Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - 2 weeks in Crete

On arrival in Crete there wasn‘t a bus to be seen so we had to take a taxi - 30 euros. The cheeky taxi driver was on the make and looked for another person to share. We foolishly thought he might be trying to save us money but in fact he was trying to make more money! It was quite a distance to drive and the 2 people who shared were a nice couple from New Jersey. He dropped them off in Chania for 25 euros and took our 30 when he dropped us off at the Renieris at Kato Stalos a bit farther on. We were very pleased with our nice hotel when we arrived and immediately started unpacking for our 4 nights there.
Drinks on the spacious balcony, then we climbed down the 97 steps to the road below which took us into the town. A disappointing mess of tourist orientated tavernas, supermarkets and mini-markets awaited. The prices displayed all seemed a little more expensive than we had been used to .We had a drink in a small bar with no tourists inside for under 4 euros so that wasn’t bad. We had no idea where to eat so opted for a nice looking taverna where we sat outside with the traffic streaming noisily past. A poor meal -greasy and tasteless which was only 23 euros but the wine was totally undrinkable. We walked back up to the Renieris thinking this was maybe a bad place to come.
The next day was warm and sunny. We had a nice breakfast (included in the 30 euro per night price!) and decided we would go on the bus to Chania. We waited at the bus stop nearby for a little while before one finally came thundering along, then jumped on - not knowing who to pay. There was actually a conducter on board to sell tickets.
Arriving in Chania, it seemed a bit rough, but once we went to the old town and the harbour, we were enchanted with it all. The place had a buzz to it! We walked along the seafront and had a lovely lunch later on in a café in the old town. It was so good we said we would return at night.
Off back to Kato Stalos on the bus from the bus station and we were sunning ourselves at the pool by 3pm. It was 32 degrees Celsius!
That night we had a longer wait for the Chania bus but we got there and had a good time once again. We caught the 10.30 bus home and it seemed like the last one! Next morning we went into Chania once again. We had a cool drink before taking a 1 hour boat trip on a glass bottom boat. For 10 euros each it was a good deal. A pleasant lunch followed in a lovely taverna next to the information booth just off the waterfront. Absolutely delicious shrimp saganaki and Greek salad was polished off in no time at all and we decided we would return at night.
The traffic was bad on the way back to Stalos but we were back in time to sunbathe and swim in the freezing cold pool. You would never have believed it was 34 degrees air temperature. My brave (or foolish) husband lowered himself into the pool inch by inch and of course he insisted I had to follow. Boohoo! It was cold, but fine once I was in.
We had quite a wait for the Chania bus at night, so made our way back to the Taverna we had eaten lunch at. DH had the most delicious veal chop, I had a moussaka and we shared crab salad and giant beans in tomato sauce. This really was food for the gods! Our best meal yet! Of course they give you free dessert and a little bottle of their raki (which is undrinkable). We paid our 31 euros and hurriedly made our way up to the bus station before the last bus left.
Saturday morning was quite windy, but the sky was so blue. After breakfast we relaxed a while before catching the bus into town. Once there we went to look for the post office to get stamps for the postcards. This proved a lengthy process - taking at least an hour and a quarter. 2 women worked behind the counter and they were in no hurry at all. We were both sweating in the heat, feeling quite uncomfortable.What a system!
We found some more of the old town to explore - the Turkish section - which was lovely, but very expensive to eat and drink there.
Hunger set in at 2pm so we once again went to the taverna where Angelo greeted us with the usual enthusiasm he probably gives all tourists. This time we were eating lunch and no dinner at night so we had veal, lamb, big beans and a Greek salad with wine and beer. 31 euros paid we went off to catch our bus back. It was a bit cooler when we arrived at the hotel - far too cold for swimming, but we lay on the sun beds for a while before going inside to do internet and packing. A quiet Saturday night for us! Unfortunately, the residents of the Renieris were not all as well behaved as us and sometime between 12 and 1, they made a "Brits abroad "noise and carry on.
We worried the next morning that it might be raining when we needed to catch the bus into Chania, but we managed to get down the steps to the stop and await our transport. we arrived at the bus station with only 5 minutes to spare before the Rethmynon bus departed, It only took an hour to get to our destination, passing through some nice countryside , but nowhere near as pretty as what we’d been through in mainland Greece. Once in Rethmynon, we walked through the streets trying to find Olga’s Pension - our HQ for the next 2 nights. On arrival we were met by an old man who showed us to our very quirky old room overlooking the narrow street below. We both took to it immediately and liked he roof garden on the next level too. We went around the streets for a while then had a set price lunch in a nearby taverna next to a church. It was a reasonable lunch for the 19 euro price for 2 persons. Another walk followed that, then we went to the mini market near to our accommodation and paid 6.60 for a litre and a half of wine, 2 lg cans of Mythos, 1.5 litres water a pkt of chips and a pkt of tic tacs. The best bargain! Time to go back to Olgas and sunbathe on the rooftop garden. It was windy but warm up there and we were surrounded by various cacti and plants growing in pots giving shelter and shadow. I tested out the wine we’d bought and decided it was most acceptable!
We had our shower when we came back down to our room - the whole bathroom was the shower - no cubicle here, but the water was hot at least - unlike a lot of the places we had stayed.
We went out at 8pm and stopped at a nice little bar for a drink where we were the only customers. 4 euros got us our wine and beer. We weren’t really very hungry so I suggested we eat in a Gyros kind of place where we sat outside and had red and white wine, gyros plate and a gyros pitta for 13.60 euros! Incredible!
Monday morning was sunny and bright. We had to go down to Stella’s Kitchen - a café next door to Olgas - for our breakfast. We got egg, toast, cake and fresh orange juice which was more than ample for our needs. We didn’t hurry to go out and when we did we went to an internet café to do some emails, followed by some shopping in the labyrinth of streets which made up the old town. Our 11 euro lunch was some filled pittas which were fine, but nothing special. We were on our way back to Olga’s when a Scottish girl asked us if we could do a survey for her. We had to answer a few holiday questions and then were told to pick an envelope out of the big to see if we could win a prize. Of course we did! I got a T shirt, but hubby got a key symbol which was supposedly the "biggie prize" - a holiday, video camera or CD/radio or whatever. We knew it was a total waste of time but she said we could get a free taxi to their hotel and back again and there was no catch. Time was plentiful so we did. A limo took us to Platanis where we got champagne (sweet) and a spiel on buying hotel accommodation. It all ended when DH wanted to know the bottom line -like HOW MUCH! The manager fellow was not pleased and dropped us! I got my T shirt and DH got a week’s free accommodation (which we still have to research but probably won't bother with). Another fine car took us back into Rethymnon and we were off to sunbathe on the rooftop . That night we ate at a café place near our accommodation t and had a fine meal cooked for us by an old woman working on her own.
Monday morning was another lovely blue sky day and after our one hot and one cold boiled egg breakfast we paid our 90 euros for 2 very enjoyable nights. We walked the 15 minute walk to the bus station to get the Heraklion bus. What a shambles their bus stations all seem to be - too small and hardly any information to be had. We were fortunate to get good seats with a little table in front of us for our water and we were on our way to Heraklion.

It was a busy, crowded place with too much traffic and I decided I didn’t ever want to return at that point. The bus station was slightly more modern - even if not very big for the size of the city - they had information of your journey on electronic view! The buses were very reasonably priced. It was only 6 euros 20 for the first part and then under 3 euros to go to Hersonnosis. Unfortunately we got a grumpy non- English speaking conductor who wasn’t very helpful and we worried if we would get off anywhere near where we needed to be. This proved to be sensible as we needed to take a taxi from where we were dropped off in the middle of this awful town. It turned out a good thing as we would never have managed to carry our cases all the way along the street and up the steep hill to Angelos Village. We checked in and were shown to our bungalow - a functional concrete room with concrete headboard, dressing table, bedside cabinets and bed base! Easy maintenance. The sea view turned out to be not as great as expected with a no - privacy balcony and in the wrong position to have any sunshine on us. Slightly peeved - but knowing we were only paying £135 for 8 nights - we resolved to make the most of things and go off in search of lunch. We didn’t want to go down into town among the million tourists and all the tack so we climbed up the hill to go to the hillside villages instead. This also turned out to be a disappointment as everything was geared up for the tourist and there was no such thing as “old village” . The Rough Guide was over 5 years old and oh boy things had changed!
We got some lunch anyway and it was fine - free internet thrown in too so that was a bonus. More walking followed and then we had to come down the hill and up again to Angelos. Murder in the heat of the afternoon! We lay on the sunbeds at the swimming pool - the pool was too cold to contemplate a swim.
At night we just went down the road to the nearest taverna - Theodoras where we had a really delicious meal of restaurant style and quality. The pork my husband had was so tasty and I had the veal stew. Shrimp Saganaki was really unnecessary, but we enjoyed it as well. We paid 36 euros including tip and that was the most expensive yet. Uphill to Angelos with a nice bright half moon shining.
DH awoke next morning with mosquito bites - again. He’d been getting them regularly since arriving in Crete, poor thing.
Breakfast in Angelos was not great, but as I said already, we hadn’t paid much.
We caught the10am bus to Ayios Nickolaios and found it to be a lovely place. This is where we should have been staying maybe. We walked around and DH got some car hire prices - thinking of a 4 day hire to see some proper Crete if there was anything left of it! We had a super lunch in a small café run by an old woman in black.
There was a Haagen Dazs café at the lakeside so we indulged there before getting the bus back to Hersonnissos. What a carry on trying to figure it out - it made us more determined to go for the car hire. We were dropped off at the same point as yesterday - miles from Angelos -7 euro taxi fare coming up! We passed a car hire place and as the woman was so helpful, we ended up taking a car for the week - returning it to the airport when we’re finished! 150 euros for 8 days. It’s the end of the season so prices have dropped considerably. We were given a Citroen C3 to get us back up the hill, but were asked to return at 9pm to collect our Hyundai Atos. We passed the time until 9, then drove back to auto Rentals. The car we were given had a headlight out so the woman asked us to drive along to their other office with that car to exchange it for a car with lights that worked! This we did and so drove off in our little Atos. Hubby said he would drive up to the village for something to eat and we had dinner at Alex and Christine’s taverna. This was not a good choice as my moussaka was the driest, most tasteless one yet. DH had lamb chops, but it was cheap shoulder cut chops. We returned to our room for a night of mosquito bites .
The next morning DH had even more bites and I had 2 or 3 - I never usually get bitten! We had breakfast then set off in our little car. We really made the right decision as we saw so many things other than tourist resort. There were some lovely mountain villages and big hills. We went to Lidl’s for our supplies and then set off to the ancient town of Lato which turned out to be very interesting and only cost 2 euros each for entry. This was the kind of archaeological site that we both love. We had our picnic up the hill with splendid views around us.
After that we headed for Elounda as I wanted to see Spinalonga. Elounda was yet another tourist resort, but not too developed yet. We could see the island of Spinalonga from Plaka where we drove on to. I had wanted to go across to the island, but changed my mind when we discovered the many tourist boats going there all day long. It wasn’t the romantic deserted place I thought it would be. It didn’t matter because we had such a good time at Lato.
Home again and almost the gin and tonic hour!
We ate at Theodora’s again, but this time it was a bit disappointing as the food was not freshly cooked. Another trek up the steep hill and bedtime once again.
Friday started dull and windy and we set off in the direction of Sitea on the east side of Crete - a 2 hour drive through mountains and valleys. We had lunch at the seafront in Sitea and we ordered stuffed squid which was absolutely delicious. Then we drove to the south coast which we found to be less commercialised than the north. We took the road from Irapetria to head north again and DH decided to make a detour to Afrati where there was an archaeological site. This we never found as there were no signs for it when we drove through the lovely old village. An old man waved us down and rabbled on in Greek, motioning us to park the car. We thought this was the site, but he cut some grapes from a vine and insisted on us putting a bunch in the car. Than he beckoned us to follow him into his garden, Very confused as to what was going on, the next we knew he had us at the front door of his house and introduced us to his wife - a short old woman in black with a walking stick.
They gestured us to sit down and then the old fellow gives us a plate of grapes. The old wife was busy preparing something at the sink and the old fellow told us to come and look through the back. This was where his home-made wine, raki and olive oil was stored in big barrels. It was amazing! We had cottoned on by this time that he wanted us to buy wine or raki, but we got interested by the olive oil which we were meaning to buy from somewhere. Back in their small kitchen / living area, the wife had set out a plate with pomegranate and 3 spoons on a plate and we had to eat. When they knew we wanted olive oil (7 euros) the old lad got up and fetched some bread which he broke up into pieces, held it under the tap and left it to his wife. She then poured oil onto it and added chopped up tomato. It was absolutely delicious, but after our heavy lunch it was difficult to eat any more. The raki and 3 small glasses came out next and DH had to insist he couldn’t have any because he was driving. It was left to me to do the right thing and drink the dreaded reddish coloured liquid. I took a little sip and squirmed and the old man shook his head and motioned me to drink it all at once - I did it and right enough it wasn’t so bad. The old woman came out with her homemade lace garments next, but we said no to that as the prices were high.I don't really like those lace doylies.
We then said we would take 2 bottles of oil and they were happy with that. The oil was fetched from the barrel in a stainless steel jug and poured into a bottle so she had to go and fill another one. At least this stopped her fetching any more food. 2 women came to the door with a bag full of plastic bottles - probably from their wine and raki sales. We never figured out if it was the old man’s sister or what. They left after giving us he once over (2 or 3 times) DH thought the fellow told them to leave so he could get on with the hard sale!
Meanwhile we were shown envelopes full of photos and cards from people who he had also stopped on the road. I took photos in the house and he made Graham write down their address - copied off an envelope - so we could send them a photo!
Graham gave him a 20 euro note and indicated that he didn’t want change, then I was given a handful of walnuts from he box that was sitting under their stove. One pomegranate was also handed over, then we said our “eferistos”, the old man plucked a stem off his basil plant and placed it behind my ear and off we went, the old woman waving us off.
It was a unique experience seeing how the old couple lived and it really made our day. We arrived back in Hersonnosis just after 6pm and we had a drive through the old villages - discovering old Hersonnosis which we thought was the best of the 3.
It was a splendid day out and we even had sunshine and blue skies for most of it.
We had a picnic supper in our room as we weren’t hungry enough for going out.
Poor DH had a bad night’s sleep because of his itching mosquito bites.
Saturday 11th October was again windy and cooler. We set off for Heraklion to take the road down to the south coast as far as Pirgos. We had more than 3 wrong turns on this drive - all due to the ad - or non existent signposting. On arrival Agiou Galini on the coast, we had lunch overlooking the breakwater and fishing boats. It was a fair enough lunch for 19 euros giving the setting. A quick stop off at an internet café, then we left the little fishing port.
It was too cloudy and cold for sunning ourselves at the pool so back into our ant/ mosquito infested room for baths before having a Saturday night on the town.
We passed by Theodora’s and opted for Niko’s family taverna instead. It turned out a good choice as the food and friendly service was excellent. I had pistachio for the first time this holiday and DH had meatballs, sharing a shrimp saganaki as well. Good value at 27 euros including Mythos and wine - plus we were given a free liqueur before we made our way up the hill.
Sunday was very windy and dull, but it brightened up by the time we set off in the car to explore some more of Crete. By the time we were up in the hills touring the Lassithi Plateau the sky was full of black clouds and there were a few showers. The scenery was spectacular - we’ve never seen so many vineyards and olive groves before. The only downside was that we never found a decent place to stop for our picnic so we had to wait until we were back down the hill again and found a big lay by off the main road. We went back into Hersonnosis and bought olive oil and honey (for gifts) from the Spar shop, then back to Angelo’s for the rest of the afternoon.
We had another delicious dinner at Niko’s that night - cooked by his wife. DH had kleftiko -a lump of lamb with potatoes and carrots cooked in paper. I had pork souvlaki which was equally good. A free ouzo and peach schnapps with a strawberry in it was enjoyed before the evening ended.
Monday 13th October dawned brighter and not so windy. We drove east - past Heraklion and down a twisty road through some very rugged mountains. We saw some interesting villages, but after a while it all started looking the same. We couldn’t really find anywhere suitable for lunch and headed back to old Hersonnosis where we eventually got food around 2.30. I was past my sell by date by then and poor DH was sorry we hadn’t stopped much earlier. We were annoyed that 2 simple gyros plates and 2 cokes cost us 21 euros. Ridiculous price!
We went back to Angelo’s and tried to get some sun at the deserted poolside, though we had to surrender to the black clouds after 45 determined minutes.
Niko’s was our dinner destination again that night and I was served the BEST Moussaka I have ever had! It was full of potato, courgette and aubergines.
How we wished we had found Nikos on the first night - then we could have tried more of his wife’s delicious dishes!
Tuesday - our last whole day in Crete was in Ayios Nikalaos.
We carried on, but he worried about it all the time we were in Ayios Nikolaos.
We had lunch at the same little café and came back afterwards in the hope of sunning ourselves at the pool. By the time we reached Hersonnossis the sky was overcast once more. We just got on with packing the cases and that night had our last Greek meal at Nikos.
The next morning we did the last of the packing and checked out of Angelos Village. We stopped at the beach right next to the airport as we had so much time and the sun was shining. At the airport we had to leave the car key with the car park attendant then off we went for our flight to Athens
We stayed at the airport Sofitel that night (175euros) where we had to face reality once more - a 2 course meal in their restaurant - 55euros -for 1 person!!!!
A joint decision was taken to eat at the airport that night. At least we would get an authentic Macdonalds - we didn’t think the Sofitel would serve good authentic Greek food.
So we ate at Macdonalds and enjoyed pour nice hotel room with fluffy quilt and pillows before getting up early the next morning for our flight to Heathrow.
What a great trip! We both had a fantastic time and vowed to return to mainland Greece again, but maybe not Crete.