Charming Chania

Tuesday morning we got up a little earlier than normal because we had to catch the 10:00 AM bus to Chania (confusingly spelled both Hania in guidebooks and Xania on bus tickets). We're getting pretty good at getting ready, though, because we were finished packing a full half-hour before the hotel even started serving breakfast.

We're also getting better at finding our way around, so we only left the hotel a half-hour early to walk to the bus stop and get on the bus, instead of the hour I've been budgeting in the past. The half-hour was more than enough. We only had to wait five minutes for the bus to start loading.

The trip took a little more than an hour and a half. I really enjoyed it because I got to see a little more of the Cretan countryside. When we arrived, I purchased our bus tickets to our last stop on Crete, Heraklion (or Iraklio), and we set off to find our hotel. That only took about a half hour, so we arrived at the hotel two hours before check-in time. Needless to say, our room wasn't ready.

We dropped off our bags and headed out to do a little exploring and to have lunch. We started at the Agoura, the turn-of-the-century covered market that now mostly sells tourist items. We did, however, see the authentic seafood stalls and the butchers stalls with sheep heads, etc. Kathy wasn't too enthused, but I was ready for lunch.

We headed back to Kouzina E.P.E., a local lunch spot directly across from the hotel, recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook. While you can order from the menu, it's easier to look at the dishes in the open-air kitchen and just point at what you want. We had stuffed eggplant, stuffed squash blossoms, and a Greek take on lasagna, which wasn't bad at all (especially when you consider that the bill for both of us was less than 20€.)

We spent quite a bit of time at lunch, but it was still only around 1:00 PM. When we went across the street to the hotel, though, we found that they had our room made up. (I had a bit of a panic when we found my bag missing when we returned to the hotel. The manager had moved it up to our room.)

After a couple of hours of mesimeri we set out for a walk around the city. As I mentioned yesterday, we're trying to go native; besides, it was really hot outside, and our room was air conditioned. We walked down to the harbor, and then had a leisurely walk around the bay from one end, to the Nea Hora beach on the other. We browsed through the different shops and explored several of the interesting lanes, appreciating the different architecture. By the time we had finished, it was 7:00 PM, the sun had set, and we were ready for dinner.

Following the guidebook, we headed for Portes, a recommended restaurant on the west side of town. Without a guidebook, you'd never find it in a million years. We climbed down steep stairways and went up narrow lanes that looked like they were going nowhere. Like most of the restaurants in the old city, the tables themselves are in the street, and the menu is on a chalkboard. For the second time, today, we had really great food.

After dinner, instead of drinking coffee at the restaurant, we headed to the main square (which was pretty lively) and I had a Venti coffee at Starbucks. (Finally, we're back in civilization.) While I drank my coffee, Kathy played with one of the Cretan wild cats who roam the island.

Since neither of us is a night owl, we headed back to our hotel around 9:00 PM. I'm convinced that we are the only people in the city turning in that early. On the way back to the hotel, we came across a street that had three different "fish spas". These are aquariums where you soak your feet while the fish nibble at them. Yuck!