free download here - Michael Llewellyn-Smith

Sphakia – The Vampires
projected shadows of some distant caravanserai. Or simply mistformations;
for they only come in the misty morning, and the concrete
descriptions of the villagers could as well be based on the known story
of Hadzimichalis as on the physical appearance of the wraiths.
In the blazing midday hours of July it was impossible to imagine
the scene. We sat under a mulberry tree idly eating the fruit and questioning
an old man who claimed to have seen them. But his description
made no sense. Instead of pursuing the matter, we spent the afternoon
bathing in the lagoon below the castle. Which, if you are in the area, do
not miss, for it is the most beautiful place to bathe in Crete, probably
in all the world. The sand shelves suddenly away where the sea begins;
so suddenly, so sheer, that you can dive off firm gold sand into ten feet
of sparkling water.