It has finally happened—the unthinkable.
After years of bureaucratic attrition, office closures, and “temporary restructuring,” Ierapetra — Crete’s largest southern city — has lost its last functioning public service.
Yes, dear reader. The Post Office is gone.
The same institution that survived wars, storms, power cuts, and three financial crises has finally been defeated by the Greek habit of “rationalizing costs.”
The Postman Was Our Last Hero
Residents say the decision to shut down the ELTA branches in Ierapetra and Makry Gialos has left them feeling abandoned. “Only our post office was left,” lamented one villager, “and now they’ve taken even that.”
Somewhere, a retired shepherd clutched his pension booklet and whispered, “Bring back the postman.”
For decades, he came faithfully — rain, wind, or goat traffic — delivering not only letters and pensions, but also gossip, election pamphlets, and that one mysterious parcel from Germany marked “fragile.”
Now, elderly villagers must travel to Sitia or Agios Nikolaos just to collect their pension. It’s a 100-kilometre round trip — assuming they still remember where the bus stop is.
A Tragic Comedy of Bureaucracy
Locals point out that this follows the closure of nearly every other service in town:
- The hospital downgraded.
- The tax office is gone.
- The DEH electricity office shut down.
- The courts, the TEI, and the EFKA? Also “restructured.”
- Apparently, Ierapetra is now a self-governing banana republic, minus the bananas.
And just as locals were learning to pay their electricity bills by carrier pigeon, someone in Athens thought: “You know what else they don’t need? Mail.”
Tourism, Meet Reality
For the tourism sector, this is not just a local problem — it is a PR disaster.
Imagine booking a hotel in Makry Gialos and realizing your host’s Wi-Fi router broke last week. Still, the replacement part is stuck in a sorting center 300 kilometers away.
Or better yet, imagine a tourist trying to send a postcard home.
Without a post office, they’ll have to tape the postcard to a passing goat and hope for divine intervention.
Because in Ierapetra, even the Minoans had better logistics.
Locals Quote Aristotle, Politely Lose Their Minds
Basilis Zacharopoulos, president of the local community of Anatoli, invoked Aristotle himself:
“There is nothing more unequal than the equal treatment of unequals.”
A poetic way of saying: “Stop treating us like Syntagma Square.”
Ierapetra, a city that feeds half of Crete and welcomes thousands of tourists each year, now has fewer state services than a deserted island with one monk.
A Plea from Makry Gialos
Cultural association president Eleftheria Orfanaki did not mince words:
“Our seniors will now have to travel to Sitia or Agios Nikolaos for their pensions. It’s outrageous. The same thing happened with the banks — they closed. The suffering is enormous.”
Translation: “We used to have old people waiting for the postman. Now we’ll have them waiting for the bus to Sitia.”
And From Mirtos… Pure Cretan Rage
Local leader Alekos Pantelakis, in full rhetorical flight, declared:
“We pay the same taxes as everyone else — but for services, we get nothing!”
He added that Ierapetra now serves 60,000 residents and tourists without a single public office, making it the first “do-it-yourself” municipality in Greece.
At this point, it’s unclear whether the following government announcement will be about closing oxygen in the region “to reduce administrative costs.”
Visitors are advised to bring extra stamps, a power bank, and possibly a homing pigeon.
Because in southern Crete, your postcard may now take the scenic route — via Sitia, then Athens, then retirement.
