I woke up at 6:15 this morning, definitely not on purpose. My watch alarm that failed to go off yesterday when we needed to catch an early bus to the gorge decided to work on our sleep in day. Not a problem, I was able to go back to bed, and woke much later to a medley of Celine Dion hits and Bruce Springstein’s Born in the USA. Not really what I would expect to hear coming from our charming little side street in Hania. It’s been pretty much the only thing American I’ve come across lately (besides our car radio which plays both American and Greek techno jams). I am relieved. I’m really loving being immersed in another country, and not just Greece but with so many other countries and languages represented here, I feel like I’m getting a complete European experience.

We took our time getting ready for the day and then headed out to the town’s Thursday market. We walked the length of the street, taking in the variety of sights, sounds, and smells…buying from the sellers that looked nice and old :). We were not disappointed by our choices. Everyone we purchased from was so kind and seemingly sincere. We bought fresh vegetables and fruit, and even a Speedo for a friend. We have big plans to squeeze our own fresh orange juice, something that is sold often here in Greece. I already have a feeling where this endeavor might go……:)

We are now at one of our favorite cafés. It happens to be right at the end of our street Angeloy, a few short steps from our studio. Its location is perfect, giving us the quiet local atmosphere that we want, along with views of both a narrow side street and the harbor. The owner is a sweet older man with a friendly smile and a nice thick accent. He serves the best ham and cheese toast and of course ice cold frappes. Today I abandoned my frappe challenge (that sure didn’t take long) and opted for the cold chocolate drink, which is like chocolate milk, only 100 times better. I’m pretty sure the Greeks have some kind of magic dust they sprinkle on all their food to make it taste so delicious.

While at our café, we met a Scottish couple and chatted with them for quite a while. They were so interesting. During our conversation they recommended a great beach for us to try for the day. We got to the beach around 2:00. By Ohio laying out standards this would be quite appalling. I’ve always heard that prime sun time is between 11:00 and 2:00. Apparently in Europe they are either less vain, and don’t care too much about getting the perfect tan, or they are just way smarter and don’t feel like scorching out in the afternoon sun. The beach was the busiest at 5:00….crazy.

With any other “beach day” blog entry, I would probably mention the clean sand, the warm bath water, my saltwater swim, and the walk to get ice cream. You know, the basic stuff. All very nice, but nothing really that interesting or memorable. This beach trip included all of that, but with an added bonus…..Wait for it………We got rafts! What do you mean you’re disappointed?? Do you know how great a raft can be on a hot day at the beach?? It makes all the difference. It’s like adding jelly to your peanut butter, or chocolate syrup to your ice -cream. It’s awesome to have a raft at the beach. No more baking in the hot sand. Now all of the “bronzing” can be done in complete comfort, just lounging on hot pink inflatable plastic. Still not impressed huh? Well, what if I told you that along with the hot pink and neon green regular rafts, we also managed to shove an inflatable hotdog into the back seat of our car and take it to the beach as well??…Now I have your attention. If you were thinking hotdog, the kind you eat on a bun with ketchup, then you would be sorely mistaken. I’m talking about a big dog dressed in a hotdog suit. It doesn’t get much funnier than that my friends. Now for my older much more mature readers, you may want to stop reading now (or maybe you already have), and refer back to an early more respectable blog entry like our day at the Acropolis or Jessica’s entry about Delphi (I consider those to be our responsible days).

Ok, so about this hotdog. I really should let Jessica tell the story. After all it is her dog.

Susan, Sarah, and I have been trying out different beaches. Yesterday morning we sat next to the most lovely Scottish couple in our favorite café. They recommended a beach they had visited, so we made it our goal for the day. It’s just outside our town and we really did love it. On the drive there I pulled over at a shop clearly geared toward those headed to the beach. We had decided to buy some cheap rafts to take with us. The sea is so calm here, so you can’t really play in waves, but it’s great to float around in. I told Sarah and Susan that I would double check directions while they looked at rafts. This is where my day really started to fall apart. In retrospect, this is also a moment that shows me just how much power Sarah has over me. She and Susan each bought a humble raft for the low price of 2.50. This is just what we were looking for. Something that would last for the beach, but that we would feel ok about not toting around with us. I, on the other hand, made a terrible purchase. At Sarah’s sly prompting, I spent 8.50 on a very high quality and very giant inflatable hotdog. I loved it in the store, but at the beach I quickly realized that it is not a very useful hotdog. I was desperately trying to justify my purchase by showing its many uses to Susan and Sarah. On its second use, propping my feet up on it, I fell backwards into the water, at which point a sizely portion of salt lodged itself in the middle of my head. I mostly just drape my arms over it and float around. And the worst part is that its quality is far superior to that of the rafts, so I can’t just ditch it. I’ll need to take it with me all through Greece. So when we get to the very classy Santorini, you will be able to find me lounging in our swanky hotel pool atop my hotdog.


So we left the beach around 7:30 and didn’t return home until around 8:00 or so. Mostly because traffic in Hania becomes crazy in the evening, and also on account of the elves that like to come and rearrange the side streets when we are away, just to keep us guessing.

We had reservations at 9:30 for Tamam, a restaurant suggested by our Scottish friends. We walked down to the harbor area and had the best meal with a killer atmosphere and plenty of Greek food and wine. I ordered baby shark, partly because fish is suppose to be good for you, and it seemed like the thing to get when you’re on the sea, but mostly because it sounds kind of awesome :) Jessica had grape leaves and a Cretan salad and Susan had Moussaka. We ended the meal with free shots of what Jess refers to as Gummy Bear juice from our cute curly headed server and this coconut desert. It was the perfect end to wonderful day in Hania.