The train

In Hania, trains have wheels. They're used during the tourist season which runs till the end of October, with scheduled timetables to provide scenic tours to tourists. This particular train is waiting for passengers at the old port.



We live in a village which has a lot of fields surrounding most of the houses. The area is included in the scenic sights of the town. This train passes our houses every day at midday right throughout the tourist season.

ABC Wednesday: C for Carriage

It's ABC Wednesday again, and C is for cart or carriage, in the lovely town of Hania which is usually written as Chania.

Everyone loves going for a ride in one of these old-fashioned carriages. These ones are heading towards the old harbour; as relics of older times, they suit the mood of the lovely port lined with the many little cafe bars. They are used mainly by tourists (at 20 euro for a short ride, the price is a bit steep), and they are also hired for weddings. The town is too small and the roads are too narrow for open-top tourist buses, but these are prettier and will stay in your memory for much longer.

If you're wondering what the Christmas lights are doing in the picture (another 'C' word) on a warm summer's day, don't worry: we don't light them until Christmas time; it's just easier to leave them hanging there rather than taking them down and putting them up every year...

Although the name of the town of Hania is most often written with a 'C' ('Chania'), the 'C' is never pronounced. To pronounce the name of the city correctly when you see it written as 'Chania', pretend it's not there, and say 'Hania' instead. That's why I call my blog 'One day in Hania'.

Motorbikes

Admittedly, it's not the prettiest part of town, near the central fire station. The mode of transport depicted is one of the most frequent causes of deaths among young Greek males, usually through a combination of the following reasons: not wearing a helmet, speeding, bad road conditions, joyriding, being knocked over while driving legally. In the last seven years of my life, I have lost relatives and friends' sons through potentially avoidable motorbike accidents: my cousin was wearing a helmet but didn't strap it under his chin, the son of a colleague of my husband's bent down to pick up his ringing cellphone, and drove into the back of a lorry, a friend's son fell into a ditch on a stretch of road that had been dug up for pipe-laying; these three cases are the most memorable.

At least this guy is wearing a crash helmet. He looks like a delivery agent.

Odd shots Monday: the motorway

The view from my house entails the motorway (highway, freeway - in Greece, we call it the National Road). This is what it looked like when I took a close-up of it in the evening from the balcony of our house. (The view of the ship isn't visible in this shot.)

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!

ABC Wednesday: Taxis

It's ABC Wednesday again, and T is for taxi.

In Hania, we have two different colours of taxi cab. Taxis whose base is outside the town of Hania (ie, they are registered in a village) are grey, while taxis registered in Hania are blue.

The new rules governing cabs now state that a newly bought town taxi must be painted blue all over. The one in the photo has a white roof, because it was bought before the new rule came out.


And here's my husband sporting his (new) taxi, parked outside our house.

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.

Horse-drawn carriage

The tourist season is in full swing in Hania at the moment. Here is one of the ways they like to spend their time: an old-fashioned horse and carriage ride. The ride doesn't actually start from here - the taxi-drivers' union would be up in arms if it did (it's right in front of the taxi stand). This road leads straight down to the old harbour, where the driver will park himself and wait for his customers. The ride is only along the harbour front - it is clearly a tourist attraction, and at 20 euro a ride, a rather expensive one.

The little laughing olive tree took her son on one of these and they told me they both enjoyed themselves immensely.

Busy road

The central route leading out of town is always a busy road. Even on a Sunday evening (when this photo was taken), it's amazing to see the array of busy people on the road. The three-wheeler is supposedly a model on the brink of extinction, but it surfaces here.

In between the traffic lights on the left, there is what looks like a little narrow street. This is in fact Halydon St, and after 300 or so meters, it leads to the beautiful old port of Hania, with the little cafes lining the harbour.

On the right hand side is the taxi rank beside a square called 1866, known to be an migrants' hangout.

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.

Fire

During a mini-heatwave that we recently experienced over the weekend, lasting till today, a fire broke out in a wooded area (olive trees) close to our home. It must have been difficult to contain because the Canadair fire-fighting plane could be heard all day Sunday (until the evening when these planes don't fly due to safety restrictions), and all morning on Monday. Today, I don't hear them flying, so the fire must be out. It was probably started by a farmer clearing wood from his field, and spread with the strong warm southerly African desert winds that had caused the heatwave. Quite a few olive trees must have burnt down during this fire, as olive is a quick-burning tree.

There were two Canadair planes used in the opeartion. They went for filling to the sea, sometimes in a beach area close to my home, other times a little further away at the port of Souda. Sometimes you can see them quite close up (unfortunately they are a regular sight in the hot weather) because they fly quite low. They seem to glide slowly through the air rather than jet across the sky.The misty look in the sky was caused by the heatwave - dust clouds and cloudy weather obscured the sunlight, even though sunrise had taken place an hour ago.

Another former mosque

The former mosque in the inner-city suburb of Koumbes in Hania is another extraordinary building depicting the town's history. It stands at a major junction between the ferry port of Souda (to the right) and the town centre leading to the Agora (to the left), while the other road running through it leads to the inner-city middle class suburb of Aiyannis (St. John - the narrow road straight ahead) and the beaches out of town (behind the cars).

The blue sky complements the beautiful colours of the recently painted old mosque. One half of the building is now being used as a BBQ chicken diner - the best in town, they say - while the other half is a hairdresser's salon. I took this photo as I was waiting at the traffic lights to go to work.

Koum Kapi

There's something about this photo, taken in a suburb with Islamic origins, that captures the essence of Hania, a town with a rich history of invading settlers who came and went. A derelict house is standing right next to one with a satellite dish and solar energy panel. There is also an expensive SUV parked outside it. The house is located at the very bit of Hania that becomes a relaxed touristy cafe promenade (you can't see the bars due to the large billboards). Koum Kapi is one of the last inner-city suburbs before heading out eastwards.

The surrounding hills show the urban sprawl - when I first arrived in Hania, there were hardly any houses or apartment blocks on that very site - and you can even see the dome of the church of Evaggelistria in Halepa, once a posh suburb where embassies were located during the Ottoman Empire, now a built-up neighbourhood with a thriving student population in the school season due to the polytechnic which is located there, as well as being an immigrant area with low rents for the old houses which are now in need of costly repairs.

Villa Koundourou

Villa Koundourou was the house of a rich businessman (Mr Koundourou) who lived in Hania. He had the house built for himself and his family at a time when most people lived in roughly built stone houses in the surrounding villages. There would have been very very few houses in the centre at the time. He was lucky to have had the best pick of location - it is right next to the sea (right-hand side of the photo) behind the old port, which suggests that he might have used it as a summer house. There are a few other houses of this style on the same street (they are known as 'neo-classical' buildings, and are protected against demolition), but none are in the same condition as Villa Koundourou; they are used both as houses and offices. Their value exceeds the the lifetime income of many of the town's residents.

When he died, he left the house to the local council, who have refurbished it. It is now used for art, music and theatre classes, as well as housing occasional exhibitions.

The pick-up truck outside the villa is a symbol of Cretan agriculture. A parent is probably waiting to pick up their child after an art class. This photo was taken on a Saturday morning. The beautiful old port is right behind this villa, about a ten-minute walk.