Sam and I have long joked that there should be a rent-a-kid program for visiting certain child-enamored countries like Portugal and Vietnam. Greece is also such a country and until now we've only experienced it as childless adults. We didn’t rent a kid, but our friend Amy visited with her daughter, Vivian, and we got to witness the touching ways Greeks lavish attention on kids.
First Visitors!
Amy and Vivian were our first American visitors since we've been in Greece and it was a treat to see people from home, especially in these times. We were lucky last year to have their company, too, when we were in Maine. Last year, they even drove us down to Boston, almost exactly a year ago so we could meet with the Greek Consulate to launch this whole Greece adventure. They've been entwined in our Greek experience in multiple ways.
Semi--Quasi-Officially Greek?
Amy and Vivian got to be part of our morning routine at the nearby natural pool for a few days. On their first day here, we went for a morning swim and a swim after sunset. Whenever we walk to the pool, we pass a ramshackle outdoor dining table on the side of our street that is used by a family living nearby. The family and their friends spend hours there every night as it serves as a second living room. Cars sometimes pull up next to the dining table and chats ensue. We exchange hellos whenever we walk by. This particular night, we walked past the family with our swimming kit and Sam heard the dad say about us in Greek "now they're real Greeks" because we were swimming at night. As he would say to us on the soggy walk back, "It's the best time to swim!"
Horses at Sunset
We rented a car so we could take Vivian to a horse ride that Amy had arranged, located an hour from Chania. How amazing is this--Vivian got to ride a horse where waves meet sand as the sun set over Cretan mountains in the distance. The stables folks tipped us off that we could lounge on some beach chairs and see all the riders pass as the sun went down. So Amy, Sam and I reclined on a sandy beach as waves crashed, and the sun slowly set while Vivian rode past. On the return trip to Chania after her ride, we decided to live like Greeks and went out for dinner at 11pm at our Chef friend's restaurant. He made dishes especially for us and when we insisted that we were too stuffed to even consider dessert, he snuck a homemade vanilla creamy treat into our doggie bags for breakfast.
Greeks Bearing Gifts
On the last morning that Amy and Vivian were here, we went to the swim spot again and got a few surprises. First, our friend the Chef, brought them a huge container of olives from his olive farm. These olives were a very special gift not only because they are delicious (maybe the best we've ever had?). Sadly, this year's crop got almost completely destroyed by a hailstorm a few weeks ago. Giving some of his precious supply is a gift from the heart.
But that wasn't the only gift. One of the regular swimmers approached Vivian with a snack container, but when the woman pried it open, it was full of lovely shells that she had collected. She said Vivian reminded her of her 15 year granddaughter and she wanted Vivian to have the shells. Beach-combing in Greece does not generally result in finding many shells so this was clearly a prized possession. And we've barely even gotten to chat with this woman before Amy and Vivian visited us! What a generous people, especially when you sprinkle in that kid magic!
Therisos Gorge
After we dropped Amy and Vivian off so they could take the ferry back to Athens, we decided to go to Therisos Gorge in our last few hours with the rental car. The gorge is about 7 miles from Chania but it's almost an entirely separate world. Unlike the more famous hiking gorges on Crete, this is one experienced via the road. Aside from us, we encountered hundreds of goats and sheep, a few cars, and a handful of road bicyclists. The gorge is comprised of lovely steep walls of crumbly orange rock with occasional tufts of greenery and flowers. It was much cooler than in Chania, which has heated up in recent weeks. We stopped at a taverna at 6pm and were the only customers, but had an excellent village meal (Greeks often wax poetic about eating in the small villages) along with refreshing breezes. Eating deep-fried mushrooms is a Proutsian kind of experience for us, harkening back to our first trip to Crete two decades ago and some incredible meals we had in a little village back them. We got to eat such again for the first time and that was a treat.
A Last Week on Crete
And suddenly it's the last week of our stay on Crete. We've completely enjoyed our time here and the next stop, the Peloponnese as a whole and Kalamata specifically have a hard act to follow. As usual, it's bittersweet to leave but it's exciting that we get to explore another part of this country.
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| Driving through the Therisos Gorge near Chania |
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Vivian's sunset horse ride along the sea
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| Lounging at the beach, waiting for the horses |
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| Sam and pals chat with the pool regulars, one of whom is chagrined to learn how much Greek Sam knows and how much gossip she might've overheard! |
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| Vivian and I made a dolphin scene on a rock I've been using as a daily canvas. Concept by Vivian! |
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Fat olives from Agrinio for Amy and Vivian, from the Chef
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| Artwork by me, inspired by: 1) some of the posters you often see (e.g., doors of Greece!); and 2) the peculiar sunburns we've seen on many a tourist now that the sun is scorching |
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| Another Therisos Gorge scene (umm, not up to spec by FHWA guidance?!) |
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| Traffic congestion, Therisos Gorge |
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| Dusk over the old town of Chania |
