Entering the Daskalogiannis airport in Chania Prefecture, the atmosphere in contrast with Athens that I just leave begins. This small airport is much more relaxed. Aircraft waiting facilities, such as cafes or massage chair was barely available.
Like the residents of a small town anywhere in the world, officials at the airport is also friendly people. At least there is a smile that was thrown to the visitors of the airport. Greek English with a thick accent, a young woman flawless Mediterranean patiently explained to me about what I want to ride the bus follows a schedule-schedule.

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Finally, Chania!
The bus finally brought me to arrive in Chania. The first introduction to the city’s waterfront is through a bus terminal which turned out to be much smaller than Terminal Kampung Rambutan in Jakarta – while terminal in Chania much more clean and orderly, though just as busy. Travelers who chattering in various languages ​​looked up and down the bus with a backpack carrying or pulling their suitcases. I turned on the phone and connect it to the free WiFi available in the terminal to see the map to the inn, which was only needs to walk for fifteen minutes.

But after putting bawaaan and walk aimlessly, I accidentally got Old Town, part of the city of Chania overlooking the Aegean Sea. That’s when my disappointment evaporated and replaced with admiration. As the name implies, this area save power Venetian and Ottoman heritage in the form of a lighthouse, a former mosque, a large range of buildings and houses are used as restaurants, shops, and lodging. Like most of the old town, Old Town in Chania was surrounded by high walls, which used to function as a protection from enemy attacks. Even the moat that surrounds the old town is still there.

Up and Down Samaria Gorge
Samaria Gorge is the main purpose of my visit Chania. While the Samaritan name itself comes from the church of Santa Maria found in the region. Canyons along 16 km between the White Mountains and Mount Volakia was established as a National Park in 1962 and since then, no more people living there. Kri kri, mountain goats endemic endangered Samaria, is the main reason this area a national park. I also hope to meet kri kri by visiting here, but unfortunately it does not look the tail also along the trekking route.

There are two route options trekking in Samaria Gorge, which is down the gorge from the Omalos plateau towards the beach Agia Roumelli overlooking the Libyan Sea, or vice versa. I chose a route which is more common, the start of Omalos. To get to Omalos, early in the morning I took a bus from Chania terminal for about an hour through the streets paved smooth with a view of the mountains, ravines, and forests.

Trekking Samaria Gorge do not need a guide. Signpost clearly visible and the track was open, without the need to cut tree branches or reeds. In fact, most of the track has been shaped staircase and given a wooden fence. Several times I had to cross the river despite rocky shallow but slippery and risky to make slip if not careful. Not infrequently fellow diners to help each other across the river though not know each other. Available wooden bridge over a river deep enough and flowing.

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Historical Prints
After the adventure that makes the whole body sore the next day, I plan to bersanta it easy to enjoy the city. One way is to visit Mouseio Tipografias or Museum of Typography. As a fan of typography and studied graphic design, a visit to this museum really has me waiting. Because it is located in the suburbs of Chania, precisely in the industrial area, and there was no bus to get there, so I had to take a taxi from the city center, the driver was apparently does not know the way to get there. Again, the map application in the mobile phone becomes the savior.

Once there, Elia Koumi, the museum staff who is also a journalist from the newspaper Nea Haniotika welcomed me graciously. It was he who then gave a tour of the museum and explain a lot of things with fluent English. The tour starts from the first invention of the printing press replica Guttenberg, the way it works similar to screen printing. After exemplifies how the machines work, Elijah then invited me to print a single page of a newspaper using existing arrangement of letters. Apparently attracted the printing press lever heavy! I can not imagine the amount of labor workers in his time a newspaper had to print hundreds of copies per day.
The tour continues to the machine that should melt the metal and then print the letter again. There are also more modern machines, which can give a choice of four types of letters. More sophisticated, there is a machine that can save the pages of the arrangement of letters, which saves a lot of time to print newspapers and books. To my surprise, this museum has the world’s oldest poster that hung on the wall, above the picture molding machine!

Chania, which is located in the west of the island of Crete, is not as popular as other tourist destinations like Santorini Greece, Athens, even Meteora. Yet here are stored historical evidence which affect the civilization of the world, as well as stunning natural wealth. There are still a lot of interesting things in Chania that has not had time to visit due to time constraints, but if there is a well in the field allowed us to stop by again.