After capuccinos (not very good, but we'll have our own coffee tomorrow), we got the lowdown from Philia Tountas and paid the bill, 130 Euros for 5 nights... what a bargain! We decided to take the bus into Chania for the day, but after strolling thru Kalives (a very quaint seaside village with a nice beach), we waited for the bus, but it didn't come. Instead, we finished browsing the stores in Kalives and had lunch at Zolabas Taverna, where we had dikos (rusk toast with diced tomatoes and feta cheese), Manoli had tomato vegetable soup and I had feta stuffed long peppers. Very good, at less than 16 Euros with drinks, and we were entertained by their cats. After lunch, we returned to the apartment for rest and to unpack, then back out to stroll ... read more

We walked down to the old port to board our boat for the tour. What a climb down! I was dreading climbing back up after the tour. The boat was like a small tow-0master schooner, but they used engines instead. We sailed out to the volcano's island cone. Apparently the cone has changed at least two or three times since the initial eruption in 15,000BC, with the last eruption in 1950. We hiked up and over the island to see the two cones. One is still live, with steam coming out of serveral vents. After walking back down, we boarded a similar boat for our trip to the hot springs. The guide warned us that they couldn't get the boat very close to the hot springs, so if we wanted to swim, we'd have to swim ... read more

Today was a down day. We walked up into Fira and strolled around shopping and sightseeing the sites, churches, overviews, and myriads of up and down walkways. There are only two main streets in Fira, with a few connecting ones. The rest are dozens and dozens of narrow walkways up, down, and across, mostly crowded with shops, taverns, and people. There were two major cruise ships in port today, so it was even more crowded than yesterday. We ate lunch in a placed called Ouzeqi, where I had dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), Manoli had tomato balls, and we both had a Greek salad. About 20 Euros with drinks. Afterwards, we hiked up to Firostephani, the next small town above Fira. We then walked back down hill to the hotel. For dinner, we ate at a small ... read more

Woke up pretty much on time and headed for the port. Arriving early, we had capuccinos at a cafe across from the port and decided to buy lunch there too. A couple of "pies" (greek sandwiches) at 1.70 and 1.90 each. We'd been told food was expensive on the ferry, but it turned out we could have bought the same sort of food onboard for just a bit more, and they would have been still warm. Oh well, live and learn. We boarded the ferry, along with several hundred other travelers, and cast off. The trip was not that bad, but having to do it over again, we would have found warmer, less windy seats. The boat was so crowded there were people sitting and sleeping in the passageways and stairs! Along the way, we stopped ... read more

We left Pensacola on time, after a near catastrophe.. I left my backpack in the Jeep. After failing to contact Tanya to return, Monica got her on her cell phone. She was already returning because she forgot to give us our anniversary card. The flight from Philadelphia was long (9 hours) but smooth. We slept very little on the plane, arriving in Athens at 9am Friday. Upon arrival we discovered that my suitcase hadn't made the trip with us. Saturday morning and w'ere still waiting for it to be delivered! We took the airport express bus, for 3.20 Euros each, to downtown Athens, a very long, so well worth the money, trip. Athens is huge and it was quite a ways before we saw the downtown area. We got off at Syntagma Square and found the ... read more