i’ve become a slacker on keeping up with my travel journal/blog. will try for a bit of catch up. it’s sunday, sunny lovely day going on, lots of bird singing and i’ve got Andrea Bocelli playing on my computer..... life is good. Greg and Linda arrived on Friday afternoon from Athens and after they took their bags to their house, we all sat at Bloumosifi at an outside table and sipped cold Mythos while we caught up on their travels (and travails) so far... and made plans for the next few days. they got an upgrade on their house because the one they reserved needed some work on it after the winter... and are staying at Xanthippi’s rental which is really really nice... and has wireless, a beautiful view of the White Mountains, all kinds of niceties plus a washing machine! yesterday we took the bus to Hania and i was happy that it went the long way so we went thru Gavalohori, Almirida, Kalives and a few other small villages, which was like a tour of the countryside! Hania was bustling busy and it looks like all the merchants are geared up for tourist season. we walked thru one of the narrow street/alley ways where it’s like an open market of tourist wares and trinkets, also lots of vendors with really nice Italian leather goods (i bought a really nice fanny pack with lots and lots of pockets!!), then went thru the big market... it has fresh fish and meat in one section, an area of cheeses and baked goods, some fresh fruit and vegetable vendors, and of course many vendors selling the Greek olive oil, soaps, raki, ouzo, candy (i bought some of my fave - Halvah- to take home), and of course lots of teeshirts and hats and key chains stuff. we walked down to the Old Harbor and after walking and looking for awhile, we let ourselves be hustled into one of the harbor-side tavernas for lunch. many of these places have a “hustler” standing out in the walkway who quite pleasantly starts talking to you in english... or german, and invites you to come and look at their menu. most of them have some sort of gimmick to get you talking to them and can be quite charming! anyway, we looked, we sat, and we have a nice lunch and Mythos, followed of course by raki and dessert which they just bring to you when they start clearing your dishes away automatically.

after lunch we wandered a bit more, stopped at our favorite art gallery/shop, Jim bought a little statue of "the happy warrior". by the time we got back to that horrid scary bus station we were hot and sweaty and totally ready to get on the bus and come back home!