourist's guides describe the all-green plain with flowing waters and orange trees, the land full of colors and smells, where history is mixed with the legend, the land of passion and hatred, braveness and betrayal, triumph and mourning. An old Da Molin's possession, the land where "drama of the Cretan wedding" took place, but there was another drama too: the Nazi occupants tried to swip from the Earth the very trace of those people fighting weaponless against the best butchers of the Third Reich. They successfully opposed the Nazi, thus dishonoring Hitler all over the world.
I start from the Venetian Port, taking my bike. Car is not the best choice for such a route because this is a disrespect to the beauty of the local nature you'll meet, and because the longest your way will be, so much the better. So you'll walk or ride a bike. After and hour or so among the greenery I meet the Keritis river which washes the plain and welcomes me. After passing the big stone bridge I've reached Alikianos.

Usually I should first be visiting the ruins of the haunted Da Molin tower, the most famous sight of the village. According to the legend, Sofia, daughter of a Venetian feodarch, fell in love with Georgios Contoleon, son of the leader of Cretan revolutionaries. The cunning and villainous feodarch pretended he agreed with the wedding and made peace with the revolutionaries, but during the wedding banquet he drugged the guests, put them to jail, and the next day hung them all. I am really touched by the "drama of the Cretan wedding", but Alikianos is so lively place that I do not want to start our acquintance from some drunk ghosts. 

Alikianos is not a traditional village I expected. Once it was characterized as a protected memorial monument, but today there are modern buildings which are though built with respect to the local history and the beauty of the nature. There can still be found old stone buildings representing the traditional architecture.
People in Alikianos are modern too, without losing, though, their special features given to them  by their Cretan roots. Hospitable, progressive, friendly, easy-going, but most of all, proud of their place. And they have every right to that, because "beauty" is the only word which could describe this place. Beauty coming from  nature, houses (old and new), history and legends, people...
I feel thirsty and order some fresh orange juice in the coffee-shop. The owner is boasting to me that the oranges from his garden are the most tasty on Earth! "Why?" I ask him. He looks at me as if I said something funny. "It's the Keritis water! It maked the oranges tasty, the women gorgeous but modest, and their men, crazy!"