Rethymno, Crete's third largest city
One week later on Monday we had to bring our rental car back in Chania. We took the bus from there to Rethymno, which is the third largest city in Crete. The bus ride was pleasant and we were lucky and arrived at our accommodation in the afternoon with dry feet. Tomek just came back from shopping in time when it started raining and thunderstorms. It rained continuously until Wednesday morning and in between there were thunderstorms with hail and storms. The power went out for a short time and we later learned that the airport in Crete had been closed for the first time. We actually only wanted to stay two nights in Rethymno, but because we hadn't seen anything of the city or the surrounding area due to the bad weather, we extended it for two nights. However, we changed the accommodation to a more comfortable and larger one in the old town. There we were already expected by the landlady's mother, who didn't speak a word of English, but welcomed us with homemade raki and grapes.
On Wednesday we strolled through the old town, which mostly consists of souvenir shops, and walked to the harbor.
The next day we had planned a trip to the Arkadi monastery, which is only 20 km from Rethymno in the mountains. Since we are now out of season, the buses only run very rarely. So there was a bus service that went to the monastery in the early afternoon and returned to town two hours later. We rode in the minibus that stopped at some schools and dropped the students in their villages in the mountains, sometimes even at their front door. There were a few cars at the monastery, but the atmosphere was still very calm.
Das Kloster und der Innenhof sind wirklich wunderschön und es war toll, dort einfach zu verweilen. Leider wurde das Wetter immer schlechter und es regnete auch wieder. Aber wir machten das Beste daraus und sind froh, dort trotz des schlechten Wetters hingefahren zu sein.
Bali
Our journey through Crete took us further west. We took the bus to the small village of Bali, which is halfway between Rethymno and the capital Heraklio. The bus ride passed quickly and was pleasant and ended with the bus driver simply stopping on the country road, shouting “Bali!” And then throwing us off the bus together with another woman.
The way to the village itself it was about 2 km that we walked. Bali has several small bays and seems to be a real tourist spot in the season. Our landlady at the property also explained to us that the season is now almost over and that many restaurants and shops are already closed. Perfect conditions for a quiet stay - if we hadn't, funnily enough, decided on that day that we could actually go out to a restaurant to eat again. But only a few steps away from our accommodation we found a tavern that was still open and where we could eat delicious with a great view of the sea.
We also had the great view of the sea from our accommodation - a dream!
The day after our arrival we first made ourselves comfortable in one of the bays, Tomek explored the underwater world with his diving goggles and I enjoyed the view from outside.
In the afternoon we wanted to walk to an old castle on a mountain that we could see from below. The way there was very steep, but also beautiful, but unfortunately the way was blocked 500m in front of the castle by a gate with the sign "Private Area". Too bad! The view was still very nice. We then strolled a bit through the alleys and to the harbor and then made ourselves comfortable at home.
From Bali we took the bus to Crete's largest city Heraklion.
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