i explored the northern coast of crete in this order:
1. rethymno
2. hania
3. iraklio
rethymno is a cute beach town. i met amanda on the ferry and we found our way to rethymno youth hostel together. we ended up trying different breakfasts, sweet greek pastries dunked in honey, and esp. mam mam's gyros (G with a hard /g/, gee-rohs). i tried the chicken, which was clean tasting. but i loved the pork gyros. mam mam's soon became a staple food in our diets!
hania, a small venetian coastal town. we shopped at leather and jewelry shops. amanda bought a few things and we both bought fake wedding rings to ward off fishy men, and i was thinking ahead to turkey...
iraklio, with knossos, i did alone. i like crazy busy iraklio with the non-stop cars and bustling of the city. i ended up watching "el greco" with these awesome american women in their 40s and 50s. i met them at the theater. they had taken up teaching positions at the university of crete or else had married a cretan man, one of whom i met that night. he was such a nice easy man to talk with. about him meeting his wife, back in the day... he said, "we met... it stuck... and, that's that." and about the moon, he looked up and simply said, "magical".
of course, if the opportunity to visit crete arises again, it'll be the southern coast that holds much natural beauty, so i've heard...
so long crete...
