Sunday, July 28, 2013

July 26, 2013


Friday, July 26, 2013

                Shawn and I were definitely wiped when we got up at 6am this morning in Crete.  But we headed out after breakfast to find the local bus to take into Chania.  It is a beautiful city and I definitely want to come back some day.  In its cute little way it reminds me of Le Grau du Roi in France with this cute little mix of quaint and touristy at the same time.


                Nothing was open at 7:30 when we arrived in town.  So, we walked towards the city beach that I located on my map to see if it was actually a beach so we would not need to take another bus to find a different beach on the island.  It turned out to be perfect.  It was full of local (women mostly) who were doing their morning socializing and swim in the ocean.  It was really awesome.  We got changed in the little one-person stall up on the road above the breakwater and headed down the steps to the foot of sandy beach.  There were even little hooks on the concrete wall where all the locals (and us) hung our bags.  It was perfect.  We were the only tourists – which made me totally happy to have found a local daily activity. 

                After our little swim in the amazing ocean we headed to the port of Haramina (or something to that effect…my book is packed at the moment!) and waked along the breakwater there out to the lighthouse.  The harbour is picture perfect and although it was getting really hot, it was beautiful.  On the way out, back to the main touristy area of the harbor, we ended up buying a 10 Euro painting of the harbor that was completed by one of the local arts students.  Kind of a cool souvenir I figure.

                We sat at a little café and read e-mails while enjoying local hand-squeezed orange juice.  It was great because the little place we found was just off the main tourist path, and was much quieter than the main area.  There were locals walking their dogs and fishing.  It was beautiful!


                We walked along the harbor and ignored the tourists and the sales people along the way.  It would be really beautiful when there are no tourists in port!

                The ship was departing early today – at 2:30 – so we really had limited time in Chania.  It would be a really great place to visit again and see more of Crete.

                Back on the ship we had a relatively relaxed afternoon.  I did a work-out, which was much overdue and Shawn napped more.  After dinner was the Quest Gameshow, which was awesome!  We had some characters on our team, which made it all the more fun!  Shawn ended up donating his pants for one challenge and I ended up dontating a scarf…pretty great stuff!

                It is sad to think only one more day left on the cruise…

 

-Allison

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