Our last three days in Chania were windy, overcast, and decided chilly.
The forecast was for a 90% chance of rain each day, but it never quite reached us. We decided we were “rain adjacent”.
It certainly did churn up the waters!
The huge Cretan snails loved the damp weather. The resort’s staff were gently moving them from the walkways into the gardens to keep them from being stepped on.
The bonus of our overcast days was meeting Heidi and Willy, a lovely couple from Denmark, and enjoying an evening of coffee and conversation while it drizzled outside.
Naturally, when it was time to leave today, the sun came out and the sky returned to its ethereal blue colour.
We took a taxi from the resort and then the Chania-Heraklion Express bus, and then walked to the Marvel Deluxe Rooms hotel for our single pre-flight night before heading to Poland for the next two weeks. It was just a 15 minute walk, but it really reinforced that outside the touristy Old Town this is not a pedestrian-friendly place. Tall narrow sidewalks have no ramps, and are regularly used for motorcycle parking. By the time we reached our hotel my shoulder was sore from dragging and lifting my suitcase on, over, and around all the obstacles. Am I ever glad we travel carry-on size!
Our hotel room for the night is basic, but it’s bright, clean, and has a balcony so we can open the door to let in the (mostly) fresh sea air and enjoy the sunshine (and the sound of planes, since we’re only 1km from Heraklion Airport).
We went out for one last authentic Cretan dinner: pizza! Not only was it some of the best wood-fired pizza we’ve had in ages, but what made it “Cretan” was the fact that when I was ready to pay we were sent back to our table with “please let us give you a little dessert”. Two slices of melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake and a bottle of raki appeared. Ridiculous. (“Ridiculous” is coincidentally the Canadian expression I traded the waiter for “téleios”, which is the Greek word for perfect.
We’ve been thinking about how much we’ve enjoyed our month on Crete (other than the sidewalks).
Ted was wowed by its natural beauty: the incredible blues of sea and sky; the reds, browns, and blacks of the rocks; the white snowcapped mountains visible from virtually everywhere; the many shades of green from olive to palm to pine; the wildflowers – and of course the weather, which could not have been more perfect. We were blessed with 25 out of 28 days of glorious sun temperatures and low 20s C (70’s F).
I, not surprisingly, loved the history. This is the island of ancient Greek legend and myth, where Zeus was hidden from his child-eating father theTitan Kronos; the land of the Minotaur, the Labyrinth, Icarus and Daedalus. But it is also the island whose geographical location was so perfectly balanced between Africa, Asia, and Europe that it was fought over and occupied by just about every great power of the past 6 millenia: Minoa, Mycenae, Rome, Byzantium, Arabia, Venice, Ottoman Turkïye (and even for a very short time Germany). The architecture is incredible.
We both loved the food. I think we’ll miss baklava and loukoumi (the Cretan version of Turkish delight) the most, although Greek yogurt drizzled with thyme honey runs a close second for me.
We’re off to Warsaw Poland next, where part of our visit will be to the region in which my dad’s family lived for a hundred years or more prior to WWII.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 