Chania (Souda) 9/18/21

 As we pulled into Souda (Port for Chania) I snapped the sun rising through the mist over the Mediterranean. It looked more like the moon than the warm sun we've known for the past two weeks. It didn't take long to rise above the mist and warm the day to the mid-eighties. The breeze was welcome even if humid and warm.

Iko and I scanned off the ship and caught the bus to Chania. It cost 1.7 Euros each way for the 15 minute express run to downtown. The bus stop was across the street from the big covered market.

I was so impressed with the leather belt I bought in Croatia that I decided to look for a leather goods store here. We walked around the outside of the market and sure enough, about a half-block away we found just the place. There were many good leather belts on display. I picked out a brown one in my size and paid 16 Euros, quite a bit less than the one in Croatia for a very similar product. I like the design of the buckle end that allows fine tuning of the size. Well, as long as the tuning involves shorter instead of longer.

The market covered an entire block and was laid out with two main pedestrian streets running perpendicular to each other across the middle of the block. Both streets were covered and the shops were staffed by helpful people, all with at least basic English. They probably spoke German as well since many of the tourists were from Germany, including a good many who are on the Eurodam.

These two shopping streets remind me of the shopping streets in Japan where they are sometimes half a mile long.

I didn't see any produce stores but there were several cheese mongers and dealers in olives and their oil and other olive goods. Edible, that is. There were other stores that carried products made from olive wood.

I saw three or four butcher shops. There were prime cuts of meat available in the display cases, but they also displayed the entire carcass of many animals. Here we see a chicken and a goat (identifiable by the remnant of fur on its tail) and some goat heads. I observed several American(?) tourists quickly turn their heads. We are used to seeing meats cut into their final chops, steaks, roasts or ground meat, and neatly wrapped in plastic. Here you are reminded that that end product came from an animal and didn't come from the factory prewrapped and ready to grill. 

I've had headcheese and pork head soup, but haven't had goat head soup. Did a quick search and found mostly references to the Beetles album, but with persistence, found a couple good looking recipes for the real thing. Too bad I'm a vegetarian, I probably could have found a local restaurant where they served such soup.

Some rabbits hang in this cold case. I noted the old man in the shop (just above the glass at the divider) who had dropped his mask and was smoking a cigarette as he worked.

The ship's dining room is split between decks 2 and 3. On the way north only the part on deck 2 was open. On this part of the cruise, with more passengers, the seating is open on both decks with many tables vacant for proper spacing. The assistant stewards carry the plated dishes from the kitchen pep area as needed. They are uncovered and delivered to the tables by the dining room stewards. They do a good job and the hot dishes have warm plates and the cold, cold plates. 

My dining companion was keeping a close eye on the proceedings. 

We sailed from Souda around 1700, so we dined to the gentle rocking of the ship as we sailed into the Med on our way to Rhodes.