The day started late. Vacations can be like that. Sleeping in late, casual breakfast times, and then finally, at almost eleven, we got started on the day. The shops in Chania were oriented towards the non-Greek speaking tourists. Shopkeepers pride themselves on knowing at least two languages. The willingness to help the lost tourist was wonderful yet seemed slightly out of character in this rush we call life.
Cruising through the markets was fun, at least we all thought so until one person found something that they were really attracted to and yet could not make up their mind about. The collective view, by the end of that stop, was that they should just “buy it” so that the rest of us could get going!
As we lounged over lunch, I finally figured out where we were in the old city. The early map reading had been unsuccessful; however, with a bit of food and drink, everything began to make sense. Heading towards the harbor provided a fresh sense of what it would have been like in days gone by. The slight harbor indentation is amplified by a man made jetty with walls towering fifteen feet above the water life. The result is an adequate place of safety from the winter storms that crash at and above the protection that is under constant repair.
Negotiating our way by to the town square provided the opportunity to negotiate narrow streets, often no more than three to five feet wide. The silence of the neighborhood was broken only by our footsteps. Were we lost? Did we stumble into a part of town where we were not supposed to go? Was danger lurking at the next corner?
Our pace picked up until we emerged at the town square. It was then we realized that our rush masked the real change in the city. Everything was closed, everyone was taking a rest.
Just imagine what God has in store for you if you slowed down to see what was really going on.
“Sound thinking makes for gracious living.” (Proverbs 13.15)
