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Published: July 13th 2023
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My plan was to go to Rethymno before Arkadi Monastery today but the traffic and parking gods had other plans for me lol.
First things first, leaving Chania! My hotel is on the street where they do a big Thursday market so it was fun just to walk to my car - so much fresh fruit and veg..!! Some stuff I had no idea what it was lol, but the usual stuff was all there too and it all looked amazing. (I grabbed some cherries - I want watermelon but didn’t want to carry it / try to open it lol)
The drive to Rethymno wasn’t bad - pretty solid traffic, but nothing awful. Getting off the highway was the start of the gong show though..!! Lessons learned, Thursday is market day so you do loose parking and also arriving at 10:30 is way too late in the morning lol. When I say I drove around for 40min looking for parking, I’m not exaggerating - even the pay parking was full up. Clearly everyone else decided today was the day to visit too..! I did get a nice view of the water as I drove all over the place
at least lol.
I finally got my way out of the maze (I’ll try again on my way back to Heraklion) and went to the monastery. That was a fun drive - more switchbacks (thankfully two lanes, mostly) but also a bunch of smaller side roads. I got stuck waiting for a garbage truck at one point - it completely blocks both ways of traffic lol. Ah well, no rush.
Arkadi was a lovely little visit - the main chapel is beautiful in its intricacy as usual. The grounds are well kept with lots of flowers and trees (shade, bless). There were quite a few kitties lazing about in the shady spots too! Smart things. I enjoyed walking through the halls and they had a few displays (various icons, a little museum with the history and also old preserved artefacts from the monastery). I’m also forever intrigued by the fact they all seem to make their own booze for sale?? Why not I suppose, given the prime location to grow grapes.
I’m a little surprised there aren’t more rules for tourists..? Like I’m used to visiting religious sites that really drive home the modesty piece - knees
/ shoulders covered type vibe. I bring a light scarf everywhere so I just tie it around my waist since I’m generally in a super short skort or shorts… but some people were wandering around Arkadi practically in beachwear. Maybe it’s just not worth the hassle? Idk? There was a sign at Holy Trinity and I think there was one at Arkadi too about the modesty piece, but it’s wasn’t prominently displayed or anything. Also a little surprised (but glad) we could take pictures inside.
Anyway. I headed back to Chania after that and spent some more time wandering the shops and alleyways and grabbed some gyro and finally tried koulouri (ring shaped sesame bread). I didn’t really get much in the shops, but fun just to see. (And be in the shade - it was a toasty 39C today) I had a pretty early supper and retreated to my hotel - I’m part of the writing team for an eLearn course, so I figured while I have good strong wifi I should get a good chunk of my hours in. Did I have a glass of raki to help wake my brain up for this? Yes. Yes I
did.
Also, on a great gross final note - I cannot believe I’ve been here this long and not mentioned that I’m still not used to the toilet situation of not flushing your toilet paper. I know that is absolute Canadian city privilege right there lol and although I totally understand the pipe situation… I’m still grossed out by it all.
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