One more thing on Greece: the picture from the post “Sustenance along the E75” below naturally represents a complete contrast to my mental image of Greek living. But of course, it is an aspect of reality. So I also got to know a Greece that’s completely different.

In the restaurants, they bask in the pure joy of serving guests something good. It’s not just about business, there; it’s also about … joy. Yesterday, for example, the waiter brought me a menu but ended up not even placing it on my table. “It’s customary here that…” is how he started. And when I left the place later on, I was commensurately happy.

And then there was that supermarket. Sitia, the end of the world in my flat-Earth model, where I took the nourishment picture: the pistachios, a quintessentially Greek product, are from California, and the walnuts are from Germany. I didn’t dare take a look to see where the olives came from. Slowly but surely, the necessity of the Europastrasse becomes clear after having passed through Sitia.