May 9 - Port of Chania

The port of Chania is on the Island of Crete and we had just a short final port stay as it was all aboard by 1:30. Shuttle buses took guests from the ship to the central market (about six km from the ship) and there were masses of roses blooming everywhere.
I took a quick tour through the central market hall and enjoyed watching the cat at the butcher's stall carefully watching the men layering today's catch of fish on ice - just waiting for one of the fishy morsels to slide off.  It was very touristy in the area, so I opted to sit and people watch over a nice coffee. My next adventure was to try and find a post office to mail some postcards. That proved fruitless as every time I asked a local where the post office was (stamps, mailbox) I got a different answer. After a few false starts I gave up and hopped the shuttle back to the ship.
During lunch onboard, one of the ladies at the table noted that twenty years ago Chania was a sleepy little fishing village, now it is all tourism built up. She added that the other side of Crete island has beautiful beaches and some of the friendliest people (too bad we did not have time to see more of the island).
Once we were underway and cruising I headed topside only to find it was very windy and chilly. I guess that means I finish reading the library book I signed out and catch up on my blog journal.
Seeing alot of guests sneezing, wheezing and coughing, and fighting a sore throat myself today so I grabbed the early show - a great Motown review - then had a light supper and called it a night. (Ah, gee - I missed the 70's disco party on the Promenade that started at 11 pm - I hadn't brought my dancing boots anyhow).
I guess it got a bit stormy during the night, with a lightning show and heavy rain. And during the night our ship was called to respond to a red flare ship in distress. Apparently a yacht was struck by lightning, taking out the electrical/operating systems and the boat was taking on water. Our ship picked up the yacht's three passengers during the rescue operation so we have three new guests. (Or so the gossip on board goes...all the captain said was we were called to respond to the red flare and rescued three passengers from the boat in distress)...and I slept through it all. However, I will add it to my 'bizarre events while travelling' along with the bomb while on the way to Potsdam near Berlin.