What a wonderful place Chania is!

(NOTE: I’m going to post the written blog first, and then try with the photos…and see how it goes!)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Hello, from Hania! (or, from Chania or Xania! Take your pick!)

Dinner last night was very light, as we’d eaten lunch so late. Wandered into the big square next to the Morosini fountain and split an eggplant and tomato salad and a ham and cheese pizza. That came with the complimentary sliced apple with chocolate sauce and a small pitcher of Raki for us to enjoy! Again, everything was delicious…stopping on the way back to the hotel for my long overdue Magnum Classic bar!

Up this morning at 7, down for breakfast about 8 – and a tour group of Japanese had absolutely devoured the buffet offerings! Waited for reinforcements and chatted to a Canadian couple who were heading to Santorini as part of their 3-month long European adventure. They were basically using a 3-month rail pass and public transportation…that would NEVER work for us!! The very best thing about the breakfast buffet was an incredible display of CHOCOLATE and desserts!! Reminded me of a dessert night on a cruise ship! And they were AMAZING! Whoever said that chocolate for breakfast is good for you was absolutely right!! (Somebody did say that, didn’t they?)

Checked out and reloaded the car – and my freshly laundered blue jeans are actually almost dry!! Headed out of town – will miss Heraklion! – and down the National Coast Road to the west. It took about 2 ½ hours to get to Chania and find our hotel – and what an AMAZING place! We were able to find a parking spot in the free parking lot near the old harbor area. Decided to find the hotel first, then return for the luggage. Wandered down a really lovely old street, and upon asking for assistance, easily found the Casa Leone. It’s lovely! Five rooms only; small place in a 600 year old Venetian building. The public rooms are lovely. Our room wasn’t yet ready, but we were treated to fruit juice and cake, and then sent us out for lunch. (First getting our suitcases and wheeling them in.)

Very touristy part of town, but lovely in spite of that! We walked to the harbor front where we had drinks and split a toasted ham/cheese sandwich. Did a bit of walking – and wow! I hadn’t purchased ANYTHING since we got here, but that may change now! They have a huge leather market, as well as wonderful linen stores and jewelers! Who knows what may come home with us!

Back to Casa Leone and our luggage had been moved into our room. Absolutely beautiful! They call it a mini-suite – the ceiling is SO high – 20 feet – and they’ve built a second level with staircase, where the bed is. “Downstairs” is a couch, chairs, writing desk, TV, armoire and the bathroom. Turns out that the internet connection is pretty spotty, so not sure how the blogs will post, but R will figure out something. (TV is fine, though – has Eurosport, so I’m OK!) For now, we’ve decided to spend today and tomorrow seeing Chania – their archeological museum, mosques and churches. Also, they do some “glass bottomed boat” tours from the harbor that I’d like to do! The water here (all over the island really) is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom!

As we were unpacking and settling in, I decided to look on-line at our flight scheduled for Saturday about 2:30 p.m. – and couldn’t find it! Asked the gal here to call Aegean Air, and we found that the schedule had been changed, and rather than going out at 2:30 p.m. our flight now wasn’t leaving until 6:30 p.m.! And they hadn’t let us know?! R asked them to change us to an earlier flight, so now we’re on the first flight – 7 a.m. We really do open airports! So…we’ll see…at least they were able to find us in their system, which I suppose is a good first step…when we’re next out of town we may stop by the airport just to do a trial run…Glad we checked!!

I’ve had a few questions asked, and I thought I’d take this opportunity to pass on a few impressions on Crete.

It is truly a beautiful island; very rugged with beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance. When we first landed at Iraklion, I thought it looked very Kona, Hawaii-ish,-- that is, rather stark -- but it really has a charm that is all its own. Unlike many European countries, where people live in apartment blocks, here, at least in the smaller towns, there are individual one-family dwellings. They are occasionally a bit like in Egypt, where they’ll build the ground floor, frame out but not complete the second floor, and leave rebar sticking out the top, for when they want to expand even higher. But almost without exception, every house and building is well painted usually in pastel colors (although there is a terra cotta beauty here on the waterfront). R keeps pointing out to me that the Greeks take much better care of their homes than the Italians, and unfortunately, he’s right! The homes are very angular, rather like boxes piled on top of and next to each other; not a lot of curving lines anywhere.

The people of Crete whom we have met have all been really warm and welcoming. It seems that everybody here speaks English really well! We’ve learned a few words in Greek – please and thank you, good morning, no, yes – and it seems that our efforts to speak Greek are appreciated. (I’ve also been working on the Greek alphabet, thanks to Robert – it’s almost like learning how to read all over again, but very fun!!) Caroline asked the question, what do the older women wear, and it’s just like in the movies! The older ladies (many of them weathered and hunched over) are almost always in black housedresses with black scarves tied around their heads. They look very much like their Italian counterparts in that regard. The younger Cretans are very contemporary.

The roads are generally excellent, as are the drivers. There is mercifully a shortage of American institutions, especially “fast food” – there are, of course, Starbucks in many places, but we’ve only seen one McDonald’s in the nine days we’ve been here, and no other chains that we are aware of! Very refreshing! Gas stations and restaurants are open 7 days, and shops are open late, and it seems that the island is gearing up for their very busy tourist season, which runs apparently from mid-June through the end of August.

More later!
m
x