On Day 13 we began our first full day in Chania by having breakfast in our hotel. The breakfast spread in the SanSal Hotel is pretty good. They had a wide assortment of sweet and savory pastries, meats and cheeses, eggs, yogurt, veggies, coffee bar, and so on.
After breakfast we went back to our room and got ready to go swimming. We went down to the lobby and picked up our beach towels and headed out. We walked across the street from our hotel and down the road towards the entrance to the waterfront. There is a stone wall and waterfront area where people can go swimming. It even has a breakwater wall in front of the bay to keep the water calm. There were several groups of people swimming nearby as we arrived. We set our towels on the wall near the rocks and went in for a dip. The water was very clear and we could see little tiny fish swimming around and also the rocks along the bottom of the sea.
 |
| Swimming Area Across From Hotel |
We waded out into the water slowly along the slippery stone walkway and out into the water. The water was cool and refreshing. We both swam for a few minutes and relaxed enjoying the view. Just when I thought things couldn't get any better I was shocked by a very odd pinching feeling on my lower back. I jumped up and may have even squealed a little in surprise. "Did I just get bit by something??" I asked Deanna who was swimming near me. I was starting to freak out, not understanding what had just happened when Deanna also reacted shockingly to something that just took a swipe at her skin as well. Fish were biting us! lol. We both decided we had enough and got the heck out of the water for now.
We went up to our towels and dried off. Nobody on shore even noticed what we were talking about or cared. We decided to go back to the hotel and get some lunch and relax for a bit. The first thing I did was google "biting fish in Crete" and "biting fish in the Mediterranean". Well it turns out that the fish biting swimmers isn't uncommon in the region. The tiny fish, usually sea bream, like to nibble on skin tags, wounds, sores, etc., almost like they are cleaning you. I guess in some situations they can be larger and bite harder, but what we experienced was mostly just shocking, not painful.
We ordered a couple pizzas, salad, and beers from the hotel. The pizza wasn't bad, but they did mess up our order once and had to fix it.
After our meal and rest, we decided to go try swimming at the Nea Chora beach which was back over by the Manos restaurant we were at the night before. We went to a public space on the beach and made a pile with our towels and bags. We both waded into the water and immediately noticed all the fish again. I asked someone swimming if the fish bite over here and they confirmed that they do.
We swam out about 20 feet from shore and not long after that I felt a little hit on my arm. It was much softer than the bites from the other swimming area, but still not enjoyable. We swam a little longer and made a point to thrash about constantly to avoid any fish nibbling opportunities. We gave up after 10 minutes and went back to our room to freshen up for dinner.
For dinner we went to another recommended place, called Neoria Fish Tavern. We walked out of our hotel and headed East toward the Chania marina area and restaurants. We took a moment to enjoy the amazing vibes and views that this part of Chania holds. It's so lovely at sunset.
We sat down and ordered our food. We got a bottle of Chardonnay, stuffed squash blossoms, steamed mussels, fresh fried calamari, shrimp spaghetti, and the mixed seafood grill for one. While we waited for our food to come out we enjoyed watching the cats wandering in and out of tables trying to look cute without begging too hard.
The squash blossoms were not like I was imagining they would be. They were stuffed but then covered with like a tomato based sauce. They weren't bad, but just not what I was hoping for. The mussels were very good. The fresh fried calamari was pretty good, but they could have been fried a little longer. Deanna liked her spaghetti, but all of the shrimp had full tails on and they were not cleaned. Unfortunately this is very common in Greece. This was a bit of a turn off for her appetite, so she didn't eat all of it. I also don't love having to clean my own shrimp, or even peel them. The mixed seafood grill came out and I immediately regretted it. It was much more than one portion and didn't look great. The french fries were not that crispy. The fried fish were a bit too large for my liking. When I tried eating them they were very bony and tough to get down. I ate a few. There was also a whole grilled calamari. The calamari was not seasoned at all and was very dry and just char grilled. It smelled burned. I also had a side of fried shrimp on the plate as well. These were smaller shrimp that were unpeeled just like Deanna's. I tried eating a couple of them, but they were falling apart in my hand. I think we were expected to eat them whole, but that's also not my jam. At the end of the meal the waiter brought us a bottle of Raki, a nice cake, and ice cream for dessert.
