From Alexandria [Jesus, Gonod and Ganid] sailed for Lasea in Crete. [1427]

The travelers had but one purpose in going to Crete, and that was to play, to walk about over the island, and to climb the mountains. [1436]

AT AROUND 5 A.M. we awoke to the sounds of the boat docking. We made some instant coffee in the cabin, took showers, packed, and were on land by 6:30 in a taxi headed for the main town of Hania.

Here we also planned to look up a fellow Urantia Book reader named Joan Wentworth, a friend of some mutual UB friends of ours, who had been living on Crete for several years. Neither of us had met her before and all we had to go on was an old address from when Joan lived in a town on the island called Kolumbari.

It was still dark when the taxi dropped us off with our backpacks in the middle of town. The sun was just beginning to rise and there were few locals around. After a cup of coffee in the still of dawn and a look at the map to get our bearings, we walked down to the waterfront where the outdoor cafes were just opening. It was hauntingly peaceful and almost surreal as we sat there, browsing through our tour books, watching the Greeks beginning to stir. 

In the distance we spotted a funky-looking hotel, the Tempemi. It had a harbor view and what looked like large rooms, tall windows, high ceilings and big balconies. While Joy stayed behind to keep an eye on our bags, I walked over to inquire. The large room in the front would be vacant at noon, and it cost 7000 drachmas (around $28). I reserved it, went back to get Joy and we soon returned to drop off our bags at the reception. 

Not having Joan Wentworth’s phone number, we left a message on her daughter’s machine (Joan's daughter also lived in Hania and was married to a Cretan) and turned to the hotel manager for ideas on how to find her. The manager said he knew an American lady in Hania who used to live in Kolumbari and who knew all about the town, and he promised to find her for us so she could help us locate Joan.

With a little time to kill, we went exploring in the town of Hania. It looked like Venice without the canals—the same style of buildings and narrow streets, and the same general atmosphere. The shops were beginning to open and we browsed through them, being particularly impressed with a large rug shop diagonally across the street from our hotel. As we looked over the colorful rugs we exchanged smiles with the couple who appeared to be the proprietors.

When we returned to the hotel the manager was waiting for us. “First we go to meet the American lady,” he said, and steered us straight back to the rug shop we'd just been in, leading us right to the same man we’d smiled at earlier, the shop owner, Kostas, who happened to be Joan Wentworth's partner. Joan, he said, had stepped out and would be back in half an hour. It turned out that Joan was the woman who used to live in Kolombari, but had now moved to Hania! Joy and I decided the social architects must have led us to the Tempemi Hotel, only 100 feet from where Joan’s boyfriend owned a business! We agreed to come back in an hour or so, after we brought up our bags and settled into our room.

There was enough space in our enormous quarters for each of us to have a bed at different ends. A large bathroom had been built right in the middle of the room, most likely after the invention of plumbing as the building seemed hundreds of years old. Thinking we might stay here for several days, I immediately rearranged the furniture and threw the Greek-patterned sarong I'd just bought over the table for a tablecloth.
Back downstairs we sat in the hotel’s outdoor taverna and ate omelettes. After half an hour I returned to the rug shop and there was Joan Wentworth, an exotic fifty-something Joan Baez lookalike, tall and lanky and friendly. 

Joan returned to the hotel with me where I introduced her to Joy, and the three of us spent the afternoon sitting outside drinking shot after shot of a licorice-tasting Turkish drink, something like Raki or Ouzo but with a longer name. Having the Urantia Book in common there was an instant connection, and we soon felt we had all known each other forever.

After a few hours we moved our drinking party over to the rug shop. Kostas joined in, and in the end we must have had ten shots each. They were busy preparing for a trip to the States in two days so we left them in the early evening to their packing.  

After a short nap we got up and walked to a fish restaurant Joan and Kostas had recommended, somewhat out of the main town but still along the water. We were the only customers, and I would have preferred to be in one of the more touristy, people-filled places on the harbor, but oh well…. For a lot of money we had a mixed-grill fish dinner, a platter that included just about every critter that swims in the local sea. Swarms of cats wandered around our outside table as we ate, and we fed them some the more suspicious looking part of our dinners. 

Back at our hotel we drank coffee on the balcony as we watched the moon, the water, the lights, the boats, and the people moving in different formations. By eight we were sound asleep, the Greeks just beginning their evening revelry.

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