EASTERN CRETE

the sail-arms are broken, the giant wheels
are mute and the cogs rusty. Apart from the
windmills there also survives the occasional
old olive-mill, its huge rooms crowned with
arches and the remains of antique
machinery. Those restorations that have
taken place regard only a few mills close to
the areas frequented by tourists, while the
others are all destined for slow destruction.
In serried ranks like soldiers in arms,
atop a hill there appear the mills of
Marnelides near Lakonia, with traces of
plaster and well-bolted doors because they
are still used by the farmers as storerooms.
Along the road between Petros and Dreros,
two stone giants
protrude among spiny
thistles: they are
monumental mills, fairly
well-preserved, each
with an external
staircase, a doorway
framed with white
blocks of stone and a
small window. The
facade is convex, the
stones are perfectly smooth and the overall
aspect is one of robustness, but peering
inside one notes only a pile of stones, iron
and burnt wooden beams.
Giant windmills are
the silent guardians
of this wild and
archaic landscape
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