The woman living off the grid!

I arrive in Sougia full of expectations, based on what various friends and acquaintances had told me. I approach the beach, trying to find a hidden spot to pitch my tent. But it’s all in vain… everything is taken. I walked back and forth three times to make sure there really wasn’t any place left.

More than two hours have passed, wandering even through the back roads near the beach, looking for a place to sleep. To be honest, I didn’t really care… I knew I’d sleep somewhere, somehow.

That “somewhere” came with the phrase: “Nice motorcycle… what are you doing here?”

A blue-eyed, blonde woman in her 60s with a calm gaze looked at me—as if she understood that I wasn’t too thrilled about the place. Maybe she had seen me wandering around looking for a spot to stay… I don’t know, it was the first time I’d ever seen her.

She asked what I was doing, where I was heading. I told her I’d been trying to find a place to sleep for the night, that I didn’t really like it here after all, and that I was ready to leave—as she had found me sitting on my motorcycle at that very moment.

She invited me to follow her to the place where she was staying — a village about 20 minutes away, where she had set up a yurt to live in. In Azogyres, Crete. I followed her by car. From the very beginning, I could sense her concern about hosting me. She wanted me to feel comfortable.

We arrived at her place. What struck me immediately was the way the space was decorated — you could tell she had an artistic soul running through her entire being.

We’d wake up very early in the mornings. She would make porridge for breakfast, and she would drink coffee — she really loves coffee.

We would go back to sleep as soon as the sun went down. The yurt has no electricity. She uses power banks, which she recharges whenever she finds a place with power, along with a few small solar panels.

Heating comes from a wood stove, and cooking is done with gas.

Her greatest passion is art. She calls it “trash art.” She searches for objects in junkyards — metal oil cans, old picture frames, and just about anything else you can imagine. These are both her materials and her canvas.

She creates art out of nothing — even from the dead remains of goats. Skulls and animal bones are also part of her work, which she crafts with remarkable passion.

I looked at them and thought: life out of death.

I still remember her words: “George, don’t worry — you’re safe here.”

Watch the full episode with Evelyn in the video below: