Day trip to Chania

I did not have time to stay in Chania, so I woke up early to take 1.5 hrs bus from Rethmnon to there.  

Chania and the long row of beach resorts stretching 20 km west along the beaches of the Chania bay is a well visited destination for Scandinavian charter trips. 

Chania Old Town is largely intact, and located both on the port side (another major cruise and ferry port) and the harbor side. The harbor boasts an old Venetian lighthouse (faros) and old Turkish mosque. Many of the Old Town structures are from the Venetian and Turkish period, including a few old Turkish hammans ((Turkish baths). Souda Bay, just outside of Chania is an important NATO naval base. 

Like each town in South America has a cetrak plaza with a church at the plaza corner, each Greek town has an old town with a port, a light house, and a kind of fortress.  There are always some ruins in the old town blended with restaurants, cafes, suverners shops, clothes stores, etc.  

The ground rule for explore a town without doing homework is using the tourist office. first is to figure out in and out bus schedule and ask other backpackers what to do and how long to stay. Second, get a map from the bus station or a tourist office (especially those selling one day tour) so you know where to go and start walking. Third, stop by a super market when see one to get water and snack for the day. Now you are ready. 

I got myself a bottle of chocolate milk and same fruit and finished the major spots in three hours. However, no one could tell me how to get to Etz Hayyim which was a desecrated house of prayer that remained the sole Jewish monument on the Island of Crete after the destruction of Crete's Jewish. Well, so be it. I cannot see everything. Life is like a box of chocolates, and you cannot eat them all.

 I really like the central market of Chania, so I had a seafood feast there: a price of sword fish of two palm size, 5 jumble shrimps, and some tasty small fried fish, all for myself. Greek chefs tend to over grill seafood, comparing with Asian chefs. They usually only use salt, lemon, olive oil, and some onion for favor. 

There are many stuffs I like in the market but I do not want to carry them. So I took photos of them. Greece is only the first country of this trip. I usually buy all gifts at the last city right before flying back to Washington DC.