Futura Hotel Chania

... Jewish settlers brought in from Venice. The owner/waiter was a little rude, more intent on flirting with two middle aged blonde women of indeterminate origin, than serving us. The meal was fine though.<br><br>Our driving has improved &#8211; Chris navigates and Kevin drives in a much more relaxed manner than our earlier expeditions, negotiating the narrow, crowded streets even overtaking slower drivers on the motorway. A far cry from ...

... person per day that would have been a lot for an unknown, and would stop us from trying the local cuisine.<br><br>The apartment has most of the usual facilities, and the toilet is the usual Greek affair &#8211; don&#8217;t flush the toilet paper, which is guaranteed to affect the bowel habits of any delicate western person used to flushing with abandon.<br><br>We wandered around the local area till we found a genuine supermarket &#8211 ...

...And of course, I overslept my alarm and awoke at 7:06am. In a display that still boggles my mind, I somehow managed to get ready and run to the main square by 7:12am. I definitely got a few stares from all the Greek people chilling on the streets as I crazily sprinted to the Starbucks a couple streets over. Luckily, we made it to our bus just in time.<br><br>Our bus went at breakneck speed as it wound up the top of the mountain (this seems to be a theme ...

... stores with an underwhelming waterfront. We were glad in a way that we had gone though, if only to affirm that Chania was the best city to stay in. We got back to Chania for another late dinner -people eat so freaking late in Europe...I even saw a woman in sequinned booty shorts pushing a baby carriage around 11pm. Anyway, we went to bed early, but still dead tired, to get up for the 7:30am bus to Samaria Gorge.<br>

... beach is where the final scene of a movie called "Zorba the Greek" was filmed, which according to IMDB, is about an uptight British man who's life is changed by a free spirited Greek named Zorba. Apparently the tagline is "life, lust, love..Zorba." We're thinking a remake with Brenden as the uptight Brit and Jimmy as Zorba. Anyway, Courtney began her first step in a long, long journey of not being irrationally scared of fish in the ocean.

... bus bound for Chania.<br><br>Arrived in Chania after 9pm, and made our way to the Spirit Lounge, where we met up with Debra, Willie and Neasa and collected the keys to our Splantzia townhouse!! Enjoyed a few draught lagers and a burger before retiring to the house. Been on the go for some 30+ hours !!!

... just don't dig down too far in that sand by your towel! Our hotel manager in Chania had several cats hanging around. On our last night, we were kept awake by howling only to discover one of the feral cats had given birth to 4 kittens, but wouldn't look after them. Two had died and the manager was distraught that she couldn't convince the darn cat to come and nurse the others! Efosa, don't think about a vet job here, as you would have trouble finding enough work! It is ...

The boat ride to Crete itself was an experience. When you're poor like I am you get magical cheap tickets on ferries, and in these magical cheap tickets you don't get things like seats. Instead you get a deck and all the floor you can claim. We claimed some prime floor that included a power point, so I got to read through most of the night on my laptop. Just down the hall from us was a family of four, and a baby turtle. While it ...

... are sitting on a terrace sipping fresh orange juice, enjoying baklava and listening to Grecian radio. Nex t week we will try to take a ferr to Italy so whish us good luck! I hope you are well and not becoming too jealous *g*<br><br>~*~<br><br>SMS from mum<br><br>- Liesel are you wlaking through the (Samarian) Gorge now? At the end you can take a boat. Love mama<br><br><br>

... sitting here :o) It took quite a feet to get here though. I Malame we had to wait at leats an hour for our bus. Every busdriver that passed in a bus said "the next bus!" We wondered if we ust imagined reading about the bus to Kastelli. We wlaked to the next bus station when - finally- a helpful man from the bus told us it wouldn't be here for another 20 minutes. <br>