Greek Isles 2022, Trip 2: The Sacred Feminine
Travel, Art and Discovery
May 18 – 28, 2022 : Crete

$ 4,200 per person Single Occupancy
$ 3,500 per person Double Occupancy

“Take me, take me to Crete, and do not, do not ask me why.” – Odysseas Elytis

But we can tell you why. Crete is magic. Simply magic.

She’s an island of many lives, and all too often ruled by foreign invaders: Mycenaeans, Dorians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Venetians, Ottoman Turks, and even briefly by the Third Reich. As a consequence of 3,000 years of domination, Cretans are fierce lovers of freedom.

Closely associated with the Sacred Feminine, Crete was home to the Minoans from 3000 BCE to 1100 BCE (dates vary), and was one of the last communities where a goddess-worshiping Neolithic culture thrived. Priestesses held spiritual power and both male and female lived in balance and harmony.

Crete is also the home of the Minoans: One of the last places on Earth where the goddess-worshiping Neolithic culture thrived—where priestesses held spiritual power, and both masculine and feminine lived in balance and harmony. Minoan society revered fertility, the Great Earth Mother and qualities such as peace, joy, beauty, community, sharing and abundance for all. This extraordinary field is still palpable there—still alive in the palace ruins, land and art—and waiting to be revived in our modern times.

(Photos below by Pam Goode, Crete)

Our first adventure will be three days in Heraklion, the Capital of Crete. We’ll share suites at a hotel just outside the 16th century Venetian Fortress with views of the sea and easy access to the Palace of Knossos, the Archaeological Museum, restaurants, architecture, and that gorgeous water. If there’s interest, we’ll also take a beach day in South Crete at Matala, an extraordinary beach of cave dwellings popular during the 1960’s and home to Joni Mitchell after her breakup with Graham Nash.

For the second portion of our trip, we’ll be staying just outside Old Town Chania on a beautifully secluded property with a HUGE ocean view and easy access to all the ocean you could want. We’ll be able to get around easily but will have our own refuge — perfect for creativity, re-invigorating ourselves, and long talks into the evening.

Our house has seven bedrooms (Kings, Queens and Singles), six bathrooms, private pool and jacuzzi, outdoor dining/work area, verandas, and a gym. We’ll make great use of it!

PROGRAM

Artists in both groups will create a site specific color palette for Greece to work from not only during our time together, but also to use as reference after returning home. Pulling from these colors, we’ll create paint sketches and mini mosaics exploring the sacred feminine, Greek culture, and landscape on paper in multiple locations. The gorgeous blue and green seas of Paros, the architecture of Santorini, and the glorious Old Towne and White Mountains of Crete will provide ample composition and color inspiration for studies and larger pieces.

This approach should help you connect to your work more fully, strengthen your design skills and bring a freshness and immediacy to your work whether abstract or realistic, and whether you’ve been painting forever or are just beginning. Participants can expect short demos, morning prompts, evening group discussions and a lot of time to create and/or explore on your own. 

And if you get carried away on the gorgeous islands and want to spend your time soaking up as many moments as possible, that’s okay too.

ACTIVITIES

We’ll also take a few excursions! A food tour of Old Town Chania with a local, an easy hike through the awe-inspiring Imbros Gorge, a sunset sail, and an incredible beach. Take a look!

INCLUDED

• Transportation suggestions
• Shared suites in Heraklion
• Transportation and entrance fees for scheduled activities
• Food Tour through Chania
• Daily art prompts, discussions, and practice
• Activities to be selected (Knossos, Archaeological Museum, gorge hike, sailing, beaches)

NOT INCLUDED

• Transportation to Crete
• Meals unless noted
• Art supplies
• Return flight costs

NEED TO KNOW

• Greece uses the Euro as currency.
• Fly into the Heraklion International Airport. You can leave the same way or from Chania International Airport, which is only a few miles from our last house.
• If your arrival flight takes you through Athens, be sure to check flights very carefully. On my first trip, I landed in Athens and couldn’t find the gate for my flight to Crete, so I asked a nice Greek guy for help. He looked at my ticket and then looked at me and said, “wrong airport.” Yes, I had to grab a cab and hustle.

GOOD TO KNOW

• Sunrise/Sunset: 6:00 AM – 8:25 PM
• Greece is a paradise for water lovers, pretty much devoid of sharks and tides remain almost stable throughout the day. For the most part, the beaches of Greece are safe, but do watch for sea urchins and other spiky things.
• Fortunately for us, many Greeks speak pretty fluent English. I asked someone about that and his answer was … TV. Apparently it’s good for something.
• For a number of people (especially Australians and New Zealanders and to a lesser extent Brits) walking through the Gorge of Imbros is almost a pilgrimage. Many people have had parents or grandparents who fought with the Allied troops in Crete and walked through the gorge in May 1941 in order to escape the island into Egypt. We’ll be celebrating the 81st anniversary of the escape while we’re in Crete.

FUN TO KNOW

• The Minoans were inventing coins, money, trading, urban life and even building a navy when the rest of Europe were still wandering around throwing spears and hoping for the best. Over the years Crete has also hosted the Romans, Turks, Jews, Arabs, Venetians, British and many others. As a result, the local dialect, Cretan Greek, is unusually rich, and incorporates lots of Arabic, English and Latin terms, as well as standard Greek. (from Single Parents on Holiday)
• There’s a fishing village on the island of Crete dotted with man-made caves carved into the sandstone cliff. The village is known as Matala and, in the 60’s and 70’s, it was a community for backpacking hippies, one of whom was Joni Mitchell. (from the Plaid Zebra)
• Goats are everywhere. The most famous is the mountain goat Kri-Kri. (from Nothing Familiar)

QUESTIONS
Feel free to contact us with any questions!

REGISTRATION

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MERAKI

A Greek word meaning to do something with soul, love, or creativity;
sharing the essence of yourself by putting it into all you do.

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GROUP LEADERS