Chania at Sunset

By John Freedman Posted to Contemplating Crete November 19, 2021

I took it as a good sign when I went out with my camera early last evening and crossed paths with the great Chania photographer Mpouzis (pronounce Bouzis). He was heading toward the port from the parking lot at the western side of Old Town. He doesn't know me, I didn't say hi. He looked like he meant business and you don't want to mess with a photographer's timing. There isn't that much time between sundown and nighttime when the photos capture magic. And Mpouzis is a master at doing that - catching magic. If you want to see Chania photographed as it deserves to be photographed, check out his Facebook page. The guy's incredible. He posts shoots of Chania every sunup and every sundown, and most of the time in between as well. The guy has the market cornered. There are times when you think you'll just leave your camera at home and log on later to see what Mpouzis has done for the day. There is no competish. Fortunately, thoughts like that don't last. After all, one's own photos are closer to one's heart, no matter what they might lack. I didn't plan on doing a study of Chania at evening yesterday. It just happened that way. I was out for a walk and I always take my camera when walking. After I passed Mpouzis, I took a seat on a bench looking westward at the sea. A kitten came up to me, crawled up on my lap and proceeded to spend the next hour there getting his neck and back scratched. He was so comfortable I couldn't bear pushing him off my lap to move on. By the time he got up himself and wandered off towards Old Town, evening was falling. So it happened that most of the photos I took yesterday captured the hours just before and after sundown. A few of the shots at the end captured a full moon rising over the city... It ended up being a rather magical jaunt. I give all the photos below pretty much in the order that they were shot (aside from the kitty who played an integral role in the scheduling of my shoot). I start at the area west of the Old Port looking further west and out to the Sea of Crete. From there I headed back, taking a few shots of the outside of the Firkas fortress, which is one of my favorite photo objects in town. I don't know why I have never gathered my photos of it into a single post, but I will do that someday. As I turned the corner around the Firkas, I took several shots of the heart of Old Town and the old Venetian port. Then, as I was passing by a tiny rock 'n' roll bar on the waterfront, Bob Dylan's "Things Have Changed" cued up and I could not possibly walk past that. So I planted my feet firmly on the ground right on front of the bar and took several more shots of the lighthouse, the Mosque of the Janissaries, and other angles of the Old Port waterfront. When Dylan faded out, the Rolling Stones came on with "Play with Fire" and I damn near stayed to listen to that, too, but by now I was already doing an "evening shoot" and the minutes were ticking. I had to keep moving in order not to lose all the light. From there I headed east on Sifaka, taking a few shots of alleys and side streets as I passed them. I also trained my lens on an old turret of the ancient wall that once encircled the tiny old city of Kydonia. From there I turned into the alley at Despotaki Melchisedek (right at the fabulous Adespoto Music Taverna, which is closed for the season). I wandered around alleys for the next few minutes, heading generally in the direction of Splantzia Square by way of Sarpaki. I passed by the popular restaurant Ginger Concept (which is right across from the even more popular The Well of the Turk restaurant that is closed for the season), taking a few shots coming and going, including one of the narrowest, and one of my favorite, alleys in Chania - 1st Ntaliani (pr. Daliani) Sidestreet. From there I crossed through the Splanztia Square (not represented here, because it was getting too dark and my photos weren't of interest), and then onto another of my favorite tiny locations in the city - a minuscule square or courtyard whose name or names I do not know, but whose gorgeous old Venetian stairways and arches make for one of the most beautiful plots of land in town. From there I cut back to the main drag of Daskalogianni Street, then headed home. On the way I grabbed two more shots lorded over by the moon in the eastern sky that was drawing me homeward. The first shot shows the moon shining down on a segment of the old southeast corner of the Venetian wall. The second was taken on Venizelou Street, two blocks from where I live. By this time I was hurrying to see what Mpouzis had posted for the evening. He didn't let me down. His shots were spectacular, as ever...

All photos and text © copyright 2021 by John Freedman. If you wish to use either text or photos, I will almost surely grant permission as long as you do the courtesy of asking.