In which the author sets out to walk the length of Crete, beginning at the eastern tip on Easter and terminating at the western tip on Pentecost. This religious framework is mirrored in the book's main introspective theme; the author rations himself three Psalms a night as his reading and occasionally comments on them. Unfortunately, his reflections usually consist on his musings on whether one or another of the Psalms matches his mood or not, both conditions evoking serious awe on his part at the cosmic coincidence of either. Most travel books which are not particularly introspective, and this one qualifies, ultimately stand or fall on the interest level of the people the traveller encounters. In this case, they fall into two categories: a few happy, uninteresting drunks, and a small army of rather truculent xenophobes, who are unpleasant without ever seeming dangerous enough to give the book any frisson of danger. And after the author gets run out of a town by schoolchildren, one realizes what his approach to conflict resolution is anyway. ( )