Minoa Palace Chania

... invasion, mainly in May 1941. Alison&#8217;s father, Arch, fought in these battles, and was captured, spending most of the war in prison camps. <br><br>The city of Chania is on the sea with a beautiful Venetian waterfront, with lots of cafes (including a great gelateria with delicious sorbets) &#8211; our lunch included whitebait (which seemed to be battered sardines) in a café set in lovely surroundings &#8211; an old soap factory built ...

... for was small, but there were no other options available, so we folded down the back seat to put in our luggage, wondering how we would all fit in next Friday when we drove to Iraklio. Observing the traffic in Greece is bad enough but driving in it is a nightmare, especially in a small left hand drive manual Kia Picante. It wasn't a pleasant drive, as we had close shaves from time to time taking the main highway to Rethymnon. The speed ...

... donkeys wait to take any unlucky hiker who couldn't finish and had to be taken back.<br><br>At the end of the hike, we only had to walk 2 km more to get to the Libyan Sea, the perfect place to jump in after a long, sweaty hike. This end of the island was super remote and we ended up in one of the tiniest villages I've ever seen. There wasn't an ATM either, so luckily Brenden had cash, otherwise we would've missed the last boat to the last bus in Chania.<br>

... 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>

... off in the town where we thought the monasteries were, Stavros, we find out that they are a 3 hour walk from where we are. What at first seems a grim situatin becomes excellent once we realize we are on a gorgeous beach and are in possession of swimsuits. Like Chania, the beach is filled inexplicably with only Swedish tourists. I don't think I've seen a single other American the whole time I've been here. We also find out that ...

Eventually left Rhodes at 5am, and luckily found a nice spot on the top floor, to lay our sleeping bags and get a fine uninterrupted sleep.<br><br>Slow slow journey, stopping at Karpathos, Kassos and in Crete at Sitia, before landing at Heraklion just after 6pm. A swift walk to the bus station, we caught a ...

... us, we decided to do the hike to ancient Lissos. It was a flourishing commercial center in Hellenistic and Roman times. The four hours to Lissos and back made an enjoyable trek up through a rocky gorge of pines, onto an arid, scrubby plateau, and down to a lush gorge with meadows and springs of fresh water that emptied onto a pebbly beach. We were surprised to find a 3rd century BC Temple of Healing with an exposed mosaic floor still in excellent condition. Evidence of a ...

To my little sister<br><br>- And jealous? :p Oh we really should have brought Ollie with us - so many cats to play with! What do you think mum &amp; Babe would think if I brought one (Cesar) home? *g* Lots of love from sunny Crete<br><br>Sis &amp; Eve<br><br>~*~<br><br>To Tini<br><br>-As promised a card from our next destination. Still on crete but 2,5 hours further on ...

... 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>

... is rock. We had a bit of a night on it that night (well a bit more than usual) ending up at the local bar, a lot of blahhing on and highjinks. As a result we have been behaving ourselves the past couple of nights afterwards. We are staying about half an hour from Chanias town, its streets are very venetian, having been influenced by them also, some winding streets with cute craft shops that come out into a big square with a ...