Chania – Soudha Bay – Crete, Greece - April 2

Chania is pronounced HahNIa. Today we were joined by Rick & Janie, Bob & Phyllis and Joe & Perla and we had a 7.5 hour tour with Lefteris from Crete elnikigr@yahoo.com

Lefteris was waiting a short walk from the ship for us and we got in our minivan for our tour.

Lefty was pleasant and very informative about the island. He went over our plans for the day and said he would arrange it so we would miss the crowds of the ship tours.

 sail in (snow on the mountain tops)

 our first stop

panoramic view of Chania

 statue of Spyrus Kagialedakis or Kagiales

 Joe, Perla, Rick, Janie, Phyllis, Bob, Annette, Greg

 The church of Prophet Elias was amazing. You could hear the chanting (recorded) which was very atmospheric.

The graves of the charismatic Greek politician, and seven time Prime Minister of Greece, Eleftherios Venizelos, and his son, Sofoklis Venizelos, who was also Prime Minister of Greece from 1943 to 1952.

 We each lit a candle and made a wish.

The old town of Chania was very nice. The Venetian port is 1200 years old. We saw the harbor and the Venetian walls. We saw the biggest Cathedral in Crete and it’s 105 years old. Then, we had a stop at the old market building and open markets area where we saw Knife Street and the Leather Street.  We also saw the old Venetian Lighthouse and the Turkish Mosque. We walked through a square and saw many people from the ship including our Bingo Buddies Leonard and Allison.

 Leonard & Allison

 the old walls

 quaint alleyway

Then, it was out to the countryside to visit Iraklion an Archeological museum. We made visits to some of the small traditional villages; Aptera, Stilos, New Xorio, Brises, Georgioupoli and Rethimnon. 

Throughout the day, Lefteris stopped to pick herbs from alongside of the road for us to pass around and smell and guess what they were. We also stopped at many different places for panoramic photos. The one where “the Sirens” are was the most beautiful. Of course, the beautiful sunny day made for some great photos. 

The 3 Sirens

We stopped at a Monastery, but a Princess tour there and we opted to skip it not to be with the crowds.

We had lunch at a seaside taverna and it was wonderful. We had grilled goat, feta cheese, bread with tomatoes and feta, tzatziki, olives, greens, and more Raiki. As always lunch is one of our favorite parts of the day.

 our lunch stop

Lefteris, our guide

We stopped at a local olive oil factory to see how olive oil is produced. We also had a tasting of olive oils and Raki “not ouzo”, wine that was more like brandy. Suffice it to say that it is moonshine/firewater! We tasted honey and thyme honey. We saw a 2,000 year old olive tree, before going inside to see the olive making process.

 2,000 year old olive tree

 olive oil factory

 potatoes

 drive back to the port

It was a great day with Lefteris and you can’t go wrong using him for your visit to Crete. It was very nice to get out into the countryside to see the lifestyle of the local Cretan people and the beautiful countryside.

We had no time for Knossos palace, Lefteris said it would be a 2 hour drive and it’s so large it takes a lot of time to tour properly. So, better to leave that should we return to this lovely island.

Lefteris presented me with a gift of olive oil soap for putting the group together. It was another fantastic day with great friends.

We did go to dinner in the dining room since we got Lefty to schedule our lunch earlier than 2:00 today. 

The entertainment was a wonderful tenor, Benjamin Makisi. He was very good and we were pleased to hear he would do another performance later in the cruise.

Tomorrow we are in Zakinthos, Greece! 

***as I post this I now have photos up through Day 1 in Dubai. The rest will have to wait until I can wade through all of the photos to find the ones to include in our next stretch of Sea Days. I also realize as the days run together I'm sure I'm forgetting or rearranging how our day actually went. As I go through photos that normally will keep me on track, but no time on the ship to do that, so after I get back home with free and fast internet I will add photos to the blog and adjust any posts I have already posted. (not that you care, but for me I want to have my "diary" correct.)