Today Mom picked the number 22, so I'll write about what we did in Greece on October 22. It was a travel day - the day we left Athens and arrived in Chania.
Since it was our last day in Athens, Lizzie and I decided to go out for breakfast at a little cafe we had walked by many times that was always busy and had good reviews. We went quite early, and I'll tell you that in my experience in both Athens and Chania, most businesses are not up and running very early in the morning. We sat at a table outside. I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and the server must have thought I was unbalanced. Most (Greek) people were wearing jackets or coats. It was chilly, but not that cold. I do wish I'd brought a light jacket, though, in retrospect. I wasn't exactly cold, but I could have been warmer. LOL
After breakfast, we walked back to the hotel and decided to go up to the roof restaurant for another coffee, perhaps a pastry, and a final look at the Acropolis. It is just as magnificent as you imagine it to be: a big, rocky hill rising above the city, and on top of the hill, one of the most iconic buildings in the world stands proudly in ruins as it has for thousands of years. As we gazed out over Athens that morning, we were delighted that we could pick out some landmarks that we had passed on our tour the previous day. Over there is Monastiraki Square. The brown building points us to the ancient cemetery and the old city walls. There is the observatory and the hills behind the Acropolis. And there is the New Acropolis Museum! It was so cool to get the lay of the land, so to speak. We had walked all over that part of the city the day before (which you will read about on some random day later this month!).
Here's a pano shot I took from the hotel roof:
The flight from Athens to Chania is less than an hour, but you still have to go through all the airport stuff. A cool thing in Greece is that you can pay six euros and get a security fast pass, like TSA pre-check.
At the airport in Chania, we hopped in a cab to take us to our hotel. The airport is about 20 - 30 minutes out of Chania, so we got a chance to see some of the countryside. Crete is mountainous. Near the airport, it looked kind of like southern Idaho with small hills and scrubby bushes. As we got closer to the city, though, the sea came into view and I realized I was far, far from Idaho.
We got ourselves situated at the hotel, and soon it was time to meet the creativity group. There were about a dozen of us, plus Jill the Artist and Carlo the tour operator. After a brief introduction and overview of the week, we got our first look at the touristic part of town as we walked to the Old Harbor. There were gobs of people all around, although I thought the tourist season was mostly over. Maybe it was the last hurrah of the season.
Here are a couple of first impression photos:
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| first glimpse of the Venetian Lighthouse |
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| the mosque stands out |
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| color, angles, greenery, cafe tables |
Our group settled in at a cafe with outdoor seating and we had our first session with Jill. We did a quick writing exercise about things we noticed - one of my observations was, "people strolling by in winter coats as I sit here in a t-shirt." Truthfully, I was a little chilly because there was a breeze coming off the harbor. I learned right then to always have at least my scarf with me to fend off the chill.
We did an exercise in which we did a partial blind drawing of someone at our table. Partial blind apparently means you mostly look at your subject, only occasionally glancing at your drawing. I mostly looked at my drawing. How could I possibly draw my person if I wasn't looking at what I was drawing?! Ah...learning to let go was the lesson of this exercise.
Another thing we did was draw a bunch of little boxes and then we sketched things we saw as we walked back along the harbor to the place we were going to have dinner. I confess that I felt terribly self-conscious and like a big phony while I was doing that. I sketched five things, but I drew twelve boxes. I hoped I would loosen up over the week and start to have fun with this whole art thing.
The sun was starting to set as we walked to the restaurant. I love a good sunset, and I thought this pretty view was a good sign of things to come:
Carlo treated us all to halloumi souvlaki for dinner. Halloumi is a robust, rather meaty cheese. It doesn't taste like meat, of course, but it has a meat-like consistency. Lizzie and I had some in Athens, covered with sesame seeds and honey and fried, I guess. We didn't really care for the dish (even though we ate it all). We were expecting melty cheese in that dish, and haloumi doesn't really melt, even when it is grilled, so it was perfect wrapped in a pita that was stuffed with tomatoes, onions, and french fries, all slathered in tzatziki. Both Lizzie and I thought it was really tasty.
After dinner, the women in the group went their separate ways. Lizzie and I went to the hotel to drop off our art supplies and grab our jackets, then we went back to the Old Harbor to do a little exploring. We got some gelato and sat in the square near the church in the photo above. A wedding was being celebrated, and we watched the well wishers shower the bride and groom with rice as they came out of the church, and then spent time hugging their friends and family. What a great start for our time in Chania!
And the views are pretty wonderful, too:
Happy weekend, everyone! I'll see you back here tomorrow.
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