Harbour night!

All right, one of our last pack-up days! Made it over to the baklava guy in time to see him in action. Pretty cool, although I was hoping he would start up the machine he uses to make the little furry baklava (the stringy ones) and he didn’t. Oh well! We did manage to get some loukoumades from a recommended shop, and this time we got chocolate syrup…at this particular place (Kanakakis, I think) they cook the little balls and then pump each one individually with some chocolate sauce. Very good! I wanted to try the honey versions as well but we were too full. All that was left was to go to Chania! We learned that we could catch a bus to the bus station, which was infinitely easier than dragging all of our crap across the city again. We had to wait quite a while for the right bus to come, though, which was a bit frustrating. But we got there and got to the right bus and all was well. I took a good nap on the way over, and the hotel wasn’t too bad to find. Chania is probably more touristy than the rest of the cities we’ve been to – or at least so thinks Peter – but it is still nice I think. Our room has a really nice terrace that’s almost as big as the inside, which is cool, and we’re very near a bunch of good restaurants I looked up.

Once Peter finished his Sudoku puzzle (an excuse to soak up some AC I think) we were ready to walk the city. We passed a lot of handcraft shops that were really interesting – the position of our hotel is excellent for that, which I’m happy about. Then we walked the harbor and noticed that a lot of things were shutting down, including the famous mosque and the huge bazaar that seems to be behind it…oops, it’s a Monday, in the afternoon all the shops go to sleep. Oh well, we’ll hit them tomorrow perhaps. We continued to see a bunch of side streets and some things that had stayed open, tried some Chania gyros that were disappointing (probably got them too close to the harbor) and continued to the old city walls and towards one of the beaches. It’s tiny but cute! Then we found a supermarket because Peter wanted some rum and cokes to drink on our terrace, and headed back to do so. Like a lot of Crete, the harbor is pretty awfully touristy but the backstreets are quite pretty – either that or superresidential. But it was ok!

Some drinks later we were out the door towards the harbor, hoping to catch it by sunset. There was a bit of running involved – and a lot of sweating – but we made it! And it was very nice. Kostas laughed at my inclination towards sunsets but I think if you have the free time to enjoy them then you should. During Regular Life Time (TM) one doesn’t really pay mind to them, so during Vacation Time I think one should! Anyhow on the way back, the big outdoor market celebrating local foods from all over Crete – I think the signs said it was only active during August – had opened back up, and it was hopping. We passed by one big guy that shoved two kinds of pastries and two shots each of raki at us – for free! We later tried to pay for some for breakfast tomorrow but he just told us those were free too. Pretty great! The rest of the market was pretty awesome. Most of the booths were sent by different municipalities in the Chania district, with their own raki, honey, meats, pastries, and cheeses. I’m very impressed with the amount and variety of stuff they can produce without any outside help…true local food! Such a cool little experience. We got full enough on the free samples, some spanikopita and some rice thing that we didn’t even go to a restaurant for dinner. I am pretty happy about the whole thing.

Now there is a Clint Eastwood movie on tv and we are relaxing … although I did see a cockroach skitter into the wall, which was not so relaxing. Hopefully there is just one. Otherwise tomorrow should be pretty nice and when it is over we shall sleep!