garyandpearl

November 29/23

Our original itinerary had us in Jerusalem today, which also would have been part of Paul’s places where he had lived or visited. Due to the unrest in Israel, we are here instead.

According to the Bible, Paul came to Crete initially on his voyage to Rome. Acts 27:7 says that because of the wind, they sailed under the shelter of Crete. They were hoping to spend the winter here, but a violent wind got the better of them and they ended up shipwrecked at Malta.

Scholars suggest that once he was released from his prison in Rome, he returned here for ministry and left Titus here to oversee the ministry as described in Titus 1:5

After sheltering from the wind near Crete for the night (sound familiar?) we headed ashore this morning. We parked at a port called Souda and then took the city bus to Chania, about 7 km away.

Chania is an old port built by the Venetians in the 16th century. We walked along the sea wall to the lighthouse which is the oldest in the Mediterranean.

We saw a local Cretan who looked very distinguished. Many of the traditional men sport very large moustaches and wear black.

I wanted to climb up the lighthouse, but it was blocked off.

There is a church that is built right together with the bastion or fortification wall.

We are just about to head to a thrift shop 😊, but we stopped for a snack, coffee, and free Wifi at Pallas Philocaly before heading back to the ship.

This was the best dessert we have had so far. I’ll see if our daughter, Keanna, can duplicate it! 😋 It was composed of mini cream puffs filled with caramel whipped cream surrounded by more caramel and cream on top of a chocolate tart!

Tomorrow we have a sea day on our way to Cyprus. Enjoy your day!