Hello from Crete! Today was a busy travel day for us. We started the morning in Thessaloniki, which is a large northern city in Greece, and after two flights and some bus rides, we arrived in Chania, Crete early this afternoon!
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, and has a population of around 630,000 people. Crete is important for many reasons in our studies. Chania was the center of Minoan society from around 2700-1420 BC, and the island has seen a great amount of empirical takeover, from the Minoans to the Mycenaeans, to the Romans, to the Byzantines, to the Venetians, to the Ottomans.
There are two major cities in Crete: the island region’s capital city, Heraklion, and the beautiful coastal city, Chania. Chania is surrounded on one side by the Lefka Ori mountain range, and surrounded on the other side by the Aegean sea.
Once we arrived in Chania, we met our bus driver, Nikos, and he took us to our hotel, where had some free time before class. Groups of us went to the sea and went for a quick swim, others walked around Chania’s old town, looking into shops and stopping for a late lunch or snack. At our group dinner this evening, we enjoyed a selection of fresh seafood from a local restaurant.
We are looking forward to our final week here in Greece exploring this beautiful island!
By: Teresa Fawcett
Oles in Greece 2020 