The storm of the last two days is over and instead we are left with clear air, bright sunshine, little wind and possibly the warmest day since we arrived in Greece. It is a great day. Dominica did the laundry and was able to put it outside first thing today.
In the early afternoon the girls asked to walk down to the corner store. We stepped outside and I ran back inside to get my camera as the day was so nice. We had a nice walk down to the store and decided that it was so nice that when we got back we asked Dominica if we shouldn’t pack up and run into Rethymno to see the old town with such perfect weather.
It was a rush but we got everyone into the car and drove down and parked on the west side of the Rethymno peninsula right on the water south of the old Venetian Fortezza. We walked all the way north along the Aegean Sea and all of the way around the Fortezza which was a long walk but the weather was just perfect and the sea was so beautiful. It was very nice.
We did not go into the Fortezza but walked all around it, it is an incredibly impressive structure and is really a full castle. Originally Venetian, most of its history it was used by the Ottomans.
From the east side of the Fortezza we went south into the Rethymno old town which Dominica had not even understood was there, I found out (she never goes back and looks at the pictures that I have taken so even though I had been there and told her about it and taken pictures of it, she had no idea.) The old town is incredible, especially up near the Fortezza where there are just tons of staggeringly gorgeous restaurants and cafes with commanding views of the city behind the Fortezza.
We made it to Mikrasiaton Square, which was probably amazing in its heyday. Now it is famous for the amount of graffiti, sadly. It was still a nice central park in the old down, though, and appeared to have an amazing mosque (we are only guessing that it is a mosque) on it. The folklore museum of Crete is there on the square as is lots of open space.
From the square we left by the western way which, strangely, was a little doorway through a building. How odd that one of two exits to the largest square in the old town would require going into a tunnel under a building. It was truly bizarre.
We did not have very much time so really needed to walk briskly and get back to the car. Everyone was hungry but we did not manage to find a place where we could do something fast like grab a slice of pizza so we gave up and figured that we would each in Atsipopoulo, instead. Rethymno looks fantastic, though, up on the peninsula and we are thinking about returning on Saturday with lots of time to stroll and time to relax and eat at a restaurant out on the street or something. There are tons of amazing looking boutique hotels and such throughout the hold town. Definitely a place on Crete worth staying in if you are vacationing here. Absolutely gorgeous.
We got back to the and drove up the hill. Parking was free and easy on the peninsula, although in the summer I wonder if that would remain the case.
In Atsipopoulo we walked all over town trying to find a place that served vegetarian food for us and that would be quick. We went into three different places and asked. Two effectively had nothing for us to eat and the third could do pizza but could not do take away nor could they do it quickly. No dice.
I knew that they could do sandwiches at Momento so we returned there and I got a lettuce, tomato and green bell pepper for Liesl and a cheese sandwich for Ciana. Both girls were just starving and could not wait for food. While they ate I had coffee and Dominica ran across the street to get some printing done. They girls loved their sandwiches. Both said that they might be their favourite sandwiches ever (except for Subway, of course, Liesl has to add.)
On the drive home Luciana said “What a lovely day this has been.” We got some great pictures of the city, too. It was a very good day out, even if was very short.
We got home and were able to park by the church again. I had a phone call shortly after we were back. I put in a few hours of writing this evening before taking time to spend time with the girls playing video games.
Dominica even came in to join us this evening, although she was in the room with us and did not really play. The girls have been excited to play the first of the Fairy Tale Mysteries series from Googi games (in Canada – who, by the way, are so rude as to block their video game company website from Greece, seriously Googi?) We put in an hour or two on that with the girls basically playing all on their own. They are getting good at these.
Dominica went to bed before midnight. Luciana decided to watch some videos in the other room so Liesl and I did not continue on the game without her and instead switched to Emily’s Wonder Wedding which is a time management game. Liesl enjoyed that a lot, but we just played it for a little bit to check it out.
Our last game for the evening was the old classic hidden object from Spintop: Amazing Adventures Around the World. The first location in the game that we played tonight was, I think, actually Rethymno and the Fortezza that we walked around today! Talk about timing! Absolutely crazy. The game is a classic hidden object where you just do hidden object puzzles, no adventure game to go along with them like most of the modern HOPA (Hidden Object Puzzle Adventure) games. Liesl and I had a good time playing that. It’s fast paced, just one hidden object scene and then one puzzle based on it (like find the differences between two scenes) so no getting bored wondering what to do, it’s just one puzzle right on to the next.