Our last day in Chania!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Hello!

Today is our 28th anniversary – so where exactly did the time go? Seems like just yesterday…so begins our last day in Crete. But first, last night’s dinner. Went to a very large place called Semiramis, just around the corner from Tamum, which we’d loved. It was fairly early, but we were hoping to avoid smoke! Sat in a nice private corner of their large outdoor terrace. Very nice atmosphere, and they also had two guitarists who played.

R had cheese-stuffed roasted red peppers for starters, and I had baked feta with tomato and peppers. For dinner we fell back on souvlaki again, me chicken and R had lamb. He said his was great! This time, however, for the complimentary dessert, all I can say is WOW! Hil, it was like Montana Avenue and their donut! Think large freshly glazed and still warm donut holes – YUM! R of course had the Raki…I was fine with the dessert! Back to the hotel about 9 and early to bed.

Today is being a very easy hang-out day before our push to Athens tomorrow. Laundry being always at the forefront of my mind, we sent off a bag to a laundry that picked up and delivered. (I have now discovered two other laundries, but figured this would probably be easiest…) Breakfast at 9 – something new yet again, with crepes stuffed with cheese and cubes of ham served alongside the yogurt, basket of breads and goodies, a huge hunk of amazing watermelon and juice. Seriously, is it any wonder we don’t need lunch after this??

As we’re leaving EARLY tomorrow morning (and Antonia thinks we’re insane to leave so early; figures it’ll be us and the cleaning people!) R paid the bill and then we were out and down the street to the Byzantine Museum. Very nice collection (but no photographs!) From there we headed to the other side of the inner harbor to the maritime museum that was closed several days ago when we first headed that way.

Several years ago, the Cretans built a vessel in the manner of Minoan construction, using ancient materials and techniques. (My own personal favorite was when they used beef fat and resin to seal the ship, as well as coat all the ropes!! UGH!) When it was finished, they sailed it to Athens to deliver two “crowns” made from the branches of the oldest olive tree (which we saw yesterday) to be used to crown the first and last medal winners of the 2004 Olympics.

After this, as it was getting on for 11:30 a.m. and WARM (by far the hottest day we’ve had; probably in the 90’s) we plopped ourselves down in a quay-side restaurant for large glasses of fresh O.J. and sparkling water. Just what we needed to fortify ourselves for finding a record store in the dizzying maze of streets that are Chania! (This morning, Antonia put on a really terrific CD; partly classical but yet Greek. We asked her who it was by and she wrote the name down for us so we can try and find it.) Managed to find a record store after some difficulty – no problem at all finding jewelers, restaurants or tourist shops! – and bought a CD. Now, of course, when we’re turning in the car early tomorrow morning we’ll probably not have access to a player until we get home!

Back to the hotel after this, with a stop in a wonderful craft shop that we’d been looking at for the past several days….and for our anniversary, R got me a stunningly beautiful blue tourmaline ring set in 14 k gold with a Greek inspired pattern. It is magnificent, and I love it! I’m truly the luckiest gal in the world!!

When we got to our room – lo and behold, our laundry was already done!! Have spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, reading on the balcony, and I’ve been reassembling our suitcases in preparation for tomorrow. Boy it’s nice to have all clean clothes again!

So – that’s it for now!
Much love,
m
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