Well - actually I'm back on my couch and can deliver my letter by hand.
To make the fall feel shorter, we, each year, take a weeks vacation on the lovely island of Crete in the middle of the Mediterranean - the largest and most southern of the Greek islands. A troublesome travel for me, but well worth it when I'm there.
We've found "our" hotel right at the beach outside the city of Chania. Perfect for me, since it's no more than 100 ft from the apartment to the beach. Especially in the mornings I'm not up for long walks. The days are mostly the same - the beach during the day, and a restaurant at night. Usually a restaurant nearby, and if I have a good day we take a cab to the old Venetian Harbour in Chania. I can't cover much ground during a week, so still we find new places and new sights around every corner. Think I need a lifetime to see it all.
What I enjoy most is to wake up early, early in the morning and see the sunrise from the balcony outside my bedroom (we are "regulars" so we get the same apartment every year
) Hubby is usually asleep, so I get an hour or two for myself.
Only the staff and I are awake.
The hotel area is always clean and pretty - perfect for a neat-freak like me.
The beach is wonderful. The water is not deep, so it's easy for me to go bathing. The ocean is still lukewarm after the warm summer days, and I enjoy using my hard earned love handles to float around.
If you keep your wallet nearby, you can get almost everything you can dream of from the sunbed. I had a cute, little Asian guy come and give me, what they call, Thai-massage. I think it was a whole Philippine family who walked the beach offering this. It was wonderful. He did not speak much English so I had a hard time explaining to him to not touch my back. Once in a while I felt him trying to rub around the "forbidden" place, and I had to take on my strong voice and tell him: "No....Noooooooo" - to stop a "disaster" from happening. I have a excellent picture showing him in action on my body (the tan is great too
My daily dose of vitamins I got from the Fruit-girl. She was a bit more expensive than the shops, but it was very comfortable to buy it from the sunbed.
I think it was three evenings we took a cab to Chania and the old Harbour. The architecture is clearly influenced by the fact that they once was occupied by the Turks (17th century)
The lighthouse
The mosque (left side) looks like a "concrete ball", but is beautifully restored inside
A little house clinging to the slope over the mosque
An old Minaret
This year i discovered the big trees have some beautiful, feather-like flowers. Silly me - I've never looked upwards before.
Have no idea what sort of trees.
We had one day with overcast all day. I was in pretty good shape that day, so we spent all afternoon and evening in Chania. Walked for a few minutes and chose bars/restaurants with good, soft chairs to rest up. I'm glad I'm not very in to alcoholic beverages cause we had to buy something to drink to justify using the chairs. Hubby, on the other hand, got veeeery happy after a while. (except for when a pigeon dropped a big wet.......business card on the top of his head)
At he end I could really need a big, strong drink, cause my back felt like h***. I
know I overdid it, but I so enjoy a little glimpse of being "normal"
The next (and last) day the sun was shining again, but the ocean was very "angry" It were some amazing waves. It was not allowed to swim, but you only had to dip you feet, and the waves showered you from top to bottom. I got cooled off that day too. The temps was perfect around 27/30 C or 80/85 F. The humidity from the summer was almost gone.


What do you think?
Posted: 09/23/07 16:21:37
Hi there (((((((((Alice!!!!))))))))))),
So wonderful to see you, and I adore your holi snaps.....Did you go to Crete?....I have been there and really loved it...but not heard of Chania......I'm glad to hear you've been soaking up the healing sun's energy, and enjoying the wonderful environment......I think you did right getting away from it all, and having some lovely memories to look back on......Thanks for sending me this link, and hope you'll be able to hop over to my site sometime....I have posted some new snaps of our latest project....lol...and also it would be sooooo nice to see you sweety.....It's got sooooo quiet at mine.......Anyway beautiful images, and a great blog post......
Take good care, love you loads, my dear friend!!
(((((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))))))))
Sonia xoxoxoxoxooxoxox