Kolibari!

That’s the name of the little town that makes up these beauts. The thing about Chania, it’s the “big” city on the largest of Greece’s islands. I say “big” because to most of you reading, Chania would not a big city make. The population is a whopping (wait for it, wait for iiit!) 7,000 people. That includes children. Prolly a couple goats, too.

Small as the big city may be, it’s still a city, and chances are these are not the images you had in mind when you imagined Greece. Me neither. Thing is, a few minutes to the west (and east and south, too) you’ll find small villages. Kolibari is one of them.

After a night’s sleep (and a good portion of the morning – we missed breakfast) we got ready and headed down to the front desk in search of direction to the nearest beach. (We were directed to a couple of places, but swiftly learned that we missed the bus for the day AND travel time was about 2 hours, anyways.) Kolibari was it by process of elimination.

As you can see, the day was anything but ideal for the beach. I didn’t break a sweat. In fact, it was a little chilly. Did that prevent us from having a little fun on the beach? Nope. See?

We walked around the place, sat, chatted over our afternoon coffees, picked out a spot for dinner, which for me was “Fish in the Oven.” Again, deelish. Forgot to take pics, or should I say, I remembered after I’d already devoured a good portion of the dish? Either way, no pics of the “Fish in the Oven.” Remembered to take a pic of the Cretan Salad. So, I learned that Greek Salad is not the only sort of salad served in Greece. Apparently, every island has their own traditions and then in each village they may do their own spin on things too. The salad above is different in that in addition to the cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, and olives, there is goat cheese (instead of feta); there’s also sundried tomatoes, potatoes, and bread. You might even find some green and/or red peppers in there too. Not sure what the garnish is, but I ate that too! Mmmm… Not a fan of the croutons, and could do without the potatoes. Still, good though because what doesn’t taste good with olive oil and balsamic vinegar?

After dinner, we caught the bus back to Chania and called it a night.

Have I told you how freeing it is to get to a town, jump on the bus and just go? Every time I do it, I swear I feel my spirit bloom. I just feel a part of something bigger, connected. Anywho, more on that another time. (Maybe.)