Digging into layers of energy

Somebody told me today that Chania is the longest inhabited city in Europe and possibly in the world. Just imagine - all that accumulation of energy and spirit of people who have experienced and felt layers of joy and suffering, war and peace, creativity and destruction for thousands of years.

Something beyond logic drew me to Chania this winter - an impulse, an intuition. My reading while here is focused not only on the Minoans but on the whole history of humanity, especially the bit where the neurosis of the last 6,000 years set in - although it was only 4,000 years ago here in Crete. That was the point where we went from being happy, harmonious and collaborative to stressed, competitive and aggressive. The land of this town has witnessed and absorbed that change. Both ways of living are held in its very cells. 

Chania old town goes back at least to the Neolithic - I must check the date of the earliest finds. The town that survives today was largely built by the Venetians from medieval times to the 17th century. Then there are buildings by the Ottoman Turks, who occupied Crete from around 1600 to 1912. The harbourside mosque is a prime example, with its voluptuous curves, heroic scale and plain grey finish in fascinating contrast to the compact, geometric, multi-coloured Italianate buildings.

Although the old town is not large, it is divided into distinct districts, perhaps the most famous of which is Topanas - and the most famous street in Topanas is Theotokopoulou (say it as thayo -toko - pooloo). I thought I had seen most of the town until I discovered the existence of that street the other day and this morning, with the sun shining, I set out to rectify my oversight and to appreciate the beauty of this string of architectural pearls.

I heard the industrial machinery before I saw it, caught the sound of shouting workmen before they hove into yellow-jacketed view. Now that the tourists have gone, Theotokopoulou Street is a construction site. I think it's all about the drains.

At first I was a bit shocked, then I got fascinated by the juxtaposition of modern on ancient,  industrial on artisan, stark plastic colour on the faded hues of timber and plaster. So I started taking photos....