Crashed Out in Crete

After the better part of a year rushing around getting used to life in London and soaking up as much of a few cities as we could, we decided it was time to take our foot off the accelerator and spend a week in the sun.

There are plenty of options to choose from, but we opted for Chania on the northern side of Crete.  By late September, the temperature was still in the 30s and perfect.  We booked a little apartment just out of the main town (http://www.elmasdream.gr/) that had everything we needed.  So we rotated between the beaches, the apartment complex’s pool and the local restaurants.  Kyle went for a few runs, but otherwise we read books, swam and just mooched around.  It was wonderful.  Because we’d booked everything ourselves, rather than getting a package deal, we ended up surrounded by middle-aged Norwegians.  No idea where in Crete the Brits tend to go, but it isn't Chania!  Hilarious.

The food was fantastic – on our first trip to what became our favourite taverna down the road, we made friends with our waiter and asked him to order all traditional Greek dishes for us.  We weren’t sorry…  He ordered about six little plates for us to share – dolomades, eggplant wrapped in bacon, thin handmade sausages, lamb, roasted capsicums with a cumin-infused yoghurt sauce and, of course, mountains of tzatziki.  Delicious.  I still think that was the best meal we had the whole holiday.  In Crete, every restaurant brings you a little bottle of Raiki, the local fire water, to finish, along with some crazy semolina paste/cake.  The jury’s still out on that one.  But our waiter didn’t mind and he took very good care of us for that meal and our repeat visits.    

Another family-run restaurant we went to was run by a family who lived in Wellington - Kilbirnie to be precise - for over 20 years.  Once the first guy knew where we were from, we met the whole family.  Our meal was delicious, but we enjoyed sitting there listening to Hayley Westenra (who would’ve ever thought I’d say that!) and being treated almost as celebrities – Little Scandanavia must’ve been wondering who on earth we were!

 

Towards the end of our stay, we decided to finally be good little tourists and we took a trip down to the harbour in Chania Old Town.  It was small and very cute.  Lots of narrow windy lanes that no car would ever go down covered in climbing plants.  Best thing I can say about it is that it had a lighthouse. Which of course Kyle had to run to.  The ancient site of Knossos was nearby, but we were far too lazy.  Maybe next time!

Next stop?  You can call him Bond... James Bond....