Reflections / Mark Millan

We had not even landed in Athens yet when we stumbled across Otto Greke from Munich and offered Sue his window seat so she could see the sights better. He had made the trip over 150 times he laughed. So we all switched seats, and I found myself sharing a beer with Otto and hearing his life story.

He even had a booklet he had made himself. Quite fascinating actually. He had worked with BMW and set up their original dealerships in Athens. His scrap newspaper clippings told the story of his work and private life. He then did the same for Volkswagen years later. He was headed back to Athens to enjoy the fall season in a house he still owns near the coast. The son of a person he worked with years ago, would set him up with a car. …and that son now owns the dealerships! We were able to discern by the date of his 85^th birthday celebration photo dated 2018, that he was 92.

It was our wonderful food and history guide who shared with us that it doesn’t matter who’s in power, the left, the right. You still need to get by, its essentially noise. Like the cicadas buzzing in the background in the trees. You still need to feed your family, love your life, and get by.

He should know as he was born in Crete. His grandfather was forced to host German soldiers during the invasion of Crete in the mid1940s. Strange, doesn’t really seem that long ago.

And these are the roaming cool cats of Chania.  

They are small but get by rather nicely in this town as the locals love them and feed daily.

We are small too, but manage to get around as well.

For more of Mark’s travel experiences, visit https://lifeintheclickstream.com/.