“If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.”
– Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook
Go-Date: Day 40 & 41, Sunday. Monday. March 3 – 4.
Lesson Learned: When the weather improves travel gets easier. More places are open, you aren’t fighting wind, rain and cold, and it helps your attitude. I think we’ll find the same when it gets oppressively hot in Egypt or India.
Beaches and Ruins
We lucked out on a couple of sites the last couple of days. We went to Chania to cruise around (which we will probably do every other day or so) then off to a pair of beaches with a Minoan ruin thrown in for fun.
Starting slowly, we had breakfast at home and then went east to Marathi on the Souda Bay, on the southeastern coast of Akrotiri. It is a popular resort but we were only two of about a dozen in the area. It does have two beautiful beaches with fine-grained sand (which is unusual on Crete) and shallow calm water, in a bay sheltered by Old Suda Island. The beaches are separated by a small pier, which from what I could tell only served fishing boats and a few pleasure craft. There is a row of beach cabins and restraunts along the bay so you never need worry about getting hungry or thirsty.
There is also a small Minoan ruin there, but its largely ignored. Oh well, there’s this 3,000 year old archeological site, but did you remember your swim fins? We spent a few hours here, had breakfast and enjoyed watching the waves. It would be a perfect place for a beach-front home.
From there we moved north along the coast to the hidden beach of Seitan Limania. When I say hidden, you have to work to take a dip at this tiny secluded beach. I understand that in high season its harder to find a spot on this beach to spread your towel than it is to get reservations in a 3-star Michelin restaurant. It had a challenging switch-back road and a neck-breaking climb down to the water from the parking lot. It was beautiful. We parked at the top of the cliff and walked all the way down (and all the way back up…we got our exercise this day.). After that, it was time to relax and have an afternoon snack overlooking Chania.
Let me mention Nymfes Café’ in Chania. Breathtaking view, friendly service, decent prices, and deserts that will knock your socks off. We loved it.
Old Town Shuffle
If you are going to do all of Chania, you need to venture out of Old Town to the Venizelos Tombs at Profitis Ilias on Akrotiri. The tombs offer one of the most spectacular panoramic views of Chania you can find. We really couldn’t think of another city where you can get such a vista. While sitting in one spot you can see the city, the harbor, open Sea of Crete, snow-capped mountains, and the scenic landmarks such as the venetian fortress walls, Egyptian Lighthouse, and the Ottoman Mosque. We like to start or end our day there over at Nymfes. At the park Is the small church of Profitis Ilias (Prophet Elijah), and the tombs of the famous Greek statesman Eleftherios Venizelos and his son Sophocles.
Eleftherios Venizelos, one of the most important figures in modern Greek history, was born in Turkish-occupied Crete in 1864 and died in self-imposed exile in Paris in 1936. He chose his burial site himself, a few kilometres east of his house in Chalepa. His body was brought from Paris and entombed here, while in 1965 a tomb was built for his son Sophocles, who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1943 to 1952.
High on the peak of the park is the statue of Spyros Kayales holding a Greek Flag. On 9 February 1897, during the great bombardment of the Cretan revolutionaries by the fleet of the Great Powers (England, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc… an early version of the EU), he made his body a flagpole to hold aloft the Greek flag, which had been shot down by the shells.
Down in Old Town, its great to wander through the old venetian streets, stop by sidewalk cafes, shop, visit the old market, and people watch. There are several museums like the Archeological, Byzantine, Maritime, and Nautical plus a few other odds and ends. Pick the right spot with a view of the harbor, sit and enjoy. We spend hours at various cafés. At times like these you really appreciate how many of the locals speak English. You can ask questions and they are always happy to provide the local narrative. Be sure not to mention Turkey. These people over here really don’t like them. They may have good reason, but its mostly cultural bias since even the battle over Cyprus was back in the 60’s and 70’s.
Stop in for lunch at Chrisostomos’ Cafe’. It close to the Venetian Wall, parking lot, Minoan Ruins just off the harbor. You’ll be glad you did. Ask for the local beer or wines, they will really compliment the traditional Cretan food.
We really enjoyed the Archaeological Museum, it was small, the building beautiful, and the pieces found there were beautiful and very, very old. The Minoans truly were the cradle of Greek culture with some of the findings dating as far back as 5,000 years. You can see in these early pieces that the Egyptians and Greeks intermingled back in these days. We can’t wait to go to Cairo.