Yiannis Michelidakis
The Sea

In the summer, everyone who lived in Heraklion went swimming at Tripyti. It was on the shore road to Nea Alikarnassos, where there was a huge rock with a hole in the middle. You went through the hole to get to the beach and go swimming. ...

The sea came up to where the interurban bus station is, below the Fytakis Mansion. Much later the land was reclaimed and the area changed appearance. I remember that we would get together and go fishing in groups under the Fytakis Mansion, where big barges tied up.

Fish! There were loads of fish... even after the liberation....


Friends bathing at Trypiti (Kevork Madanian Family archive, Historical Museum of Crete, © S.C.H.S, Heraklion)
Friends bathing at Poros in the 1960's (Evangelos Krasagakis Collection)
A fishing smack landing a good catch at Karteros beach (photograph: Ioannis Valergas, Ioannis M. Tzanis Collection)