We're on an Anek Lines ferry, and it's a decent size too - similar to the Blue Star ferry you see as we leave Piraeus. You could almost imagine we're on a Mediterranean cruise - but that's not our style. You meet a lot more locals and see a lot more of the country when you travel overland.
Finding George's Niriis Hotel in Chania is a bit of a challenge. We have directions on which buses to take, but with signage in Greek, it being Easter Saturday night, and not knowing what buses go from where when, we're on the verge of hailing a taxi. But intrepid travelers spurn taxis where possible, and we find the bus to take us to the centre of town. Stage 1 complete, now the bus to the hotel. We finally find it, tumble on with our packs, and explain to the driver where we want to be dropped off.
The pin on Google Maps indicates where we want to go, and as the little blue dot indicating our current position gets close, we expect the bus to pull over. It doesn't - the driver is more interested in chatting to his girlfriend than remembering about a couple of tourists. After some frantic shouting he lets us off, and we have a 20 minute backpacking walk to get to the hotel. At least it wasn't raining, and thank goodness for the GPS or we'd have ended up even further away.
George is waiting for us, full of useful information and gives us some maps. He agrees we've done the right thing and hired a car - Crete is pretty much closed over Easter, and bus services are infrequent and costly. After a good night's sleep our hire car arrives on schedule on Sunday morning - a little silver Fiat Panda with registration beginning with IMO. It quickly gets nicknamed Emo.
It's been a while since I've driven a left hand drive car, but the basics of "tight right, loose left" come back quickly. It takes a couple of hours before I'm automatically using my right hand for the gear shift, and no longer indicating turns with the wipers.
We head south into Crete's interior, and the terrain gets incredibly rugged. Photos can't really do it justice - the gorges are rough-hewn and precipitously steep, even the mountain goats have problems as evidenced by the odd carcass on the road.
It's Easter Sunday in Paleochoia on Crete's south west coast, the church bells are ringing, and everyone's warming up for Easter festivities to celebrate Christ's resurrection.
The air is full of the smell of charcoal and roasting meats. Here's looking at ewe, kid (sorry, I couldn't resist that one).
We stop for a picnic lunch at Azogires, where the cascading waters and rock pools are apparently haunted by nereids. This was a popular spot back in hippie times, and it still attracts the odd yoga and meditation group. Certainly a delightful spot.
The gorges running up from the south coast create natural wind funnels, and the Greeks aren't slow to take advantage, with wind farms everywhere.
Back in Chania for the night. It's a nice little town, with alleyways running through the Venetian quarter not dissimilar to Rhodes.
Dinner while being serenaded by traditional Greek music, and washed down by a glass of Raki, the local firewater. Yup, life's pretty good on the road. But there's still lots more of Crete to see.
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