Halepa Chania

... lashings of olive oil (hand pressed by an old lady in Argyroupoli). <br><br>On the Beach<br><br>On Wednesday we decided to visit the ancient sites of Phaestos and Gortys south east of Rethymno, with a brief stop at Matala to check out the beach. Matala is on the south coast of Crete and not as popular with the mass tourist markets, although it was popular with hippies in the 60s - Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens holidayed there. It proved ...

... side of the carton.<br><br>Milly and Chris were arriving at Iraklio at around 10.30pm, but we did not want to try finding the airport in the dark, so drove there in the later afternoon. This was again not an easy drive, but the road improved as we neared Iraklio, and there was not as much bad language.<br><br>After locating the airport and driving around it a few times to get out we decided to drive to Keratos, an area by the beach about ...

... I have been most excited about.<br><br>The Samaria Gorge is the longest natural gorge in Europe (9 miles, I think?) before ending at the ocean on the southern coast of Crete. It felt like longer than that, but perhaps that was because of the rocky terrain, which kept our eyes firmly on the ground as we descended from the top of the mountain to the level part of the gorge. The hike was absolutely gorgeous--gorges (we're hilarious...). Taking the 7:30am bus was ...

... 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>

Yes so Dave arrived and it has been a ridiculous whirlwind! Everyone loves him which I obviously KNEW was going to happen! We have been having a great time and GREAT weather! <br><br>Yesterday was a total write off for me I ended up sitting with Dave and Odetta AKA Bob till 8:30 in the morning partying and slept till 3 and that was it went back to bed again at midnight! my body is so SOAR today from all that ...

Soo here is the question... the big CULTURAL differnce. NOW does that mean you can USE it against your advantage or you can use it against naivety ??<br><br>So a new guy comes into the hostel. I walk to the bathroom toothbrush in hand (now remember the "bathroom has 4 sinks and surrounding it is 4 rooms with toilets and 4 rooms (small) with showers) so I am about to brush my teeth SHAKING from the night before because Davey showed up and we partied till 4 am. more to ...

... telling my friends how mom wanted to go on my travel blog and fix all the spelling and grammer and accidently let it slide that I have no IDEA what the hell the difference is between all the "theirs..." are! geeze do NOT ever tell that to a teacher ;-))<br><br>So since I am not in transit to anywhere else until the 20th (back to Athens so I can rewalk old times geta little sappy and sweat my ass off!) not sure how much I will be writing here!<br><br>Ok Dokey! CHEERS!!!!

Big NATO presence Battle of Crete in WW2. Thousands of German troops parachuted into Chania on May 20 1941 where they overran Allied forces with high casualties on both sides. German occupation followed until 1945 Mosque of the Janisseries oldest Ottoman ...

... 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>