Crete, Greece - Chania or Iraklion?

Stay in Chania until the day before you go to Santorini, then take the bus to Heraklion to see Knossos and stay near the port so you can walk there in the morning.

Completely agree with brotherlee2004 -- Chania is way more charming.

Way,way more charming!

I really appreciate the advice! This will be helpful in booking my hotels because I leave in about 2 1/2 weeks. Last night I watched the movie Mama Mia -- loved the Greek island location, but the singing was really bad. I'm really looking forward to my trip. Thanks, again.

I stayed at Pension Nora in Chania last year. At the time, it was only 30 euros a night. Small but clean room with a private bath and ac.
They have a little cafe across the street.

Id u want a movie with scenery of the islands, check out The Traveling Pants of the Sisterhood. Watched it b4 our trip to Greece..not so great a movie, but beautiful scenery. BTW, we were in Greece also in the month of September and had beautiful weather.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants has some good scenes of Oia and Amoudi on Santorini. The "ferry" shown going to Piraeus was actually Naxos Star, one of the boats that does day trips to Santorini from Naxos and Paros.

Last night, I booked my hotel in Chania after finding many of the recommended places already booked for the nights I wanted a room. I was getting a little concerned about finding a room in the area that I wanted (near Old Chania) and at less than 100 euros for a single. The booking sites like Expedia and Travelaxe, etc., weren't listing the less expensive places. A few other sites said the hotels had no availability. I then googled the hotel websites and got the email addresses, and emailed inquiries. With the 10 hour time difference from the west coast, it took a while for replies. I'm happy to say that I booked a room at Pension Nora for 30 euros a night.

Bettina, I'm glad that you liked Pension Nora. I'll write a trip report after I return in early October.

I saw the Sisterhood movie about a year ago and liked it. About three weeks ago when I was thinking about taking a vacation to Europe, I was channel surfing and watched part of the movie again. The movie helped influence me to go to Greece and now I'm going!!! LOL

A co-worker suggested a really funny movie from the 80's called "Shirley Valentine." Shirley is a Brit who goes to Greece with a friend and it changes her life. (I don't want to give too much of the movie away.) I highly recommend this movie. I was hoping to see where it was filmed because it looked so beautiful. It turns out that it was filmed in Mykonos twenty years ago. It looked beautiful, but I'm not going to Mykonos. I have Blockbuster.com and the next movie to be mailed to me is "Troy." I've seen it already, but since it on Greece (and with Brad Pitt) it's a good excuse to see it again since I leave in 2 1/2 weeks. I think this will help me to brush up on some Greek history!

Even 20 years ago, they had to do most of the Shirley Valentine filming early in the A.M., in order not to show a beach mobbed with tourists.

For another really neat movie, look for the Italian one, Mediterraneo (subtitles) Funny and very touching. A platoon of Italian soldiers early in WW II are put ashore to hold a Greek Island. All the Greek men are away fightin on the northern frontier... onlly old people and women are there. Being Italian, they promptly drop their radio -- and thus are permanently cut off from their command. The local Greeks do not resist ... in fact, they give them a feast, with lots of wine, doctored. The Italian soldiers wake up to find that the locals now have their guns. Then the movie portrays how they gradually "turn Greek" -- learning to dance, painting ikons, farming & fishing -- and what happens when the war ends & the Greek men return.

It really portrays a TRUE greek Island -- not easy to reach these days, Kastellorizo ... the color is gorgeous, many of minor actors were the local population.

I have heard of this movie, Mediterraneo, but have been unable to locate it in the video stores.
I will be leaving for Cyprus on Friday and after spending 6 days there we will be off to Crete for 8 days. Can't wait - half the time in Agios Nikolaus and the other half in Chania.

Has anyone hiked the Impros gorge?

Aquawink - have a great time. You will be there when I return.
We can trade stories.

Re "Mediterraneo" scarcity -- Since many video stores have just either recent films or "classics" you might have better luck going to a large public library and searching its database. I'll also bet you could buy it cheap online. One thing, it's probably on videotape, not DVD.

This summer, on August 2009, I was on holiday in Crete and visited the marvellous city of Chania. I decided to taste the Cretan cuisine in Agia Marina, a small village near Chania. I was unfortunate to have lunch at the tavern “ Lemonia” ! The external image of the tavern promised a pleasant experience. But the reality was fully disappointing!
The food was awful, badly-cooked and of very poor quality! The result was that in the evening I suffered pains in my stomach!
The service was not better at all! It was very very slow actually!
And when many customers complained and made comments about all this mess, they answered us in a very rude manner!
Such a tavern offends greek ethos, greek hospitality and the traditional Cretan food. I believe that all Greek and foreign tourists have the right to know and abstain from this tavern for their own good!

I fear that the fact it was in Agia Marina was the obvious downfall. It's a tourist strip with no real people. Chania has many lovely places to eat with excellent food.

Chania is very charming. I stayed at Casa Leone right on the harbor - a lovely hotel. When I went in November I enjoyed Heraklion. It is noisier and more crowded, but it has much to offer in terms of entertainment and restaurants. It is also easier to get a bus to go to various other points in Crete. I stayed at the Capsis-Astoria which is near the archaeological museum (which still isn't fully reopened). I also went to Knossos and visited a number of smaller museums. I think it depends on what you want to see as to where you will decide to stay and you may want to spend a few days in each place.

Aquawink we also stayed at Pension Nora. It is tucked down a small alley so it is quiet but within a two minute walk of the Chania harbour. We have recommended it to several people and all have indicated they liked it. Good choice. Use the money saved to dine in some of the little tavernas in the back streets away from the tourist traps on the waterfront. Much better food.

Stanbr, I just returned from my 17 day vacation in Greece and had a wonderful time. I'm still recovering from jet lag, but hope to start writing my trip report this weekend. I visited three islands, the mainland and Pelopenesse. I had a very bad experience at Pension Nora in Chania. I woke up with bed bug bites all over my legs. I've never had this experience and I've traveled in many third world nations. The Pension Nora's two story building is very old and not well maintained. It was very noisy as well. I wouldn't recommend the Pension Nora to anyone since it has bed bugs. I switched to Anemonie Hotel that was around the corner. It was very clean and well maintained. The price was 30 euros (the same as Pension Nora). I really enjoyed staying in Old Town Chania. It was a great location to the harbor, shops, restaurants and sights.

My favorite 'Greek' movie is "Tempest" which stars John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Raul Julia and a young Molly Ringwald. Cassavetes is the MAN.

And I just found "Medierraneo" available on Amazon

Aquawink, thank you for your update on Pension Nora. I am sorry that your experience was dreadful and regret my recommendation that may have caused you grief. What was a good location a couple of years ago can change in a hurry. Certainly there were no bedbugs when we were there and as is our custom we eliminate any noise by running the air conditioner all night long.
I saw your report on Tripadviser as well. I hope you reported your experience to the owners of Nora so they could take remedial action.
I still look forward to your trip report.

Aquawink,
I too was sorry to hear of your bad experience at Pension Nora. I'm also recommended it several times since I stayed there in April of 2008.
I was planning to stay there again when I go back to Chania in April of 2010 but maybe I will check out Anemonie Hotel instead.

Bettina, the correct spelling is Anemones Hotel and can be found at www.anemones-rooms.com. It's a small hotel, and very clean and comfortable. I'm working on my trip report this weekend so I hope to share it soon.

Thank you aquawink!

As one of the owners of Pension Nora, many of our previous guests have emailed me to bring this post to my attention so I feel compelled to reply. It is so rare that we have an unhappy client - in fact I can't recall this ever happening before! When this guest reported a complaint about bugs to us, we stripped the room bare and found nothing. We asked to see the bites so we could go to a chemist and get her some medication but she refused to show them to us. Certainly we took her complaint seriously, but never found any evidence of bugs and the room that she slept in has been occupied continuously since her departure without complaint.

It appears that this guests unhappiness was caused by the simple request of asking them to change rooms. The ground floor studio in Natalie's, which she had taken on the first evening, had been reserved for a week for a person with walking disabilities and she was made aware of this previous booking on arrival. From this point on the relationship deteriorated rapidly, which is much to our regret. We wish she had allowed us to address any concerns she might have had

I appreciate your effort in addressing this issue, but this is far from the truth so maybe it happened to another person as well. You put a good public relations spin on it, but the facts are incorrect. My suggestion to all who read this is BEWARE!