A lemon tree of our own

Sunset on summer

Well, by the time you are reading this, we shall both be back in the UK. I'm working through most of September and October, so I'm not really expecting to update the site much during the next few weeks. We'll be in Crete for a week-and-a-half in October, and then we'll be moving back to the island again in November. As last winter we ended up in Salzburg, we've never been in Hania during the off-season. It should be a whole new adventure as we find out what stays open all around the year - and just exactly how cold...

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Synagogue Cafe in Chania

We've found a lovely new late-night after dinner cafe to go to in town - the Synagogue Cafe. It isn't actually in the old Synagogue itself, but is next door to it in the backstreets behind the Konaki restaurant where we had our first ever meal out in Chania, and this year where I had my first beer boot of the season. Claire read about the cafe in one of the free guides that we pick up from time to time, so we thought we'd check it out after dinner the other week. It was amazing. It is inside the...

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Our lemons slammed

Although we didn't think they were 100% ripe yet, with our imminent departure for London we thought we ought to enjoy our lemons in case they fell off and went manky before we could get back to them. And so, with much ceremony, pomp, and circumstance, we finally picked one of our lemons. It immediately found its way into tequila slammers to go with a home-made Mexican extravaganza!

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Cretan evenings at Golden Sands

Mostly this year we've had guests arriving on Tuesday, which is changeover day in Chania. That means that all the charter flights arrive at once, the airport is in chaos, and we usually have some kind of water or electricity cut as every hotel and guesthouse in our neighbourhood frantically does their laundry and cleans the rooms. We usually start off by taking our guests to the Cretan evening at Golden Sands, the resort near us which offers ping-bong. It is, of course, a shameless tourist trap, but it is good fun and an introduction to the culture of the...

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Minoan ship in the old Venetian dockyards

Early in August we got to see an exhibition of the replica Minoan ship built on Crete in the early 2000s. We've actually seen it being rowed around the island from Agia Apostoli, and again in Chania harbour at the re-opening of the lighthouse. It was built using replica Minoan tools, and the design was based on an understanding of how the Minoan civilisation spread from Crete to trade with Italy, the Middle East and mainland Greece. It is being housed in the old venetian dockyard at the end of Chania's harbour. These are three giant buildings built to service...

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