Homeless in Hania

  Chania, Greece
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Yesterday was mainly spent finding our way to the port of Pireus, near Athens, and getting sorted for our ferry trip over to the Greek Island of Crete.  There was a public transit strike on, which made things more complicated, and our hostel was right near the square where the protest was, so we were woken early by annoying music and loud chanting. 

We spent much of the day sitting in the shade and reading, or one of us guarding bags whilst the other scoured the area around the port.  Dan, foolishly, declined free Coca-cola from attractive Greek promotional women, not understanding what they were saying, and returned to Gabrielle 5 minutes later to find her surrounded by men who were trying to chat her up.  They became strangely silent upon his return.

All Aboard

We boarded the overnight ferry very early and chose some prime deck location for our journey.  Turns out it was actually a little cold at night and our deck spot was not so prime, so we found a tiny corner inside a coridor near the top of the boat and bunkered down.  We built a little fort of bags and wrapped ourselves up in sleep sacks on some comfy floor space.

We were awoken the next morning to a dramatic, Kenny G. like, version of Chariots of Fire played at full blast over the loud speaker system at about 5:00am, announcing our imminent arrival in Crete.

Early Morning Sailing

We found a bus from the port to Chania (Hania) and attempted to check into the hostel listed in our 'Let's Go 2007' travel guide, only to find that it was permenatly closed.  We tried to find the information centre listed on our map from Athens, only to find that it was also permenatly closed.  So we settled down at a local cafe for some Crepes for breakfast and hit up some internet looking for a new place to stay tonight. 

So about the Crepes (they deserve their own paragraph).  Maybe it was just that we were tired, stinky, dirty, and hungry, but they kicked some serious crepe butt.  They were quite large!  so we split two and got fresh fruit and Greek honey in one, and Chocolate and almonds in the other.  They cafe was in a shady courtyard by an old church, so we listened to the birds and the church bells with some excellent crepege. 

Gabrielle and the Crepe

So far, we like Crete.  If only we could find a place to stay...