Farewell to Ifigenia Apartments and Pension Orio

So tonight is our last night in the Ifigenia apartments. We were so excited when we booked it that we had our first little place in Hania, but when we reached the Pension Orio building we were staying at we were disappointed at just how little it was. With bizarre decoration - a dead twig in a jug, or pans on the wall - and so little space that it felt like you could do the cooking whilst sitting in bed, it was quite claustrophobic for two for a fortnight. Obviously to make it even worse we have spent the last few days so excited at the prospect of moving into our real new home that staying here has just seemed like a drag.

Now our favourite hotel in the old town of Hania was El Greco. Not because we stayed there, but because we were able to use their internet connection. It has saved us so much money and been invaluable in keeping me occupied. I can't believe how much of a fluke it was that we found the signal. If you sit in one specific chair in one specific place on the Pension Orio balcony the signal is strong enough to connect to the internet. Put the laptop down on the chair and the connection drops. Put it on the table next to you and the connection drops.

Claire and I have conflicting theories about it. I said maybe our guardian angel put it there to keep me occupied. Claire thinks it is more likely that her guardian angel intervened and caused the connection to drop for two days, so that she could actually get any of my attention onto house-hunting!

I might miss the wi-fi, but there are certainly a few things about the place we won't miss - especially the improbably small bathroom. The "shower" is the whole room, there is just a plug-hole on the floor and some taps sticking out of the side. It is only about the width of a person, which caused a comedy of errors early on in our stay here. I was contorting in order to get dressed following a shower in the tiny space, and managed to drop my socks into the toilet. To compound their misery, once I'd fished them out, I put the socks on the window sill to dry, and later on found that one had been blown off into the courtyard below, where it is still sitting now.