About Me About me Since 1990 I spend most of my vacations on the Greek Islands. Skiathos, Alonissos, Lesbos, Samos, Ikaria, Kalymnos and Kos are islands I've visited during those vacations. In my everyday life I used to be an ambulance driver, but now I am early retired, and because of this I have more time to go to Crete. If I will do so, will depend on what the future will bring me, but even so Crete is and will be my vacation-island.Ever since the first time I came to Crete, I was completely taken, especially the Northwest of Crete changed my life substantially. On one of my journeys I visited the small town of Kastelli-Kissamos. Kastelli-Kissamos is a village with around 3500 inhabitants and is located in the Northwest of Crete, it is not yet discovered by mass-tourism. On the boulevard of Kastelli I met Stelios Milonakis, owner of a restaurant, together with a Dutchman he started Strata. The goal was to show people, during walks, the beautiful surroundings of Kastelli. I would wanted to go on one of these walks and walked along with a walking tour in October. Stelios was completely right, it is really very beautiful, woods, mountains, donkey trails and still untouched nature. Even more Kastelli also has a sand beach, and is not dependent of tourism yet. Also the people living in Kastelli are very friendly, I felt right at home at least. I helped Strata to mark new walking trails. Sometimes I drive the walkers to the starting points and pick them up in the evening. If you want to experience the real Cretan life, you have to go here.I found friends, and together we laughed, danced, drank but also a lot of jammas! The Greek Easter celebration is also completely different from the celebration in the Netherlands, here there still are competitive processions. It is a fact that Easter Sunday is a real family celebration, many restaurants (taverns) in the small villages are closed for the whole day.