The view

A lovely clear view from the balcony of our house. Can you see the ferry boat? (A building slightly blocks its full view.) We can see it leaving from the harbour every night. Not only that, but the view is clear enough for us to discern which ship from the ANEK fleet is tied up every day.

Shipping disaster

This memorial is dedicated to the memory of the many people who died in one of Crete's worst shipping tragedies. On the night of 8 December 1966, a ferry boat named Herakleion (originally the Leicestershire) left Hania bound for Athens, but never made it. The weather was too rough for sailing, but the ship still left the port, endangering the lives of the 281 people on board, 47 only of whom survived.

The hand reaching out of the water to the passing ship is a monument located at the west end of the old port of Hania, near the original wall of the old town.

Kalamaki beach pirates

The best time to enjoy the beach is when the sun is about to set. Your body cools down just enough to enervate you and give you the confidence you need to conquer anything that comes your way. When these children grow up, I wonder if they'll remember that they were pirates conquering the seas, building castles and looking for treasure.

Thanks to Phivos Nicolaides for featuring the pirates of Kalamaki in his blog.

The ship

Remember that night view of the ship in port, where you had to guess just where the ferry boat might be in all that darkness? Here's a photo taken from the same position of the same ship in all its glory in daylight. This view has been snapped in close-up from the balcony overlooking our garden.

Night view

This is the view I get from the balcony of my children's bedroom. Can you see the ship at Souda Bay??? Send me a note and tell me where it is. Use the colours and sizes of the lights to pinpoint the position exactly.

Answer provided on tomorrow's post!

The ferry boat

This is one in the monopoly fleet of ferry boats that take us to Pireas Harbour in Athens, when and if we choose to go there, which is unavoidable at many points in the life of a Cretan, sometimes for medical reasons, other times just to escape small-town living. The Ariadne is the latest addition to the ANEK Lines fleet. The boat (one of a few used on this route) leaves from Souda Bay, about 5km eastwards out of town, in the evening at 9pm, and arrives in the early hours of the next day (about 6pm). When it's not being used as the main link between Athens and Hania, it acts as a cruise boat, or it's used in some of the more 'luxurious' routes for Greek tourism, linking Greece to Italy.

Nice view

For some people, choosing a place to live is all about what kind of view they have from their house. I was very lucky in that I had a 'high' view from most places I lived in. When I lived in Mt Victoria (Wellington, New Zealand), I could see all the hills of Kelburn and the Aro Valley suburbs, with the colourful cute little box houses. The dome of the Greek Orthodox Church was also visible from my bedroom, and even though I was half hour's walk from the Victoria University library, I knew which floors were still open for late night study.

Now where I live in Hania, despite the dirty grey terrace of an unfinished house just down the road, every day I can see when the ferry boat from Athens has come into Souda Bay, and I can play a game with the children by asking them if they can see it moving away from the port at night. Eventually, they'll be able to name the ship that is in port, as I can now - this one is the ANEK Lines ELEFTHERIOS VENIZELOS, a former cruise ship which has been superseded by newer ships. Even at night, it is visible, with a long row of lights, so you can track it for a good fifteen minutes as it starts moving away from the harbour and into the dark sea. Maybe this is why the suburb that I live in is called Kalithea (= nice view), Vamvakopoulo.