Chania, Crete Repeat Day 2

Our plan today is to bake a whole fish for an early dinner. I went over to the Agora Market and bought a 1 kg dorada (gilt-head sea bream) for 14 euros. The fish monger cleaned and scaled it as I wished we could have stayed longer and tried some of his other fish but we are leaving early tomorrow morning for Split, Croatia. After getting some olive oil, lettuce and a lemon, I headed back. Just as I walked through the entrance I heard Jill call my name. She snapped a few pictures from the terrace for my blog. We made breakfast before we headed to our favourite beach for a swim. It was a melancholy farewell. Crete was fabulous. On a sad note, graffiti seems to have taken over the world. Very little street art here. More tagging and vandalism defacing beautiful historic buildings. We even saw a large ANTIFA painted on the side of a school wall. Sad. 

We walked through the Agora and picked up a few gifts before heading back. We found a place where you could fill up a container with raki of moscato wine and even get a taste from a sweet helpful young girl. We love having all prices expressed with taxes in and that goes for restaurant pricing as well. Wish we did this in Canada. It is a more relaxed life here. Fewer rules. No one giving out parking tickets for cars facing the wrong way on a street or parking too close to a stop sign. We never saw one accident even though driving sometimes seemed chaotic. There was a rhythm of care which I have a hard time explaining. No one gets upset. There was no horn blowing. Just a peaceful coexistence with respect for each other. 

I decided to cook the fish in foil after covering it in olive oil and seasoning it with salt. Some lemon slices and parsley in the cavity and 40 minutes in the oven at 200 centigrade and it was ready. Jill, who used to freak if she ever found a bone, declared this the best juiciest fish ever. She found a few bones but it did not take away her enjoyment of this delicious fish. Parsley, olive oil, salt, a squeeze of lemon is all it took. Jill wanted some baklava before we left so out we went. It was not easy to find a bakery in the old town but we forged on down every alley and side street. Just as we were about to give up, eureka. This place had baklava which he said was made by a Syrian woman who makes the best in Chana.  It was fabulous. Jill and I shared the larger of the two we bought. The price was 5 Euros for two. Well worth the experience. The other will be for breakfast tomorrow along with the paninis Jill made with the left over cheese and olives while we wait in the Athens airport to get our flight to Split. Our cab is picking us up at 4:30 so it is early to bed.

Chania, Crete Repeat Day 1

Last night was a mixed bag. Dinner was delicious with those small sweet shrimp in pasta. The fly in the ointment was a big bang at the breaker panel when the lights when out. We were cooking at the time and also doing a load of laundry. When I reset the breakers, the washing machine would no longer work. During the night I woke up and the air was off. It was hot. The panel did not have any tripped breakers. To top it off we could hear the sometimes loud merriment happening on the street outside without the white noise of the air conditioner to drown it out. Also a car alarm when off at three different times and at one point it sounded like someone had taken off their shoe and was banging on a door for several minutes. We were both hot and tired when we received an email from our host who is in New York apologizing for the kitchen inadequacies and the dead washing machine. He said our first night stay would be free and he was having delivered the necessary things for the kitchen. He did not know about the power outage in the entire building. We texted his father before we headed out for a swim and breakfast. 

While having a simple breakfast in a lovely seaside cafe, he notified us that he and an electrician would go to see what the power issues were. When we met him back at the apartment he had a bottle of fine wine and a plastic bag for our dirty clothes which were still in the washer. He told us to leave them outside our door on Monday morning and they would be laundered and returned to us by the afternoon. The power was back on but there was a serious issue with the washer that could not be remedied quickly. What a fine example of customer service when things happen which are out of one's control.

We spent the rest of the day exploring the old town and spending our money. We saw the place where you can have you feet cleaned by fish. Yuck. At two, we stopped for a 25 Euro lunch special for two at an enchanting restaurant called Ela. We had heard Ela many times when families were walking and wondered how it could be such a popular name. Ela means come in Greek. Mystery solved. The special was two grilled sea bream, a sweet moist delicious fish, a large Greek salad, and a 1/2 litre of wine. We were now ready for a short siesta. 

We moved up to our terrace where I wrote my blog and Jill prepared the cheese and olives we had bought at the market when we arrived. We are directly across from the Agora which is the market in old town modelled after the covered market in Marseille. It is Sunday night and most everything is closed. The cheese and olives were exceptional, especially when accompanied by Italian prosecco, all enjoyed al fresco.