Chania, Crete

Thirty minutes in an A321, and we arrived at Chania, Crete. Good flight, good aircraft, and a very pleasant place, a complete contrast to Athens. 

Short final, looking south over Souda Bay. This area has seen a lot of action, not all of it ancient. Australian and NZ troops were involved in the Battle of Crete in this area.

Fish market, lots of variety, including sword fish-it's reasonably big, about 750mm long, not including the bill.

The sign says; Fish shop. You can see two resident cats that spend the day in the ceiling of the shop. The first cat is easy enough to spot, but if you look carefully enough, you can find the second.

Meet Stelios, our host for dinner. Quite a character. Socialist, but running his little business. He told us absolutely seriously, there had to be blood on the streets to sort out the crisis. And he meant it. True Cretan spirit.

This must be fairly unique. St Nicholas Orthodox church, at one stage a mosque. It has a minaret, and a bell tower. I am surprised that the minaret has survived... I'm glad it did.

View of Chania from the lighthouse on the breakwater, mountains in the background. Postcards show snow on these peaks during winter, they look beautiful.

Another view of the limani, with clear water, and the neo-classic buildings. Chania is a great little place, and the Cretans are all very very nice to us. At the end of each dinner, all the restaurants present a small dessert, and a bottle of Cretan raki, with the appropriate number of glasses, as part of the Cretan hospitality. Tomorrow, we are driving our one week old, bright red Ford Fiesta down to Elafonissi, a highly regarded beach destination in the south west. On the way, we'll be visiting various villages in the mountains, including Milia, which I'm keen to check out. You can read a bit about it here, if it interests you further:

http://www.milia.gr/EN/

Here is the link for Elafonissi:

http://www.west-crete.com/excursion-elafonisi.htm