Still in Hania

Yesterday was a very interesting day in Hania. We met a couple from Edmonton teaching in Qatar and that got Tim excited about ex-pat work again. We had a nice chat with them over a coffee. Then we checked out the naval museum (OK) and got excellent advice from the tourism info women on hikes in Crete. She mapped out a plan for us involving 3 days of hiking (the Samarian Gorge is still closed, so this includes another gorge). She was very very helpful, and an enthusiastic hiker. Then we wandered along the docks meeting a Brit aboard his boat who had spent 2 years sailing from the UK to Greece. We ended up talking to him, his dad, 2 Thai women on vacation (one of them living in Canada) and 2 other Brits. They offered us beer, sandwiches, then the one fellow (who is a musician) played his guitar and sang for us (the kind of music Tim loves). The musician told us that the law in Hania is usually taken into the hands of the locals - with tales of murders and kneecappings, and told us about various mafias controlling who can sell what where. Or, maybe they were just having us gullible Canadians on??? Anyway, we had a great time with them - they were fun and very hospitable.

Today we booked a cheap charter flight to London in a weeks time which will allow for the hiking and for Tim to check out some arch. sites in Crete. But now that we are running out of time before our flight back to Canada, with the not so great forecast in Spain, I don't think we will be able to walk part of the Camino as Tim had hoped. So its time to do an abrupt change of plans again. Sigh. I've booked 3 nights in London, and Olivia has offered to go on a road trip with us if we stay in London longer (which I hope we can do, though it is quite expensive there). (I think I could spend a whole week enjoying the British Museum for example.)

Saw a cheap flight to Amsterdam... can anyone offer The Netherlands travel advice? If you can, e-mail me!