Crete, Greece’s Big Island.
Hola chicos!
It’s a warm May afternoon and I am sitting on a small hotel balcony overlooking Chania town in Crete. If I go to the end of the balcony and lean out precariously, I do actually have a view of the Mediterranean Sea. The Cretans are welcoming and speak English well (huge respect there, noting my difficulty in learning Spanish). At this early point in the tourist season they are friendly and like to ask, ‘have you been to Crete before?”, we answer ‘yes the last time we visited was in 1992, when we were young and beautiful.’ We loved Crete then and I am happy to say that although there has obviously been a lot of development it still is a lovely place to visit.
This morning we strolled along the foreshore towards the old town and harbour with its Venetian lighthouse. It is a very beautiful and picturesque harbour but with the influence of tourism the harbour front is jam packed with restaurants, bars and tour operators hoping to draw in any business they can. The old town buildings and alleyways are exciting to explore but we quickly lost interest and made our way back to the Mediterranean where we had a swim before heading back to the hotel for siesta.
We had dinner in a great little restaurant on the sea front called Blue Morning Noon night. You just cannot beat a fresh greek salad and grilled octopus washed down with a glass of wine to finish up the day. The local feta cheese is to die for!
When was the last time that you saw a movie at an outdoor cinema? One of the most fun and cool things to do in Chania is to go to the outdoor cinema. As luck would have it, the cinema is a few doors down from our hotel and Deadpool 2 was showing in English.
My high points:
* The Mediterranean Sea – its like glass early in the morning and has a slight ripple in the afternoon breeze.
* Fresh food – the salads, feta cheese and seafood are worth the trip alone.
* Chania harbour and venetian lighthouse – go in the morning before the cafes open and the tourists get hungry for breakfast.
My low point:
* Graffiti, graffiti, graffiti – it is everywhere and takes from the beauty of Chania. Graffiti and I am not talking street art here, is my BIG dislike. Seriously, do parents no longer explain to children that we draw on paper not walls? It is so NOT cool…my husband argues that people have been writing graffiti on walls since Christ was a boy…I mean it even featured in the Life of Brian so it must be true.
Hasta Luego chicos y besos de Crete xxx