Chania - April 1st

Chania (proun. Hān ya), on the island of Crete, is the gateway to the 4,000 year-old Minoan ruins at Knossos, home of the legendary King Minos and the part man and part bull creature known as the Minotaur.  Again, we had visited Greece ten years ago and visited Knossos, but did not come to Chania so decided to remain in the old town and explore on our own. 

My immediate reaction was this little city reminded me so much of Portofino, Italy.  Another friend would later make the exact same comment. 

There was a lovely waterfront on which we walked and passed a number of open air cafes, some of which were filled with people and others with just a few old men drinking coffee.  Our benchmark is to make note of those eateries with a lot of people and to avoid those with not many customers.  Having decided not to eat lunch yesterday in Rhodes (a big mistake), I made the decision that we would enjoy a lunch of the local fare after our walk. 

On our way into the town, we came upon a little child (I thought it was a little boy, others thought it was a little girl) “playing an accordion” with a small hat in front of him for loose change.  As we passed by, I looked down and was horrified to see what looked like a handful of the after-dinner mints that are available on the Pacific Princess outside the dining room.  (The bowl is usually empty by the time we leave the first dinner seating.  Our head waiter also told us that he sees some passengers open their purses and shovel the mints in – now I know where they go.)  So, not only is this little child possibly homeless or penniless, he or she will need dental work from all the sugar from the mints.  In my opinion, this was disgraceful. 

We did see many guys walking around selling fake watches, another two stores that offered pedicures via flesh-eating fish, grocery-type stores selling herbs and seasonings, olive oil and (my favorite) halvah.  I bought a small wallet for my license and credit cards for 5€ and very happy with my purchase.  A store sold only items made from olive wood and I, of course, bought two more pieces of clothing that I could not resist.  (Again, I was helping out the Greek economy.) 

Again, we had extraordinarily beautiful weather and all the walking and shopping made us hungry.  Remembering those very crowded cafes at the waterfront, we headed back and I looked at one of the menus making sure that it offered fried feta cheese, a dish highly recommended by our waiter.  When I saw it on the menu, I immediately said to Michael, “this is the one” and the maître d standing outside heard me and said with a big smile, “of course we have fried cheese!”  Realizing that more of our new friends were already enjoying their lunch, Bob and Michelle (he has set up a “studio” at one area of the deck on the ship where he paints every day and will have a showing before the end of the cruise of all his paintings while his lovely wife edits their photos) and Frank and Marie (from California). 

We sat down and enjoyed a Greek salad made up of tomatoes and sweet red onions (so sweet, in fact, that neither of us suffered from lingering onion breath) with huge wedges of freshly-made feta cheese, fried feta cheese (I can’t have enough feta cheese), an eggplant dish and a small pizza.  Michael took pictures of me eating and I must have looked so ecstatic that he offered me a cigarette afterwards!  I have to say this was one of the most wonderful meals I have had in recent memory.  The color of the food, the freshness, the way the eggplant was perfectly prepared and the incredible extra virgin olive oil were to die for.  Although initially reluctant to do so, Marie suggested I take the leftover eggplant back to the ship and have it heated up the following day.  I was SO happy that I followed her advice because, unbelievably, it was even better the next day.  To top off this incredible meal, our waitress came over and told us that Frank had paid for it!  We were very surprised but very grateful for an extremely generous new friend. 

Back on the ship that night, I’m sure I dreamt of sailing on a ship made of feta cheese, fueled by extra virgin olive oil, eating red juicy tomatoes while reading a good book. 

Michael’s Observations:   Being the resident weather watcher, we have been blessed with extraordinarily beautiful weather.  Every port seems to improve and I keep thinking of looking for property.  Of course, this is really early spring and in the summer most of these ports hit temperatures around 90-100 or more but right now it has been marvelous. 

Chania was no exception in its beautiful weather and the ancient scenery of pavers and turrets and narrow streets with vendors hawking their wares.  I am a notorious window shopper so I love looking at the goods offered but seldom buy anything but it’s a lot of fun to see what is offered in these little shops.  This city offered easy walking and majestic views of the harbor but the highlight was a delicious lunch with my beautiful wife and new friends whom we’ve met aboard the Pacific Princess.

Leona’s Reply:  Yes, Michael has, in many ports (with the highest humidity possible), suggested we buy property there.  I tell him that I will lovingly write, email, call and Skype him every day.   (As you probably all know, I seldom enjoy temperatures above 65.)