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Published: August 6th 2007
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Daphne sericea
My love token from Adonis As I was walking along, checking out the Minoan ruins and looking for the restaurant featured in our travel guide, Adonis accosted me. That was his name. Really. He looked a little like a middle aged Paul Newman - all blue eyes and charm. He gave me some flowers and told me that they are native to Crete. He said that every spring, all over Crete, people wait for the flowering of their special flower which makes all the streets smell so sweet. I've since discovered that they are a type of Daphne (Daphne sericea for the scientists). What a lovely way to be welcomed to Chania (pronounced Hahnia), one of the largest cities in Crete.
When we arrived, we weren't so sure. The ferry got into port after 8pm and after walking around with heavy packs for a while, we decided that all the hotels must be some place else. We got a cab which drove us through dirty backstreets where we came across a mild conflagration and a car on fire at a crossroad. The taxi eventually deposited us in a dark street and pointed down a dingy alleyway to indicate that the hotel we were looking for
Chania Harbour
Pretty at any time of day was somewhere in the bleak depravity of downtown Chania. Well, we weren't having that, so we set off towards the bright lights (now fading into late evening) and after walking another block or two with very, very heavy packs, we decided that there was nothing we could do except bed down in the only hotel we could find - one with rich furnishings, marble floors and customers carrying excessively expensive looking luggage - there goes the budget. Imagine our dismay when the receptionist told us they were fully booked.
Luckily, the receptionist felt sorry for us, and kindly pointed us in the direction of another hotel which might still have a room. Just another couple of blocks.
Things turned out fine of course. The hotel had a vacancy and was cheap and clean. In the morning we looked again and found the original hotel we were after. In the light of day it turned out to be way better than expected. It is possibly the most charming and delightful establishment we have sojourned at so far. Hotel Neli - ahh, a welcoming name. It is very pretty with little wrought iron balconies and is set in a very
picturesque laneway by the old venetian harbour. Actually, this is the best spot in town - much better than the place with marble floors and about a third of the price.
Chania Harbour is truly beautiful. Pictures don't really do it justice. Just behind the town, the mountains rise so far into the air they still have snow on the peaks. The streets surrounding the harbour have been very prettily dressed in cobblestones, lamps and venetian style buildings. It reminds me of the Plaka in Athens, but much more alive. More variety in the shops, slightly less tourists, wider streets and lots of nature still evident in the bushes, trees and shrubs.
Yesterday, we joined a three hour boat trip - Richard can tell you about that later. Suffice it to say that we will not waste our time on any more boat trips in Chania. Today, we drove down to search for a mysterious place called "Milia." The girl in the hire car company raved about it. She marked it on our map to help us find it. We searched and searched. No Milia. Oh well, the drive was pretty spectacular - all sheer cliffs and turquoise
seas. Eventually we found our way to Elafonissi - a beautiful beach with an island that can be reached by walking across a shallow inlet. The water was stunningly clear and the sand (finally, real sand) was soft and white. It reminded me of home except for the colour of the ocean - such a vivid blue.
We seem to have seen a lot of stunning beach locations in the last week. Before we made the last minute decision to come to Crete, we were on the Ionian island of Zakynthos. We're glad we went there, but it didn't take long to see the main sights. The famous photograph of the shipwreck on the beach is from Zakynthos. You have to stand on a little iron lookout jutting out from the edge of a cliff to see it. You could drive right by and never know it was there otherwise. It is stunning, but hard to enjoy for any length of time when you are basically standing on a one-person lookout 300 metres above the water.
We also saw blue caves by boat. The boat takes you into the caves but they are not very deep. The boat
just gets inside the cave, idles for a few moments and then backs out. The caves are pretty but the commentary is pretty basic. The guide waved a stick in the water and said "See - water blue." Yes. The water is blue.
Oh well, it was nice that we had the boat to ourselves.
Our first day in Zakynthos was quite windy, so none of the cave tours were running. Instead we went to a place called Aska Stone Park - which advertised itself as a kind of sanctuary for native animals where you could walk amongst the "freely roaming" wild animals. In Zakynthos, "freely roaming" means that the animals are free to roam around their enclosures. However, we did see Racoons (I'm not so sure that they are native to Zakynthos) and were able to hand feed them which was lots of fun. We also saw lots of really wild rabbits, donkeys, cows, pigs and chickens.
Anyway, that about brings us up to date on our voyage. We still have another day here in Chania (this is good) and then we move on to see the Knossos and Santorini before we leave for Switzerland. Oh,
The elusive Kri Kri
Only found in tourist shops and Richard has a few words to add.
Yes, Richard again. If you want a truly Greek experience, don't bother with the town of Laganas on Zakynthos. It is absolutely British - people, signs and menus. While we were ordering takeaway gyros, a podgy blond little boy stepped in front of me and said in best cockney, "Ow much are yer kebabs?" It turned out that 1.80 E was too dear for Grandad who shook his head and they moved on.
Anyway, about that boat trip: We were assured by the fast talking English tout that we would see the Cretan natural emblem, the Kri Kri, on the cliff faces of the island that we would visit. Well, we thought that was good because this is a rare species of Ibex and I've only ever seen them on wildlife documentaries. We circumnavigated the island without seeing a single Kri Kri. The Greek skipper was looking anxious. To his credit, you could see that he was really trying to find the damned Kri Kri. He even started a second circling of the island but finally gave up. However, while everyone else was scanning the cliffs for Kri Kri, you will be pleased to know that I saw three beautiful dark grey little falcons hovering and diving amongst the gulls. I, at least, had satisfaction. I looked them up and they are Red Footed Falcons, not especially rare, but birdwatchers apparently come to Crete to see them.
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Allison
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Gyros/Yeeros
Glad to see that you've headed to Crete and have tried the gyros. Were you in the cages separated from the racoons or where the raccoons in the cages?