The Charms of Chania

 

The view of the harbor from our balcony

Chania has remained in our memories from our first visit there as a place of radiant beauty, and it hasn't changed much at all. Perhaps the buildings are in a better condition with fresh paint now, but overall, it looks much the same. The biggest difference is that in 1984, fishermen would bring their boats into the harbor. I remembered a fisherman sitting by his colorful boat cutting up sea urchins on our first trip. Today we were told the fisherman dock at a marina outside of the harbor.

The photos of the Old Venetian harbor tell it all, capturing the feeling we had looking out across the water and walking along the pavement along with other tourists. We stayed at Chania one night before heading south, and then again on our return before we flew back to Athens. At the visit before we headed south, there weren't a great many people, but on our second stay, two cruise ships were docked our in the bay beyond the lighthouse, and boy, was the area packed!

The view of the other side of the harbor from our hotel room balcony.

Our favorite breakfast cafe. Great cappuccinos!

I could never get enough views of the lighthouse. It's one of the oldest lighthouses in the world, first constructed by the Venetians in the 16th Century, then reconstructed by the Egyptians in the 19th.

You can walk out to the lighthouse, which we did years ago, but this time we were content to observe it from afar.

Along the waterfront, there are shops and stalls. You'll find items you would never see in the U.S. For example, there was one I thought at first was offering bread, but as I got closer, I realized it was selling natural sponges, something Crete is known for.

 

You can walk to excavations of Minoan ruins in Chania's old town, but Chania has been inhabited since Neolithic times.

Minoan ruins in Chania

In the area near the ruins, narrow streets with hidden alcoves feature attractive buildings, many with wrought iron gates.

Kevin, outside of one of the intriguing buildings in Old Town.

Our one regret in visiting Chania was that we had wanted to find a young couple and buy them a drink, in return for a toast to Arthur and Eileen Duckworth, the retired English couple who took us under their wing in Chania in 1984. Arthur was a retired schoolmaster who was an historian, and he and Eileen not only took us to their hotel, the Hotel Lucia, but Arthur gave us a full tour of the fascinating harbor. 

We stayed at the Hotel Lucia again, and while we toasted them, we didn't find a young couple whom we could share a toast with. (Fortunately, the bed at the Hotel Lucia was much more comfortable than on that initial visit.)

We did have an interesting conversation with a group from the Netherlands, who were quite friendly and approached us. They were sympathetic with our political situation at the moment, as was every other European that we had longer conversations with. We should have invited them to toast with us, but we didn't think of it at the time.

Our last night in Chania, having been in Greece for over two weeks, we were hungry for something other than Greek cuisine, even though we do love Greek food. That night we went to an Asian restaurant and had paad Thai.

It made us a little sad to look out on that lovely harbor on the way back and know we would say goodbye in the morning. And that morning, as Greek musicians played, and tourists crowded the pedestrian street, our hearts were lifted to see a young woman holding a baby in a carrier bag and spontaneously dancing with her little girl in that street. We smiled, then made our way to the bus that would take us to the airport. (By the way, the Greek buses were comfortable and clean.)