Money, Money, Money

That snoring guy was back last night. This time he rolled over to his side at 6 am instead of around 2 am the night before, thus making the snoring longer. It wasn't so bad. I finished Portrait of the Artist at a Young Age by James Joyce last night before going to bed. It was pretty good. Kind of a tough read. I had to work at it but that was good for me. I started a book called The Narrows by Micheal Connelly. It is a crime thriller. It is soooooo good. It is 400 pages and I am already almost done with it. Anyway, I woke up and ate fried eggs, bread, oj, and tea on the roof garden again. Yum yum. Then I got packed and left. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I stayed at a place called Rent A Room Hellas. It was ok. Not that good but also not that bad. I met two couples in my dorm room while I was there who were nice. One was from Canada and the other from Australia but living in London (like all Australians it seems). So I left the hostel and walked over to the bus station. I bought my ticket and waited to leave. There were two guys from Montreal (they were talking to some other people) and they had the most veiny, muscular calves I had ever seen. The bus ride was nice. The sea on the right and some beautiful mountains on the left. I will admit I barely looked out the window because I was reading that crime book, The Narrows, so much. I love books that make you forget how much has passed while you read them. There was probably the biggest guy I had ever seen sitting in front and to the right of me. He was traveling with his mom who was one of the smallest women I had ever seen. They made a funny couple. The guy snored but I hardly noticed.

Chania was ruled by Turks and Venetians for a long time. The town looks a lot like Venice. There is an old harbor that is surrounded by touristy restaurants (picture 1). The Old Town is quiet and peaceful. The place really reminds me of Venice and Turkey combined (like the old mosque at one end of the harbor picture 2). The streets and houses look like Venice but the INSANE number of tourist shops remind me of Turkey. I got to my hotel/pension place and checked in. It is run by an older Greek guy. He was nice. I originally thought I was going to only stay one night, hike Samaria Gorge tomorrow and then take a ferry to Athens tomorrow night. After getting settled, I walked around and saw some of the sights. It was fun to just walk around and look at the stores. I had a pastry with bacon, ham, cheese, and cream cheese in it. Superb. I bought some supplies for tomorrow, snacks and stuff to eat. I sat by the harbor and read my book for a while. I was getting cold so I started to head back to my hotel when James and Jessica, the two people I met waiting for the ferry to Santorini called me over to their table! What a coincidence to run into them again!! We ran into each other in Heraklion as well on Friday night. For those that don't remember (or maybe I never said), Jessica is from Buffalo, NY and James is from Wales. They have been traveling around Greece for the last week or so. We met waiting for the ferry from Santorini (the one that got delayed, we started talking while we waited for it). Anyway, today we talked for an hour or two and just sort of hung out at a cafe. It was really nice to just sit and chat. I made sure to get my picture taken with them this time though (picture 5). We parted ways for what, for sure, will be the last time, at least for a while. They are headed to Athens tonight and then back home tomorrow. They were awesome people and I was really glad I met them.

I changed my mind about my plan so I paid for another night of accommodation. The ferry to Athens is at 9 pm from a town 20 minutes away and the bus back from the Gorge doesn't get back until around 8:30 pm so I wouldn't be able to make the ferry and hike the Gorge. I had to change my ferry ticket and I bought the bus ticket to the Gorge for tomorrow. The bus is at 8:30 am. I will take the bus to the top, hike down, take a ferry over a couple towns, and then take a bus back to Chania. It will be a long day but I am really looking forward to it!

I remembered seeing a really small place in the Old Town while I was walking so I went there for dinner. Quite possibly my best dining experience of the trip so far (except Kusadasi maybe). It is run by a family and the restaurant is really just a few tables with an open kitchen that you can see into (picture 6). It is run by a mom, dad, and their two daughters who are in their twenties. I had tzatziki (cucumber and other stuff with bread) as an appetizer. It was really delicious. I had meatballs for the main course (after eating most of them picture 7). They were spicier than the normal meatballs I have had before. There were also tomatoes and a lemon slice. The meatballs were hot from being warmed and spicy, the tomatoes were cool and fresh, and the lemon juice was sweet and sour. The combination was awesome. The kitchen was open to see in and it was fun watching the family work to make the meals. The kitchen was your basic family kitchen as well. One of the daughters hummed or sang sometimes. It was perfectly quiet out in the street. An extremely memorable experience. All of it (and water) was only 7 euros. I walked over to a cafe and got a crepe with walnuts and nutella. MMMM mmm good. Then I came on this computer. When I left, the harbor was all lit up (picture 8).

I titled the post that way because I bought a bunch of stuff today in preperation for the next couple days. I spent kind of a lot of money but it will all pay off tomorrow while I am hiking and for the ferry on Tuesday night. I wrote a lot for this post because the keyboard I am using is actually good, not a piece of crap like the ones in Heraklion. Also, I feel like I haven't done a good, long post for a while so here ya go. Tomorrow the Gorge. Woo!

One other thing, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms who read this! If this blog kept going over Father's Day, I would say the same so don't feel left out dads!! Moms are very special people and I hope all you moms had a great day.

Bye!!