The beauty of decay

A trip to Crete offered me lots of possibilities to demonstrate this: I found many villages, partially or completely uninhabited and the houses left in different states of decay. As much as I embraced the possibility to shoot pictures of one of my preferred subjects, the much I also felt sorry for the people living or have lived there. It must be extremely depressing to see how people – friends, relatives, neighbours – one after the other leave the village before you make this decision yourself, draw the consequences and join the exodus.

Equally interesting is the southern part of the island, much less touristy than its northern equivalent. The picturesque mountains dominate and leave not much room for settlements or agriculture – thus it’s beauty being a reason for the left villages.

But – as expected – you will find monasteries, churches and even rock caves as ‘natural’ places for inner contemplation, well maintained and visited despite the small number of locals.