Food, glorious food - lunch

We made it to Chania in time for lunch and having found the hotel and thrown our bags into the room we headed out to feed our tummies.

We were immediately hit with options, almost everywhere we looked there was some sort of taverna or restaurant dishing out vast quantities of Greek food. This posed a problem as we were spoilt for choice ...

Eventually we had walked as far as our hunger pains would allow and we settled on a restaurant located in the ruins of a building. It had no roof or windows but did have a couple of reasonably large trees growing through the middle of what I assume was once a rather grand house, though instead of ancient oil paintings of rich merchant men there were rusty old bicycles hanging from the walls, which made us giggle and think of Dad.

Despite the fact the we thought we where hungrier than the whole African continent combined we new better than to order the whole menu as my eyes are most definately larger than my stomach.

In the end we had quite a simple lunch - some tzatziki, Dakos and stuffed vine leaves all washed down with a beer.

The food was very nice and all things considered ... we were in the middle of the most touristic town on the island … was not extortionately expensive. It was worth it just to sit in the ruined house/garden!

Ionas Hotel

If you’re going to drive for four hours to visit a town on the other side of the island let’s face it you’re more than likely not going to drive all the way back in one day ...  otherwise what would be the point of going in the first place?

So when Mum decided to come I went on tripadvisor and had a hunt for a hotel, given that it was a rather last minute plan finding a hotel was easier than I expected.  

We settled on the Ionia hotel, it seemed decent enough and was in the old town.  The plan being to park the car for the day and walk around and as Chania's old town is a pedestrianised zone there wasn't really much need for a car.

Now despite what seemed to be relatively good directions, finding the hotel took a little bit of time and a number of wrong turns. Eventually we made it, found a spot to park the car and set off on foot. The back streets of Chania can best be described as a rabbit warren full of lefts, rights and dead ends! We managed to take the left and a right a little bit earlier than we should have and ended up walking around in a circle for a while ... Eventually both of us gave in, now given that we are possibly the most stubborn creatures on the planet that is saying something. The lady on the end of the telephone was very helpful perhaps we were not the first people to have taken the wrong turn only a few metres before the hotel!

Once we checked in we were informed that we had been upgraded to the suite, which was a very nice surprise. We were escorted to our room, given an introduction to how everything worked and left to our own devices. Quite literally, the hotel is not manned twenty four seven, you are given an electronic access key and shown how the front door works and if you have any problems there is a telephone number to call where the lovely lady who I never met will try and help you out.  To be honest I rather liked the set up, open and free to get on with it as and when you liked.

The room we had had two levels the mezzanine floor was kitted out with twin beds. 

Breakfast was included in the price we paid for the room, it was a huge continental spread, jams, cheeses, cold meats, muffins, croissants, toast, eggs, cereal and much more it admittedly looked very nice. I say looked as we had managed to stuff ourselves silly the night before and the near sight of food was enough to make us feel like we were the size of the hotel itself!

There was a staff member ready to help you out with anything that you might need for your breakfast and even though her English was limited we managed with our charades and broken Greek.

All in all, the hotel was very good value for money and very conveniently located. If you didn't want to venture too far from the hotel there were two restaurants right outside the front door serving excellent food.

You can find the hotels website here along with all their contact details.

Chania

About twice a year my parents make their pilgrimage to see their daughter who lives in Greece ... not that they have another one or anything. This year they made it over in May but as fait would have it, there was a small hiccough that got in the way of their combined second trip - Dad had temporarily come out of retirement to fix a problem somewhere in the Mediterranean ...unfortunately not in my bit of the Med. This left Mum with the dilemma of what to do whilst the cat was away .... the mouse decided to play, hopped on an airplane and with a skip and a jump she was on the island.

This not being her first trip meant that, well, she had seen most of this end of the island and with itchy feet was raring to do a bit more exploring so we booked a hotel in Chania, at the other end of the island.

Chania is well known in the touristic circles, it had the good fortune of being ruled by the Venetians who used all their engineering and architectural know how to create a beautiful coastal town complete with walled city and port.

Depending on who you talk to the old town reminds you of different places, to me it could be Italy Mum argues that it's more Syrian.  Given that after the Venetians came the Turks, there is merit in both sides of the argument. The Venetians left their Italian architecture, the Turks left behind their beloved mosques – many of which have now been converted to churches.

Once an important port of call on the trading route between east and west, Chania is now awash with tourists of all shapes and sizes and of a surprisingly diverse mix of nationalities.

The old town has adapted from the merchants of old to accommodate the modern tourist and their needs. Despite its picturesque outlook the port is lined with bars, restaurants, and shops selling expensive food, drinks and tourist tack.  However, take a wander down the meandering back streets and the opportunities are endless. The shops are packed to the rafters with a huge variety of excuses to get the credit card out and start burning a hole in it! From stunning works of art by local artists to jewellery, hand made carpets and olive based beauty products.

Eventually having walked up almost every back ally and side street in the old town we managed to leave laden with Christmas gifts and well ... let's be honest now, one or two items of self indulgence!

The Floating Church of Georgioupoli

Many years ago back when the tectonic plates were still cooling and the world was still in black and white, my Uncle embarked on an expedition to Crete – you may have had to take a ship - along with his then new wife. They decided to stay in a little seaside village on the west coast of the island, which they instantly fell in love with. They had a wonderful break from the world of black and white as this village was apparently in colour!

When my Mother said that she was going to go to the west coast of the island for a night he insisted that we pull into the village to have a look as in his memory it was an idyllic Greek village off the beaten track and the perfect place to relax and enjoy yourself.  

Having spent the morning wandering around Chania accumulating Christmas and birthday presents from the highly interesting variety of little shops we were running a tiny bit short of time as we had a four hour drive and we wanted to get home at a sane hour of the day.  

Nevertheless given that we had to drive past the turning for the village we ventured in … the road was winding and in some places falling apart which made us wonder what on earth we were letting ourselves in for, perhaps my Uncle had been the last visitor before the whole village slipped into the sea … the entrance to the village, which we later discovered was the back entrance, was an avenue of enormous eucalyptus trees – the smell was amazing.

Eventually we found the village which I imagine had grown some and advanced somewhat since my uncle had visited. It was still a lovely sleepy seaside village, the huge difference between it now and then, I imagine, was the large hotels that lined the beach.

Georgioupoli is unique in the sense that it has a substantial river running past it that flows from a natural lake high up in the mountains, the village is tucked away between the mouth of the river and the coast line. The river is guarded by a huge flock of geese, which became extremely noisy and very angry when I tried to take a picture upstream!

 Slip way with an old docking system operated by a lot of blocks and an old winch hidden away in its own house. 

As we were getting into the car to leave, having had a little wander around the town and up the river, Mum turned around to discover a small church at the end of a rock bridge out at sea.

Normally churches are places that I admire from afar but this one was different, it is on a very small island about 200m from the coastline. To get to it you must walk down a rock bridge which is in fact a pile of rocks made from volcanic lava, making it extremely uneven as over the years mother nature has weathered them which makes getting to the church much more interesting.

I don’t know the name of the church all I know is that I have seen it in hundreds of photographs and have been trying to work out where it is since I moved to Crete. I was pleasantly surprised to accidentally stumble upon it. It is well worth the detour in the route just to have a look at the church.  

 The building on the land behind is another church 

Georgioupoli is about a 25 minute drive from Chania city centre it is easy to get to and if your staying in Chania a great day trip which might include taking a canoe up the river to find the fresh water turtles and perhaps a spot of lunch.