At any rate, we had purchased food last night and ate in the hotel room (on the balcony) since it has a small equipped kitchen and we made sure we had food for breakfast. We both are very impressed with the hotel (Acocaria) and when we return if we plan to stay several days here we will definitely look at this hotel. Attached to the hotel is a small coffee shop where we did have our lunch today before leaving for the ferry and it was the cheapest lunch we have had so far. Of course it caters to the locals so it is not fancy but the food was excellent.
We wondered about what to do with out backpacks all day since we planned to play tourist and walking around all day with backpacks would be a pain. The owner of the hotel told us to leave them in the room and keep the key. He did not have any clients arriving today and did not need to have access to the room. We were to just leave the key in the door of the room when we left if he was not around and he did not charge us anything extra. We could have been lazy and stayed in the room until 5 this evening if we had wanted to. Such consideration for us ensured we would be looking to stay with him again and recommend his hotel to others.
Our first goal of today was to find the location where we would be catching the bus to take us to the new port where we would be catching the ferry. This Port, called Souda, is about 17 km across the isthmus from the city of Chania. The cost of the bus is 1.5 Euro which is not very expensive considering other costs. We had been told that we could get the ticket at the city center square at the municipal market. We went to the first square which we thought was the right one, but could not find any place to get our tickets. Then we decided to walk to the other square which is only a few blocks away and found a kiosk to purchase tickets – GREAT!!! But we felt we needed exact change so we went to the kiosk market (at least 2 on every block and I will explain in a second what they are) to buy something to get change. When we talked to the operator she informed us that she could sell us the tickets and that solved the problem of getting exact change. Now we had our tickets for the bus and we knew exactly where to come to catch it. The day is good.
The Kiosk Markets (my name for them) are little stands on the sidewalk where all types of things are sold. This includes papers, magazines, candy, drinks, umbrellas, purses and wallets, etc. The list is huge. We have corner stores, but here they seem to have these kiosks all along the street. In the busy traffic areas you can find at least three on a block (one on each corner and one in the middle). If you can not find what you want just go to the next one, it likely will have it.
As we continued to explore this area of the city we kept finding little lanes going off in all directions with shops along them. We found ourselves wandering along several at different times and marvel at the number of jewellery stores and leather good stores. As you walk by be prepared to be approached by the store’s sale person who will try to entice you into the store to buy something. The first question you usually hear is “Where are you from?” and when you say Canada you will be amazed at how many ways they use that knowledge to ‘charm’ you. Being the aggressive personality that Wes is he has a tough time in such situations (I am kidding). However there was one store owner of a jewellery store that stepped out the door to chat with us and from the start explained that he had a couple of questions but was not trying to sell anything. He seemed really nice; as it turns out he was a very nice young man. We talked to him for several minutes and even went into his store to continue to chat. He asked for our opinion on the setup of the store and our impressions. He and his father have just opened this store this month so he was interested in our opinion. His English was really good and we learned that he had a girlfriend at one time who lived in Switzerland (and he did too) so he learned English from her. No, we did not buy anything but he did have some beautiful things.
However, we did not manage to escape the lanes without buying something. Wes finally felt the need to pick up a new wallet and since my wallet is starting to fall apart, I looked as well. We each found a wallet that we liked. Wes found one similar to the one that was stolen and I found one that is very small but has a change section. The next task is to negotiate the price which was interesting. The total cost was labelled at 19 Euro but immediately he offered to sell them to us for 17. I suggested that 15 Euro seemed like a good price and he countered with 16 Euro. It was too easy and I wonder if I overpaid, but at the same time I was satisfied with the price.
We then decided it was time to visit the Archaeological Museum of Chania. The museum has been hosued in the church of the Venetian monastery of St. Francis since 1963. The exhibits provide a picture through time of the history of the country of Chania from the Neolithic period down to Roman times.
The first section contains finds from the “Platyvola” and “Mameloukos” caves, at Skourachlada Kerameion and Perivolia kydonias respectively. There were used from the Late Neolithic to the Late Minoan period (3500-1200 BC), initially as dwellings and later for cult purposes. The Minoan kydonia is located on the Kasteli hill in the habour of Chania which is talked about yesterday.
One exhibit that caught my attention was the Clay “Master Impression” (KH 1563). The unique impression depicts a low hill by the sea, with a rocky and steep shore. A complex of multi-storey buildings, crowned by horns of consecration, occupies the hill and the surrounding plain. The comples has seven wings in a heraldic composition. It develops in four levels, the lower of which consists of a fortification-like enclousure, two gates with doors made of trunks and a frieze of half rosettes on the lintel. At the top of the central and higher wing, a young male figure is holding a spear or staff in the gesture and position of a young Master.
The landscape is identical with the topography of the Kastelli hill, where it was found during the Greek-Swedish Excavations.
The second section exhibits the Iron Age which begins in the end of the 2nd millennium BC. The Geometric period (1000-700 BC) is represented mainly by finds from cemeteries: pottery, figurines, weapons and jewellery. An important find from the Archaic period (7th-6th c. BC) is part of an early 7th c. frieze from the city of Chania.
Roman rule in Crete began in 67 BC, marking a new flowering of the existing cities and the foundation of new ones. Excavations continually reveal important buildings and parts of major public works (roads, drainage systems, cisterns, baths, houses). Included is an impressive floor mosaics of the 2nd and 3rd c AD in which Dionysiac motifs predominate.
After we finished exploring the museum we decided it was time to explore the coastline again. We went back down to the old harbour and we marvelled at how clear the water was. Wes suggested I try to take some pictures of the bottom of the water and we ended up with some very interesting pictures which I have created a collage with.
We then headed back towards the hotel so we could go to the other side of it along the waterfront to discover the sandy beaches. We had a beautiful walk along the seawall until it ended and then we walked along the sandy shore. You can see that in some areas they have had to truck in sand in preparation to the tourist season.
We came to the end of the first beach and had to climb up to the street level to walk for a ways along an undeveloped section. This area looks like it is used a lot for dune buggies, 4 x 4 trucks and bikes since back away from the water there are ‘hills’ that must really invite the adventurers. We were able to watch a SUV that had been lifted and fitted with special tires ‘play’ on the hills. In addition this seems to be a favourite area for joggers since we were passed several times by individuals and groups enjoying a leg stretching. We just walked.
Beyond this undeveloped section we found the next beach and walked to the end of it before turning back. There were sections of today’s walk where beach front resorts have fallen into disrepair. We wondered how such a beautiful area would not attract investors to fix these places up since we are confident this is a summer destination area.
We headed back to the hotel to eat our lunch as I mentioned earlier and gather up our backpacks to head out the door. Wes has learned to quickly pick up the roads and areas we visit so we were able to quickly return to the bus stop and catch the bus out to Souda which was great. We had to wait at the port for about an hour before we could board the ship and find our room. Then we sat in comfort waiting for the voyage to begin. This maybe a long night, but with a room that we have to share with 2 other men that has a bathroom with a shower we feel it hardly a hardship. Getting up at 4:30 to be ready to disembark might be more of a challenge but I will have to talk about that tomorrow.
As we headed off to catch the bus for the ferry it started to sprinkle. Not even enough really for us to stop to put on our jackets. What we noticed though was that the cars were looking very dirty. Then we both noted that we also were looking dirty. I am not sure what was happening but what was dropping with the fine mist of rain included dirt, soot, smog, environmental soot, or something. Even my glasses had spots on them and our clothes need to be washed. It was not a good feeling.
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