We left Mátala on Thursday and drove back to the northern coast to Hania (a/k/a Chania or Xania), the second largest city in Crete. Hania gets major billing in the guidebooks as a great place to visit, but that says more about the guidebooks than it does about Hania.

While the old harbor of Hania is quite attractive and the old town is quaint, the city was a bit too loud and touristy for us. We’re glad we stayed a couple days in Mátala instead of having a multi-day time in Hania as we had originally planned.

Here’s the old harbor of Hania.

The walking streets were nice; a little reminiscent of New Orleans with all the balconies and wrought iron.

We had a nice little balcony of our own, with a view of the Cretan Sea.

And, in the other direction, we had a view of our darling daughter and her Starling friends, there at the upper left of the photo, below.

These birds (I’m pretty sure they were Starlings) were out in the hundreds, swooping and diving after insects like miniature fighter planes. Then, all of a sudden, just as the sun went down, they all simultaneously disappeared, as if an announcement had been made telling them that it was time to go.

No night life for us, either, though I’m sure this was a partying town. We had a big day ahead of us on Friday.