We landed in Crete and were driven by a really sweet taxi driver to the town of Chania. The town looks like a movie set/postcard. When we arrived in Chania, we got out of the taxi and onto a small golf cart to get down the narrow street to our hotel, Casa Delfino. We checked in with reception and went to the beautiful touristy area on the water for breakfast while our room was being cleaned.

Chania Greece
Chania: postcard city
Casa Delfino Boutique Hotel
The courtyard at Casa Delfino Boutique Hotel
Casa Delfino Boutique Hotel Room
Our room at Casa Delfino Boutique Hotel

We ate at Café Remezzo—the food was not good at all, but the view made up for it. I ordered an omelet which was basically one enormous deep fried egg with cheese on top. I decided not to eat it and went for bread and a salad instead.

Cafe Remezzo Chania
Cafe Remezzo at the port in Chania
Cafe Remezzo
A deep fried egg with cheese on top —aka omelette
Eating at Cafe Remezzo (not the omelette)
Eating at Cafe Remezzo (not the omelette)

After brunch we walked around the small town, which is like stepping back in time. The streets are cobblestone, and the people are ancient—not all of them, but a lot of them… the rest are tourists.  Needless to say, people watching is unbelievable!

People watching in Chania
People watching in Chania
The port in Chania
The port in Chania

Chania Greece

Old Venetian Harbor Chania
Views of the Old Venetian Harbor

We walked about 10 minutes from our hotel and ended up at Nea Hora Beach with a lot of not so cute topless older people. Everyone was quite leathery and really strutting their stuff. I was very amused. We paid 5 Euros for two beach chairs and an umbrella set up, that came with fresh fruit and WIFI—all the necessities for a day at the beach!

Nea Hora Beach
Nea Hora Beach
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Nea Hora Beach
Nea Hora Beach: chairs, fresh fruit, and WIFI
Nea Hora Beach: chairs, fresh fruit, and WIFI

After the beach we went back to the room. Daniel napped for what felt like 7 hours, and then we went up to the hotel rooftop for drinks before dinner. We went to dinner at the Pallas Bar Restaurant, which was on a beautiful rooftop overlooking the Old Venetian Harbor. Apparently the building was built in 1830. We ordered the deconstructed Greek salad, the Porcini mushroom risotto, and the grilled salmon pave with a green salad with fresh onions and sesame seeds. The food was delicious and the view was unbelievable. The service was not worthy of writing about. About an hour after we finished dinner we finally payed before wandering back to the hotel.

Pallas Bar Restaurant Chania
Deconstructed Greek Salad at Pallas Bar Restaurant
Pallas Bar Restaurant Food
Porcini mushroom risotto and grilled salmon pave with a green salad with fresh onions and sesame seeds
Couldn't help myself
Couldn’t help myself
Walking along the port in Chania
Walking along the port in Chania

The next day we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel courtyard. The food was amazing—they served us basically ever dish they’ve ever decided to wrap in phyllo dough. Completely stuffed we decided to spend the day beach hopping so we got in the car and drove about thirty minutes east to Marathi Beach—it was unreal! The water was beautiful and clear, but definitely not warm… I’d describe it as refreshing. We rented two beach chairs and an umbrella and spent the morning there until we decided to walk to one of the local waterside restaurants (recommended by our hotel) for lunch. The restaurant was called Patrelantonis Fish Taverna, and it had to be one of my favorite meals of the trip. We ordered a panzanella greek salad and the salmon linguini and ate lunch on the water. I’d highly recommend going here.

Breakfast at Casa Delfino
Part one of breakfast at Casa Delfino
Marathi Beach
Shaggy Umbrellas at Marathi Beach

Marathi Beach

Patrelantonis Fish Taverna
Patrelantonis Fish Taverna
Patrelantonis Fish Taverna
Our meal at Patrelantonis Fish Taverna
My favorite meal :)
Couldn’t get enough

We got back in the car and drove to Tersanas Beach, but somewhere away from the main area, because I’m pretty sure we were lost. We entered the beach through a small bar, had a beer and then laid out on the sand, which was more of a tiny pebble or rock beach. We swam for a bit and then decided to drive to Kou Kou Vaya, a little caffe (known for their desserts) with an excellent view of Chania. We grabbed coffees and checked the view before heading back to the hotel for showers, and sunset Aperol Spritzes on the rooftop.

Found a few mailboxes along the drive
Found a few mailboxes along the drive
The little beach bar at Tersanas Beach
The little beach bar at Tersanas Beach
Some very frosty bears
Some very frosty bears
Tersanas Beach
Tersanas Beach
Our setup
Our setup
The "sand" texture at Tersanas Beach
The “sand” texture at Tersanas Beach
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The view from Kou Kou Vaya
Casa Delfino Sunset View
Casa Delfino Sunset View
Enjoying a Aperol Spritz's from the roof of our hotel
Enjoying a Aperol Spritz’s from the roof of our hotel (sorry for the blur)
Casa Delfino Aperol Spritz
Sundowners

That night we went to a Cretan restaurant called Portes for dinner. I was so tired I don’t remember exactly what we ordered because we were deliriously tired, but I’m positive it was delicious. This restaurant seemed to attract more of the island’s street cats than normal, and we ended up with one sitting under our table the entire meal and one sitting on our spare chair (on top of Daniel’s jacket).

Portes restaurant is like a hallway
Portes restaurant is like a hallway
Dan passing out at dinner (cat's not yet present)
Dan passing out at dinner (cat’s not yet present)

Friday morning I woke up super early and decided to go up to the rooftop to watch the sun rise. It was about as scenic as a sun rise gets! Then I walked down to the room woke Daniel up and we went down to the courtyard for breakfast. I ordered a hard boiled egg but I’m pretty sure they just accidentally put a fresh egg in the egg dish because when I cracked it a raw egg exploded on the table. That was cute.

Sunset views
Sunset views
Enjoying breakfast (or rather posing with my egg surprise)
Enjoying breakfast (or rather posing with my egg surprise)

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Considering our early start time, we decided to take advantage of the day and drive for an hour and thirty minutes to Elafonisi Beach. The drive was on a tiny, narrow, and at times one-lane road that hugged the edge of various cliffs. Semi-frightening, but also quite stunning. During the time we weren’t driving on the edges of cliffs we went through olive tree orchards. Around ten in the morning we arrived at Elafonisi Beach—one of the most stunning beaches on the planet, turquoise clear water, white sand, huge rock structures and mountain views. On our way in we purchased two water floats, a dolphin and a sting ray—very important.

The trailers just above
The trailers just above Elafonisi Beach (not a bad view)
Elafonisi Beach
Elafonisi Beach
Before the chairs filled up
Before the chairs filled up

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The pool toys we purchased :)
The pool toys we purchased 🙂
Elafonisi Beach
Pano of Elafonisi Beach
“To train ze dolphin you must zink like ze dolphin! You must be getting inside ze dolphin’s head. I am saying, “Akay!… Akay Akay Akay?” und he is saying “AKay Akay!” und he is up on ze tail “Eeeeeeeeee!” und you can quote him!”
Manray
Never not a photo opp
Never not a photo opp

 

Elafonisi Beach
Sponsored by Beer

It was clearly a popular destination for locals and tourists because about two hours after we arrived the beach was full—of large men in tiny speedos, selfie sticks, and people taking modeling photos. We felt like we were back on Ko Phangan island in Thailand where the Israelis at our hotel created the Israeli Modeling Competition. People Safari was amazing.  We got lunch at one of the Kantinas on the beach—nothing fabulous.

People safari at Elafonisi Beach
People safari at Elafonisi Beach
Elafonisi Beach
The sand was pink
Daniel pretending he was on the playa (kinda was...)
Daniel pretending he was on the playa (kinda was…)

When Daniel ordered his slushy he made sure to ask for "LEWON" flavor
When Daniel ordered his slushy he made sure to ask for “LEWON” flavor

We left the beach around 4:30 and drove back to the hotel to shower before running into town to buy ferry tickets for when we went to Santorini. We were told we wouldn’t be able to get them in Elounda (our next destination) without having someone come deliver them to us. So we walked into one of the “travel agencies” somewhere in the town of Chania and seemed to disturb the man staring into space at the counter when we asked him to buy tickets. On a scale of not helpful to extremely helpful, he never even qualified. It was quite entertaining.

Found a this bougainvillea wall on the drive
Found a this bougainvillea wall on the drive
... and some cactus
… and some cactus

We went back to the hotel for our last sunset drinks on the roof. We met a couple on the rooftop who told us a bit about Elounda (our next stop on Crete). Then we went to dinner at Glossitses just at the end of the Old Venetian Harbor. This place was tiny, and looked almost no different from the surrounding restaurants, but the food was beyond—it had to be our favorite dinner we’ve had in Crete. Per usual, we ordered tzatziki, pita, baked feta, tomatoes, pepper, and fresh vegetarian dolmas. The dolmas were homemade and unbelievable!!!! We met some Canadians at the table next to us who told us to find a tiny restaurant on Santorini across from a church with “phallic imagery” as they described it.

Last sunset in Chania
Last sunset in Chania
Aperol Sundowners
Aperol Sundowners
Menu Funnies: "Cheece Pie", "Marinate" "Octapus"
Menu Funnies: “Cheece Pie”, “Marinate” “Octapus”
Dinner at Glossitses in Chania—one of our top meals of the entire trip!
Dinner at Glossitses in Chania—one of our top meals of the entire trip!
Phallic church imagery we were told to look for in Santorini (to locate a restaurant)
Phallic church imagery we were told to look for in Santorini (to locate a restaurant)
Cutie boat
Cutie boat

Saturday morning we woke up at a normal hour went down to the courtyard for breakfast. Today my egg came hard boiled! After breakfast we packed up, got in the car and started our three hour drive to Elounda.

One of Daniel's 20-minute process photos of the Casa Delfino courtyard
One of Daniel’s 20-minute process photos of the Casa Delfino courtyard
The narrow streets of Chania
The narrow streets of Chania

More Observations:

  • Every time you sit at a restaurant they bring you table bread, they also charge you for the table bread, so if you don’t plan to eat it, you may want to ask them not to bring it to you.
  • Most dolmades are not freshly made, the restaurants buy them from the market because the process to make them is rather time consuming.
  • The bills are in Greek 🙂

 

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