As soon as the governments opened up the borders and tourism ressurected after the lockdown, my friends talked me into visiting the isle of Crete in Greece. 

The pandemic didn't affect life on the island much, while chit-chating with locals i learned that there were less tourists than usual, but at the point of our visit it was already getting back to normal. My observations confirmed that it seemed normal. The streets were packed in the evenings, popular beaches were full and a cacophony of different languages cut the air in essentially every place that had something  to offer. 

Anyway, I had enjoyed my stay very much. Crete ist the largest and most populous isle od Greece. Lying about 160km from the mainland it is a very large island of incredible landscape diversity, numerous sights and a relaxing atmosphere. Its absolutely beautiful azure coastline is accompanied by White Mountain range rising above 2000 meters over the sea level on over 30 summits crossing from west to east through the whole island. Villages and small cities are scattered all over the island with two biggest cities of Heraklion and Chania on the northern coastline.

Chania is the second largest city of Crete. It has its own international airport where planes packed with tourists from all over Europe arrive every day. It offers many things to do, but it can be easily guessed that most people come to Crete solely for beach purposes. I can't blame them, really, the beaches there sure are something. So there are many resorts by the city beach along with typical beach facilities. 

But if you're done with sunbathing and swimming there's a colourful old town full of genuine venetian architecture by the port. That's because after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and a few Arab raids Crete was sold to the Venetians whose rule was initially strict but in time they made peace with Cretans, so Chania just like other cretan cities is an interesting blend of classic greek, venetian and byzantine cultures. Enjoying a cretan salad or a seafood platter in a restaurant facing the harbour at sunset is extremely pleasurable, no matter what kind of tourist you are. 

 

Evenings are a moment when all the people get fed up with sitting on the beach and go out in the streets pursuing food and entertainment. Suddelny, there's like three times more people than during the day. The temperature is also much more bearable after sunset.

The road from the old town to the main city beach was also very enjoyable.

Dear lord, such a fantastic food experience it was... But, not only the food, halfway through a gigantic platter of seafood I stormed off to take a few shots of this spectacular sunset in this harbour scenery.