There wasn’t any specific structure to the day. We didn’t have an alarm set. Being rested and not having a fixed structure to the day allowed us to deal with the surprises that the day threw at us. More on that later.
When we came in to the apartment yesterday we noticed three things:
- There’s a bit of a smell to the place – we hoped that starting the AC and ventilation would get rid of it.
- The wifi is painfully slow – we’re talking 56K modem slow,
- There’s no shenanigans to get hot water as the breaker for the water heater is already on.
This morning the smell had gotten worse and, while the breaker is on, there is a timer button that needs to be pressed to get warm water. That realization let to Karine having a lukewarm shower “submariner style” – she didn't want to wait the 20-minute heating time. Also the water was connected wrong, so you need to arrange the water handle towards the blue side (not the red side) to get hot water. The wifi was still shit. This goes to prove that two wrongs don’t make a right.
Karine reached out to the owner of the place through the booking app. She got a prompt answer and they said that the poor wifi was “normal” but not the smell. They would come check things out while we’re away.
We finished getting ready and headed out for breakfast at 📍Adami. Our research made it a promising place but our orders disappointed. Karine’s yogurt bowl was grainy, my spinach omelet was soggy thanks to the salad dressing and not managing the spinach water release properly. The coffee was also atrocious. That’s when we realized that we had come to a restaurantsurant opened by a beekeeper and didn't order anything with honey. In the end they credited us the coffee and gave us a small discount on our bill because they felt the service was slow (it was fine).
To make up for the breakfast disappointment we headed to 📍Red Jane bakery for a cinnamon roll. While not record breaking it was good and really hit the spot. We continued with good coffee at 📍Kross and were satisfied.
From breakfast (what other people would call lunch because of the time of day), we headed out to explore the Venetian port in the old city. We started with the sea wall protecting the harbour. There’s a small fort and a lighthouse along it that are interesting to go and “visit” (you can’t enter either).
While we were on the walls we heard back from the owner of the apartment and we learned fixing the smell will require specialized work that cannot happen today. They offered to refund the rest of our stay if we didn't want to deal with the situation. We sat right there on the seawall and worked at finding something suitable for the next two nights in the city. The benefits of traveling in the shoulder season came through for us. We found a hotel on the old port with availability at a reasonable-adjacent price (two nights are costing us about the same as the three nights from our original booking and there’s no washing machine).
We finished our exploration of the seawall, walked to the apartment, packed our bags and went to the hotel we had just booked to check in. Even with our backpacks we did work at exploring a little the old city on our way to the hotel and enjoyed what we saw and the vibe of the place. Did I mention we met cat archaeologists? Really cats near ruins with information plates but I’m sure they share a passion for archeology… probably.
We spent about 20 minutes at the hotel charging our phones and revelling in being back to the land of decent wifi (we’re talking megabytes per second here). From there we kept exploring the Venetian portions of the old city and then went day-drinking. The charm of Chania really is in its Venetian-influenced neighborhoods: the twisting narrow streets, the interesting small alleys, and all the life that happens there. If you walk away from the tourist-store craziness, there’s beauty to be found.
We went back to the hotel to recharge from a grueling day before heading for dinner at 📍Mikro Kelari. The thing to eat here, according to our research, is the meat, all of the meats. We followed the recommendations and went for the small “assorted meats” (small as in for two to three persons). For starters we went for both sides of the food spectrum: seasonal greens (the Crete version of swiss chard) cooked with tomato pure, local herbs and olive oil, and Saganaki, melted cheese with a very thin slice of sundried tomato on top. Karine even managed to get us some slow cooked lamb (Cretan wedding lamb so we were told) as a side dish for the pile of meat; because what pairs better with meat if not more meat. We demolished that meal but we had to dig deep at the end. It was a lot of protein!
Tomorrow we’re heading out for a hike. Of course it’s another gorge (that’s the natural beauty to see on the island). Originally we planned the Samariá gorge but for logistics reasons we’re switching it with the last hike we had planed in Crete: Agia Irini Gorge. The change will allow us to sleep in a little more before heading out for both hikes.
Places
Adami - Breakfast, brunch & beyond · Chania
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Red Jαne Bakery · Chania
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KROSS COFFEE ROASTERS · Chania
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Mikro Kelari · Chania
Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
maps.app.goo.gl
