May 11-21, 2009

In the evening of May 11 th, we flew on points with British Airways from Toronto, connecting through the very congested Heathrow Airport, ending up in Athens on May 12, 2009

ATHENS :

We quickly found the excellent connector bus (#95) to Syntagma Square in Athens – an hour of traveling standing up while the coach wound through the crowded streets. Our destination for the first three nights was the Pan Hotel, 11 Metropoleus Str, (www.panhotel.gr) two blocks from the square, with two single beds and small balcony overlooking the surprisingly quiet street.

We spent the next three days wandering the streets, shops and sights of this sadly dull and desecrated city. (Despite its great history, Athens has little to show except open fields where temples and markets once stood but are now filled with weeds and stones numbered for some future archeologist to reassemble.)

We wandered through cool and green National Garden (formerly the Royal Garden)

We enjoyed a drink (12€ each) and view at the bar atop the Grande Bretagne Hotel on the square. The hotel had been the headquarters of the Nazis during the occupation.

Like every tourist, we climb up to the Acropolis which was littered with cranes and scaffolding that had been there for more than 20 years as part of the restoration of the buildings

We visited The National Archaeological Museum of Athens . The museum was badly damaged during an earthquake 15 years ago and the bleak grayish walls still bore testament.

Although we toured the Agora, its best feature was a taverna that overlooked it. It became our midday waterhole with good wine and food washed down by generous (complimentary) glasses of Raki.

After 3 days it was time (in both meanings) to leave Athens. The Metro offered a quick and inexpensive way to get to the harbour of Piraeus. With hours to go, we exhausted ourselves walking to Mikrolimano a smaller private yacht harbour where we enjoyed fresh calamari

The overnight ferry to Crete left Piraeus at 21:00 arriving in Chania at 05:30 We booked an AB2 cabin (no porthole but who cared in the middle of the night) 2 people x 78.00 euro (ANEK LINES, 22, Akti Kondili str. Piraeus tel. +30 210 4197510)

CHANIA, CRETE:

The ferry put into Souda Bay at 5:30 AM just as the sun began to come up. The port is strange as there are no services or directions for pedestrians walking off the ferry. We finally found a taxi that took us the 12 miles to the Kriti Hotel ( www. kriti-hotel.gr) for an early check-in. This was a 1 night stay as the Porto Veneziano hotel was full. We slept for three hours.

Chania is just as I remembered from 25 years earlier – a wonderful Venetian harbor ringed by an esplanade with restaurants and shops that out did the Plaka.

The town, of Venetian and Turkish heritage, was badly damaged during the Nazi attack on Crete (The War on Crete) in May 1941 and signs of the occupiers (Venetians, Muslims, Turks and Nazis) still exist.

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Rested up, we explored the old market –

The next morning we moved to Porto Veneziano Hotel (www.portoveneziano.gr) on the east end of the harbour where I had stayed in 1984 when it was brand new. Our room was on the 3 rd floor with a deck overlooking the harbour

Three days were leisurely spent wandering the streets, shops and sights of Chania:

The Harbor

As well as the shops, the sandy beach and the numerous restaurants (tavernas)

After 3 ½ glorious days we flew via Aegean Airlines to Athens (www.aegeanair.com)

Chania Wed, 20 May, 10:35 Athens Wed, 20 May, 11:25

And spent the last night stay at the very budget TEMPI HOTEL in Athens