Slept coma-like until 11:30! Once we realized how late it was we shot out of bed, showered, dressed and flew out of the hotel – straight into throngs of thousands of tourists off cruise ships.

Chania, deserted last night, is a veritable horde of humanity at noon.

Spent the next couple of hours meandering down the narrow shop-lined alleys of Chania’s Old Town. Stopped to admire the ancient Jewish synagogue which was recently firebombed – twice. The arsonists were caught – two Americans and two Brits.

Since Helena and Gordon were getting up early to hike the Samaria Gorge, we said our goodbyes, then Carol and I window-shopped as the sun slowly sank into the sea.

Chania doesn’t really come alive until dark, and this being Friday, the streets are full of weekend revelers.

At 8:30 pm we decided to find a restaurant so we walked south until we stumbled upon Portes. No sooner had we settled in than we spied our friends Dorothea and Charlie, from Lexington, Massachusetts, who we had spoken to in the Athens airport. We asked them to join us and we spent the next three hours comparing travel notes and schmoozing – a most enjoyable three hours it was. At midnight we had to say our goodbyes but we know we will stay in touch.

After saying farewell to our friends, we wound our way back to the Vilelmine and fell into bed.

Next Day