EUROSPLORIN': Chania, Crete, Greece

After Rethymno it was off to Chania, a city in the west of Crete. A fair bit larger than Rethymno but it still had a really great little old town section, which was where we spent most of our time. We stayed in a little hotel on the outskirts of the city which was a tiny beach resort. Sadly the days we picked to go to the beach gave us non-beach weather, which meant we had no beach time in Chania!

A shot of one side of the harbours in the old town (the harbour was a U shape).

Some housing in the old town.

The shoreline of Chania was beautiful! Here we spent the day walking the coast of Chania. We would have taken advantage of the beach here if we were more beach-ready (we had nothing with us). For a beach that was butted up against the edge of the city it was certainly beautiful...

Another picture of the beautiful shoreline...

Ahh... Greece!

On our walk along the coast towards a particular neighbourhood we came across some houses which seemed to be reconditioned dilapidated buildings. They had a walkway built right to the edge of the water. How's that for a front yard?! In this same cove there was a very small "fleet" of fishing boats.

The same row of housing as seen from the sea level.

Just past the houses in the previous pictures is an industrial area which comprised of many leather tanneries. Many of them have been deserted what must have been decades ago and are falling apart, but we came across one which is clearly also very old but is still in use. In the bottom right of the picture you can see the massive tanning drum and on either side of the pillar you can see the pelts hanging.

A partial view of the tannery section in Chania. Stefan climbed onto the roof of one of the tanneries to present to you this spectacular photo!

Some church in Chania. We found it interesting how the blue dome, which is usually found in the Greek islands, is juxtaposed with the non-white architecture of the rest of the church.

A random house we thought had a lot of eerie character!

Another view of the old town harbour (this time from the other side of the "U").

An old town street.

Cliff's entree: a Cretan salad! Potatoes, cucumber, green pepper, tomatoes, dried olives, a boiled egg, anchovies, and ricotta cheese on top. Delicious!

Stefan tried a Greek beer named Alpha, which was disappointingly not great, but just okay.

And Stefan's main course: HOLY HELL! This may not look like much, but was quite possibly one of the tastiest things he has ever eaten! Chicken in a thick tomato sauce with tomato chunks, onions, spices, and fresh basil, surrounded by a puree of eggplant and spices. Now we don't know what the hell they put in there (unicorn dust?) but it was damn magical!!! We would go back to Chania for this meal alone!