NHC

Part I

My husband and I visited the Greek islands of Lesvos and Crete for 12 days, beginning in mid-September.

MYTILENE
We arrived on Lesvos in the evening and stayed one night in the capital, Mytilene. The taxi ride from the airport to our hotel on the harbor was 8 euro. At first we worried that it was going to be a lot, because what looked like the taxi meter showed something around 50, but apparently that was something else! We stayed at the Sappho Hotel. It's a budget hotel on the harbor in Mytilene. We hadn't planned on staying in Mytilene at first, but our flight was changed from arriving in daytime to arriving in the evening, and I was not up to driving for approx. an hour and a quarter through the mountains at night to our first destination of Molyvos. So we stayed in Mytilene for one night. The hotel was 40E for the night. The front desk staff knew a bit of English. The room was ok - it was pretty worn, but had a lovely view of the water. After arriving we went in search of dinner. It was weird, there were tons of cafe places with people having drinks and hanging out, but we had trouble finding a restaurant. We finally just ate somewhere that was kind of fast-foodish. We had gyros, which were good. The harbor was pretty busy with people in the cafes. We returned to the room and went to bed. It was loud, though, because we had to sleep with the balcony door open because it was warm. The room had an air conditioner, but there was no remote control for the air conditioner unit. Probably one had to ask and pay for it, and we didn't feel like doing that (we also never could find the remote for the TV, but we didn't really watch the TV anyway). Breakfast was extra, but we did not partake. In the morning we went outside to take photos of the statue of Sappho, and the cathedral, all were within a couple of blocks of us. After that we returned to the hotel where the car rental company, Best (booked from www.lesvos-travel.com ), was to meet us with a rental car. The guy arrived, and began taking my information (driver's license, international driver's license, and passport). He handed back my driver's license and international driver's license, but later I realized that I did not have my passport. The guy had left it on the hotel counter without returning it to me: so make a note: when renting a car, make sure you get all of your documents back! We were taken to our car, a neon yellow Hyundai Atos. The only problem was that the trunk area was not big enough for both of our carry-on sized bags, so although we had planned to park and go to the archeological museum after receiving the car, we did not feel comfortable leaving our luggage in the car in full view while we were gone, so we decided to skip the museum and head straight for our hotel in Molyvos.

The drive to Molyvos took around 1 hour 15 minutes to an hour and a half. I found the drive to Kalloni to be very easy, as I had initially been a little worried about driving on Lesvos (my husband doesn't yet drive, so all of the driving was done by myself), just because I heard the driving can be windy and hilly. After Kalloni the drive did get hilly and windy in some places. In a couple of places there were no guard rails where I thought there should be. On the way, right before Molyvos, we passed through PETRA, where there were many sunbathers on the beach there. From the brief view I had of it, it seemed like a nice beach.

MOLYVOS
On arriving in Molyvos, we looked for our hotel, the Aphrodite Hotel (www.aphrodite-hotel-lesvos.com ). I drove into town, which is on a narrow road, and ended up at the harbor where we could go no further! It turned out that the hotel was up the road a bit. There was a little to-do getting out of there, as I had driven all the way onto the harbor where there was restaurant seating! Some people guided me out. It turned out that the signs up towards the castle listed the direction of several hotels, including ours.

Upon arriving at the hotel, when asked for our passports I realized I did not have mine! I called the car rental company, and they said that the representative we met with left the passport on the hotel counter for me to pick up. I called the hotel, and they said it was there. I now faced having to drive back for it and return to Molyvos again, a total of 2 1/2 to 3 hours of driving. But the staff at the hotel was so nice! After letting us use their phone to make these calls at no charge, the proprietor of the hotel asked where the hotel was when I explained the situation. I told her and she said that her husband was in Mytilene that day, and she'd ask him if he could pick the passport up, and he said he would! I was so relieved that I didn't have to do that drive all over again. The Vatis family was so nice to do that, they really went the extra mile for us. I think that many other people would not have bothered to help, even if one of them were in Mytilene that day. It just wouldn't have occurred to them, but they offered to help right away, and sure enough, a few hours later, my passport was at the front desk. Exceptional service!

As for the hotel itself, it is in a very pretty location. It has its own rocky beach, as well as a pool, taverna, restaurant, gym (I never went to see it though), playground, and outside deck area. Our room had a balcony with a lovely view of the sea. The room had 2 twin beds right next to each other, a TV, a desk, and a fridge. There was A/C for 6E per day, but we never used it (we just left the balcony door open if we were hot). The downstairs area of the lobby, sitting area and restaurant were a bit nicer than the room itself, but the room was nice, in keeping with the hotel's B-class rating. The breakfasts were really good, with several types of breads, cheese, meats, cereal, fruit, juices, yogurt, eggs, and what seemed to be home-baked sweet breads. We had dinner there one night. Many of the guests are there on packages which include full or half board. It consisted of bread, a zucchini-cheese torte, macaroni with lamb, and ice cream for dessert. That, in addition to 3 sodas, cost 26E for the both of us. The food was fine, although we found the food at the restaurants in town to be better. The hotel also has internet access on a couple of computers in the large bar area, which is equipped with couches as well, for approx 1.50E per half hour (or 15 minutes. I can't remember), but we were not charged for our use of it. The lobby area also has books and magazines for perusal. Beach towel rental is 1.50E to keep for the whole stay. There is a shuttle bus to the harbor area, but we didn't use it since we had the rental car. We saw people walking to town sometimes (the hotel is up a hill from the main part of town with the shops and restaurants), it's probably a 15-20 minute walk with a couple of hilly parts. The guests of the hotel were primarily German and English. The room cost was approx 60E per night with a discount that was advertised on their website. All of the staff spoke excellent English. It?s a family-run hotel, and Mr. Vatis told me that they lived in the U.S. for around 20 years. Really great, friendly and helpful people. Nice hotel.

MOLYVOS
Molyvos is very pretty with tiny hilly streets, and a main stretch with shops and restaurants that leads to a picturesque harbor. One hill above the main road is where most of the shops are. Plenty of jewelry, crafts, souvenir shops. Up above where our hotel was, is a Byzantine-Genoese ancient castle. There are great views from it, and though crumbling, much of it is intact, and one can climb onto its walls and look down onto Molyvos and the sea. Admission is 2E. We drove up there, it would probably be a 15 minute walk uphill from our hotel, and maybe 25-30 minute walk uphill from town. I figure that most people without a car simply take a cab there. It was a cool sight to see.

EFTALOU HOT SPRINGS
The Eftalou Hot Springs are about 5km from Molyvos. It is a cute little building next to a domed hot pool from the Ottoman era, right on the beach in a scenic location. It is 3.50E for 45 minutes in the shared pool (up to 4 people), which is the original pool. For a private tub room it is 5E each for fifteen minutes. We chose a private room, where you can control the temperature. There are faucets for both the hot spring water and cold water, as well as a shower in there. You lie down in a large tub, and there is a window open to the sea. It was very nice and relaxing. I took a peek at the original pool. It is hotter in that pool, and people usually go in and out to the beach outside to cool off. It was nice to see the original, with its white clay-looking dome with little skylight-type holes in the roof and the pool inside. It is open 10-2, and 4-8 pm, the tubs are open 10-4. The waters are supposed to be very therapeutic. Quite a nice experience.

RESTAURANTS IN MOLYVOS
Our first day we had lunch down the hill from our hotel on the way to Molyvos town at a place called Atonia. The lunch was fine, and had, like many tavernas there, resident animals. There was a cat who slept the whole time, and a poodle who begged for scraps.

Another place we went for lunch was Dilino, on the road to the harbor. Really good food (although some bad cats. They crowded around hoping for scraps, which we found to be a usual thing for Greece, but a few of them tried to come onto our table, and one bad one kept trying to swat at me when I kept it off of the table). It was 32E for 4 sodas, a shared mixed grill (very yummy!) and a Greek salad.

We had dinner one night at the Captain?s Table near the end of the harbor. They were quite busy. We had the Captain's Platter, which is a big platter with many types of grilled fish, along with a Greek salad, 3 sodas, a glass of wine, and cheesecake with tea. All of this totaled 45E.

I'm not sure it's worth mentioning since I don?t remember the name, but we ate lunch one day at a restaurant near the beginning of town that has a very colorful sign and you walk down some stairs to get to it. It was good, simple food (and had a family of cats as well, who were fairly well-behaved). 20E for meatballs and potatoes, macaroni and lamb, a Greek salad and 4 sodas.

Our last night in Molyvos we ate at Once Upon a Time in Molyvos, closer to the beginning of the harbor. Quite good food, and several locals eating there. 32E for a mixed grill, lamb and potatoes, a Greek salad, 4 sodas, and ice cream.

VAFIOS
We wanted to see some of the neighboring towns, so we drove to Vafios, a small village a few kilometers from Molyvos. It is a hill town with very narrow streets. From the direction that we arrived, we parked on the road at the beginning of town and walked in, as it looked too narrow to drive in. There's not much to the village. There are rocky-stony steep streets through the tiny town. We passed by some of the local men hanging out at a cafe and exchanged "kalispera" ("good afternoon&quot greetings. It has a cool view to Molyvos. There were a couple of restaurants, but we did not eat there.

TO VATERA BEACH
After 3 days in Molyvos, we headed to Vatera Beach, on the southern-central part of the island. Rather than driving back down the way we had come (via Petra and Kalloni), we drive via ANAXOS and Skoutaros to visit the LIMONOS MONASTERY on the way. Anaxos is a tiny town, with not much to it. We stopped briefly in the hill town of FILIA after the usual windy driving, uphill, and took a couple of pictures. We then started out descent to the monastery. The monastery has pretty grounds, with lots of tiny "satellite" churches that probably cannot fit more than 5-10 persons at a time. We saw several of these tiny churches around Lesvos. They often seemed to be in somewhat remote areas, and I don't know, but it seemed that maybe they are in areas with no regular church so that people can go to church, although it seemed like they don't actually have services, but just rather pictures, with lighted candles and oil, as a place to go to pray. The main church at the monastery is open to men only (due to "tradition&quot. My husband went in and the pictures are quite impressive. We went inside the museum, which is 1.50E (entrance to the monastery itself is free). There were cool, ancient paintings of icons, an extensive library of very ancient writings (some dating back to the 9th century), as well as exhibits of jewelry given by visitors to the monastery on pilgrimages, old costumes worn by the priests, the old kitchen of the monastery, etc.

After the monastery we drove through Kalloni to SKALA KALLONI. There is a sandy beach there, and we had lunch at one of the many tavernas along the main road. After lunch we continued to Vatera and stopped at PYRRHA, which is supposed to be where an ancient city sank into the water during an earthquake, with the tops of some houses still visible in the water. We couldn?t see anything, though. After a brief stop to look (there's one taverna there also) we continued on to Vatera.

VATERA
Vatera is a long stretch of beach with a few tavernas and places to stay along the road alongside the beach. There is not much more to it, just a beautiful sea view and quiet atmosphere. There is a lot of beach mostly to yourself, at least at the time we were there. There are no real shops to speak of, just a couple of little markets and maybe 1 tiny souvenir shop. There is no internet or bank machine. We stayed at the Vatera Beach Hotel (www.hotel-vatera-beach-lesvos.com ). It is a C-class hotel that has an A-class restaurant. There are direct sea view rooms above the restaurant, which is where our room was. You can hear people in the restaurant and music from the restaurant, but that?s just a few hours a day, and the music is nice. What's really great about these rooms is that you can hear the waves lapping on the beach. We paid 55E per night with an internet booking discount. The room had a large balcony, 2 twin beds right next to each other, a fridge with a mini-bar, a desk, bureau, and A/C. Watch out for the mosquitoes from the beach! The owner, Barbara Ballis, is really nice and personable. She's an American who moved to Greece many years ago and is married to a Greek. They run the hotel together.

The next day we walked towards AYIOS FOCAS (where there are ruins of an ancient temple and Christian church, which from what I read consist mostly of broken columns), but not all of the way, which would have been a few miles. We could not drive because it is an unpaved road, and the insurance on the rental car prohibited driving on such roads (you should check your rental agreement if you want to drive on such roads, although we saw several people in rental cars doing it anyway around the island). We followed a route outlined in the book Lesvos: car tours and walks by Brian and Eileen Anderson. We went past a river where the book says there are turtles, although that probably depends on the season. We passed a couple who had seen one turtle, but no more. There was also digging going on there that looked construction-related, so that might have scared them off. We continued on a bit over the bridge over the river and along the road, and came upon one of the little satellite churches. We went inside. It was very pretty, lots of pictures and lit candles with scented oil. We walked a little further on where there was a pretty grove of trees, and then turned back. It was a nice little walk.

VRISSA & POLICHNITOS
The next day we drove to the nearby towns of Vrissa and Polichnitos. Vrissa is a tiny town with a small, tin-looking basilica. It has a small natural history museum that houses local fossils dated to 2 million years ago, but we did not visit it. Polichnitos is pretty small as well, but bigger than Vrissa or Vatera. It's a cute town. It has some shops, restaurants, and cafes. It also has a bank machine, the first available one from Vatera until Skala Kalloni. There are apparently 2 bank machines based on the locals we asked to help us find them, but they were hard to find. Here is where one is: in the direction of arriving from Vatera, facing the center of town where there's a cafe in the middle of a fork in the road with a street on either side, down on the side of the street that has the pharmacy on the right side, continue up that street. At (I think) the first right, turn and down a little bit is a little booth that is a free-standing bank machine almost in the middle of nowhere. It is not attached to any building. A bank/credit card is needed in order to unlock the door. It even has A/C! The screen was messed up when we were there, split in two showing the 2nd part of the screen in the first half and the first half in the 2nd half. We managed to figure it out and withdraw money. The other areas on the island with bank machines seem to only be Mytilene, Molyvos, Kalloni, Skala Kalloni, and Plomari (based on the Rough Guide from 2002). Polichnitos's bank machine has been added since the book was published, so maybe some other towns now have them as well.

KATO STAVROS
On our last day in Vatera we drove down to the road to the southeast as far as it was paved, to Kato Stavros. It is a tiny town, I don?t even think it has a cafe. We parked the car in the main "square," which was just a small area with a little monument of some kind and what looked like their community office (or maybe their post office or something like that). We walked further along the unpaved road next to a dried river path, and just looked around. The town had a pretty little satellite church that we visited as well.

RESTAURANTS IN VATERA
The tourist season in Vatera pretty much seemed to be at the end while we were there. There were maybe 2 or 3 other couples at our hotel, and a few people around. The restaurants were not crowded, either. We ate one night and also lunch one day at the restaurant at our hotel (Vatera Beach Hotel), and it was very good. Unfortunately I don't think I kept track of the prices, but it was pretty reasonable. We also ate at the Aphrodite Hotel down the road, which had good food, and reasonable prices as well. There did not seem to be more than 10 restaurants in the town.

VATERA TO AIRPORT
After a week on Lesvos we drove from Vatera to Mytilene airport. We went the long, more relaxing way (rather than the way through the mountains) up past Pyrrha and then through Lambou Mili towards Mytilene. It took around an hour and a half. There we left our rental car. Best rental company does not have an office at the airport. Since they gave us the car at a hotel rather than the airport, perhaps they forgot to tell us how to return it. There was a Best rental car representative at the Aphrodite Hotel one of the days when we were there. Since I realized I had told the initial rep the wrong time of our departure flight, I told the guy there, and he said he'd pass it along to the Mytilene office, but that if no one was there to just park the car and leave the keys under the floor mat with the door unlocked. I could not find a Best rep at the airport, so I did just that. Apparently this is a common thing for smaller rental companies in Greece with no office at the airport - the rental company in Crete had us do the same thing. In terms of the rental company the car that they gave us ran well and seemed to be pretty new, although the radio did not work. I wasn't thrilled with what happened with my passport, but it was also my fault because I didn't remain alert enough and notice that I didn't get the passport back. The car cost 165E for 6 days. I emailed them to ask if they received the car ok, but so far they haven't written back.

DRIVING ON LESVOS
I thought I might add a little section on this, since I was a bit nervous beforehand and put a post on Fodor's about driving on Lesvos. In general, there is lots of rugged terrain on Lesvos with lots of hilly/mountainous and windy driving. As I said earlier, sometimes I thought a few guardrails should have been added in some places, although many places did have guardrails. Another thing is that the native drivers there (and in Greece at large, it seems) tailgate, and then pass, so just keep to the right when they come upon you and let them pass. Some areas made me a bit nervous, mostly the really mountainous ones. But one has to take what I say here with a grain of salt. I moved a year ago to a place where I don't need a car, so I've only driven in the last year the total of maybe a month. The vast majority of people probably wouldn't even bat an eye at driving on Lesvos.

NHC

LESVOS OVERALL
I'm really glad that we went to Lesvos. The island itself is "off of the beaten track," and I think that we really got a taste in many places of true Greece. It is a good place to relax, and it has some nice sights. Almost everyone (at least in the tourist towns) speaks English, or at least enough English for you to get what you need. All of the menus had English. It would have been fine for me to just go to Lesvos for our Greece trip, because we had been to Sicily earlier in the month and had seen many Greek ruins there. There doesn't seem to be any major ruins on Lesvos. We didn't visit the ruins they have, but from what I read they are often a few columns or a portion of an ancient aqueduct. If one wants to see archeological ruins, they should probably add another city to their Greece trip.

CRETE
We arrived on Crete the 3rd week in September. We began the trip in Chania. We flew from Mytilene to Chania on Olympic Airlines (very basic service. Their planes seem old, the refreshments consist of only water and orange juice, but it is a short flight. I'm not sure if our flight was supposed to have 2 flight attendants, but there was just 1, and so first she had to give the safety announcement on the loudspeaker, and then she went in front of the plane and pantomimed the safety instructions, since she couldn't do both at once. Ha!).

Upon arriving at Chania, we took a taxi to our hotel. There is a sign posted with fares by the taxi stand. It is 13E to Chania town. Apparently it is more for luggage. We had two bags in the trunk, and the total was 15E.

We stayed at the Doge Traditional Hotel on Kondilaki St. above stores and around a block from the harbor. There are just tons of "rooms for rent" places through Chania, and the Doge was basically a rooms-for-rent place rather than a "hotel." It has a tiny downstairs area that I suppose is the lobby, and a "bar," although I never saw any drinks being made. The contact people are in the store next door. The woman in the shop there gave us the key. She spoke some English. The room was big with a second level. The first level had 2 twin beds right next to each other, a little kitchenette area, bathroom, table, desk, wardrobe, and TV, and upstairs was a double bed, a chair and another TV. The room had A/C as well, and looked down onto the stores along Kondilaki St. There is nice wood decor. When we first arrived we realized that the refrigerator was off, and actually that the whole kitchenette unit was not on. There was a fuse box by the door with a couple of switches on the "off" position, but we didn't want to mess with this. On our way out to get something to eat we asked the girl in the store about it, but I don?t think she understood us. My husband said the "fridge" rather than "refrigerator" though, and I think she may not have understood. In retrospect, I think what she told us had to do with the air conditioner. Anyway, when we returned to the room we just put the switches to "on," and the unit went on. When we first entered the room it smelled a little damp and moldy. I later realized that this is because they mop the room daily (the floor is tile), and I expect that it takes a while to dry. We tried sleeping upstairs in the double bed, but it really seemed like it couldn't stand the weight of two people, so we stayed in the twin beds downstairs. The main problem with the place was hot water. There didn't seem to be much, and it was erratic when it was on. The first morning my husband took a shower first, and he told me that the hot water seemed to be waning at the end of his shower. He tends to take long showers though, so I figured I'd just wait a little to let the water re-heat. When I went to take a shower, the water was ice cold. I waited another 15-20 minutes, but it was still freezing cold. I finally just did the best I could with a washcloth - I could not take a shower, it was just too cold. Later that evening I did a quick rinse-off and there was warm water. The next morning I took a shower first, so that if the water ran out at least I would get a real shower this time. But, no dice. The water was ice-cold from the get-go. I finally did the best I could to withstand getting the water on my body, but it was painful, and not a proper shower, just spraying freezing cold water on myself as long as I could stand it. My husband did the same. The water situation was really a bummer. Also, the room had really dim lighting, so reading was difficult. Overall the place was charming, but the water situation was just not do-able for me. It was 45E per night, with no breakfast.

CHANIA
Old town Chania is pretty with a lovely harbor, cute little streets, and a cool fortress and old lighthouse. The first thing we did was eat, and realized that Crete (of course) is more expensive food-wise than Lesvos. Especially drinks, which averaged around 2E for a soda. After lunch we went to do laundry. Lonely Planet listed FIDIAS LAUNDRY. It took us a little bit to find it (even with a map), but someone was able to direct us. It is under Pension Fidias Rooms on Sarpaki St 6, and is 6E for a wash and dry, done by the woman there. The woman was nice. She didn?t speak English, but is able to communicate about the price and the duration. It takes 2 hours, and she folded our clothes for us. While we were waiting for our laundry we walked along the harbor to the lighthouse. On the way you pass an old mosque which is now used to exhibit art. On the way you pass many boats and restaurants. The restaurants all have guys trying to get you to enter their establishment. Closer to the lighthouse there is an old wall that you can walk along, and look at the view from the water over the wall. It was not possible to walk all the way to the lighthouse, there was some type of dump that looked like some sort of a construction site, and the path did not continue.

Chania was quite charming, but after Lesvos it seemed rather touristy to me. Every street is filled tourists, shops aimed at tourists, and restaurants with guys trying to get you to enter, even towards the end of September. The harbor's very pretty (but so is the harbor on Lesvos at Molyvos). I think by then we were overloaded with traveling, after having spent a week on Sicily earlier in the month and then a week on Lesvos, and we were just tired. But it was still nice.

RESTAURANTS IN CHANIA
Our first night we ate at a restaurant with a long name in Greek. I looked but could not find the English translation. However, it has a big sign outside that says "Venetian Loggia" because it is housed in an ancient Venetian building with no roof. The atmosphere was really lovely. Of course, a guy working for the restaurant convinced us to go in. The food was good, but the service was kind of lacking. They got confused a lot, bringing the wrong food to the wrong table, and stuff like that. It also could take a long time to get something. We ordered more drinks, and the waitress forgot and then brought them a while later. There were several people waiting a long time to pay their bills. When we were finished eating, I was thinking of getting dessert, but after they gave me the menu they never came to take my order, so we just got the check. After we paid the check, we had to wait quite a while to get our change. So, it was a mixed bag. They had live music, and I believe it was around 32E for 2 dishes (sorry, can?t remember what they were), 2 sodas and 2 mineral waters, and a salad.

Our second and last night we went to a Mexican restaurant (we were in the mood for something different) called Hippopotamus down the harbor near the Best Western Porto Veneziano hotel. The food wasn't very good, though, not very authentic, but we could hope, right? I had an enchilada, my husband had a burrito, and we had a salad, a beer, and a couple of sodas. It was pretty cheap, around 20E.

INTERNET
On the harbor to the left of Kondilaki St when facing the harbor, is an internet cafe from M@nos. It is 1.50E per half hour.

CAR RENTAL
After two nights I was glad to leave to our next destination and get a proper shower! While in Chania we did not have a car, which was good, since there aren't many places to park except mostly at each end of the harbor. I had arranged for a rental car from Zakros Tours (www.zakrostours.gr ). The guy met us at the hotel. We filled out the information, then he said that my husband should wait and I should go with him to the car. It turned out that it was his car, and he was driving me to the rental car. He drove me to the end of the harbor near the Venetian fortress and showed me the car. It was a Citroen Saros hatchback, and looked a tad bit old, at least a lot older than the car we had on Lesvos. He said to return it I should park it at the airport and leave the keys under the mat and the door open. We had a bit of a communication issue because I was trying to find out if I should park the car in the "lot" at the airport, and he kept saying "no, park it at the airport." Anyway, he left before I got into the car, which was parked on a dirt/gravel area. When I got into the car and started it up it kept turning off. I finally got more used to the clutch after the car had turned off around 5 times (and I've driven a clutch for 15 years), and had to find my way to an area close to the "hotel." I went up a street where a woman told me I couldn't go any farther. She directed me to a street near our hotel that involved going down a narrow dirt road. Anyway, I finally found the square near our hotel, and parked (probably illegally) and went to get my husband and the bags.

RETHYMNO
We then left and drove to Rethymno, which took about an hour. The roads are, of course, bigger than on Lesvos. The road was a regular highway, which curved through the mountains from Chania to Rethymno. As on Lesvos, the native drivers tailgate and then pass. However, because it's such a bigger place, this is happening constantly, which became a bit nerve-wracking for me. Anyway, we arrived in Rethymno for lunch. We ate near the Venetian Fortress, at a place called Sunset by the water. The food was alright, nothing special. Afterwards we drove up the road to the harbor, and then left. Just a short stop to see Rethymno.

(ABOVE) AGIA PELAGIA
Our next stop for the next 3 nights was Agia Pelagia, about 15 km outside of Heraklion. It took around 45-50 minutes to get there from Rethymno. We were actually staying on the hill above Agia Pelagia, but I had missed the email from the owner of the place we were staying, Nymphes Apartments, and missed the sign when we entered. So we went into the town, and after not being able to find it, we asked someone in a store who told us and drew us a little map. He said that the road up to the place was "not a good road." So we headed back up to road, and then passed the main road (highway) again, and saw the sign, which points to the opposite direction from that of the town to a dirt road. So we began driving up this dirt road and then another sign directs us up a very steep road that is, as best I can describe it, an "unfinished" road, or a road that was maybe paved many, many years ago but is now rough, and gravelly. Several parts did not have guard rails. I became more and more nervous as we ascended. Anyway, we finally made it up there, and it?s beautiful. The Nymphes Apartments (www.nymphes-apts.gr) are high above everything, with stunning views. The brochure says that it is 200 meters in altitude above the town, We were met by Pepy, the owner and a very nice woman eager to be helpful, who showed us to our apartment. We had booked a studio, but she upgraded us to an apartment since she had one available. It was just lovely. Spotless, tastefully decorated with nice furniture and pretty colors. It had a small bedroom with a double bed, a living area with a kitchenette, two couches and a table, and a TV as well as A/C. There was also a large outdoor area for our apartment. The property has a nice pool, and there are great views from everywhere. It is very quiet and relaxing. Pepy will arrange for dinner to be prepared for you if you ask her in advance (at least by the morning of the day you'd like it). She (I think it was her) cooked for us twice and is an excellent cook. The price for dinner for two is around 25 or 30E, and you provide your own drinks (although when you arrive you receive a free bottle of wine, large bottle of water, and fruit). There is also an area upstairs where her office is, where she has books that can be borrowed, and apparently (says the brochure) you can access the internet, but we didn?t do either. The cost of a studio was 59E per night. I'm not sure how much an apartment is, since we were upgraded to an apartment for the price of a studio. Inside the apartment was a binder containing prices and brochures for tours, and it seems that it apartment, depending on the season, usually ranges from 77 to 120E per night.

A car is a must to stay at the Nymphes, as it would probably take a half hour to walk to the highway, and another half hour to walk the rest of the way down to town, on rugged, steep terrain. Most drivers will have no problem getting there. No one else besides myself seemed at all phased by the drive. So, as long as you are not a chicken when it comes to driving on steep hills of rough terrain, you should be fine. A taxi costs 10E to the Agia Pelagia. After arriving I hung out by the pool. There are several cats there, some of which are kittens, who like to keep you company. After that we drove down to the small beach town below (Agia Pelagia), which is a small beach with lots of tourists (mostly German) and restaurants, tourists shops, and a couple of markets. We picked up food for breakfast (Nymphes is apartments, not a hotel, so you prepare your own breakfast (or drive to town for it)) and take-out for dinner. I was not willing to drive up there in the dark. We went back and had dinner in our apartment. Then we watched a movie on TV (they don't dub, but rather have subtitles in Greece).

The next day we had arranged through Pepy for a tour of Knossos and the Archeological Museum of Heraklion with Summerland Tours. The bus met us in the morning down at the highway intersection. We left our car, as instructed, in the small dirt area near the highway intersection and the bus picked us up there. The bus then went to the Panorama Hotel in Agia Pelagia and picked up other passengers. I wondered whether we could just have left our car there and been picked up there, but anyway (if you do this tour, you might ask Pepy whether this can be done)...Next the bus went and picked up people from other towns, and then we had to wait for another bus. We waited at least a half hour. Then we were taken to Heraklion to go to a "flea market," a street full of vendors of clothes, shoes, food, etc. The brochure said that in the morning we'd go to Knossos, and in the afternoon we?d have some time in Heraklion and then go to the archeological museum. But, maybe because it was after the usual summer season, the order of things was different. The flea market was nothing special in our opinion, and that seemed to be the feeling of most of those on the tour. We certainly didn't need an hour there. Then we were taken to the area of Heraklion by the Archeological Museum where we "might want to visit the museum." At that point my husband and I got confused. Didn?t the trip include a guided tour of the museum? That's why we were there, to get guided tours of Knossos and the museum. It turned out that it was just semantics: there was a tour of the museum, but you could choose to walk around town rather than take the tour if you wanted. Lina, our guide, said the tour was of the "highlights" of the museum. The museum, although rather small compared to most major museums I've been to, has some really impressive stuff. Frescoes taken from Knossos, ancient jewelry, sculptures, and pots, etc. It took around 50 minutes for the tour, where we usually looked at one major sight per room. My husband felt that the tour was too rushed. After that we ate lunch (although you could also take time to spend more time in the museum, but I guess then there wouldn't really have been time for lunch). After 2 hours in Heraklion (3 including the time at the flea market) we went to Knossos. I had expected it to be crowded, given what I had read. But it wasn't. It was around 3 in the afternoon by this time, and there was plenty of space in the parking lot. Lina proceeded with the tour. It was quite hot. What a sight to see! A lot of it has been rebuilt according to what Arthur Evans, the man who excavated the sight, thought it looked like in ancient times. There is controversy as to whether his rendition is accurate, but even without the reconstruction the ruins would be an impressive sight. We were there about an hour. Again, my husband felt this was rushed. I've read that if one goes to Knossos on their own without a guide, they should hire a guide outside. I agree that a guide is essential, there were only a few places that had explanatory signs at Knossos. I only saw one guide at the gate for hire, but there may have been more inside giving tours. Lina, our guide, spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable. Knossos had a sign saying that the site was free that day (not sure why. It was a Saturday). Lina said that the museum was free that day as well, although I'm not sure if she meant that because we were on that tour it was free, or if the whole museum was free (we did need tickets to get in that said "free&quot, so I'm not sure whether the tour includes admission prices. It was 35.50E per person. Overall, if you have a car, it's probably better to go on your own, if you can get your own guide. At the museum, there were explanatory signs, although what we learned on the tour went much deeper than what was written on the displays. The tour seemed to be geared for people in Crete without a car, with the visit to the flea market and town so people could get a taste of the area.

The next day we went into Agia Pelagia for a few hours. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach called Taverna Socrates, which had good food. It was 32E for lamb souvlaki, gyros, a Greek salad, mushrooms provencal, 4 sodas, a banana split and ice cream with melon. The town is cute, not that much to it. Just a crowded beach, several souvenir shops and craft stores, and a couple of markets. After returning to Nymphes we hung out by the pool.

The next day we checked out. Pepy said we could leave whenever we wanted. Our flight home wasn't until that night, but we planned on seeing more of Heraklion, so we left around 1. We drove into Heraklion, which takes around 20 minutes. We followed the signs, but once we got into Heraklion we had trouble finding the center of town (not to mention that traffic is just crazy there). Finally we found it by coming upon the Fortress. We had all our bags in the car, and the hatchback we had did not have a trunk cover (so you could see into the trunk), so to be safe we covered our stuff with a tapestry I'd brought from a street vendor while we were in town for the tour (talk them down, they will bargain. I didn't have to do it myself, this Belgian guy next to me talked the vendor down, and then I got a similar item for the same price!), and paid 4E (for all day) to park in the museum's parking lot that has an attendant (who knows if they really keep a watch on things, but it made us feel better that someone was there). We had lunch at a place called Restaurant Minos, which was pretty good. We walked around. The Archeological Museum was free that day, so we could've gone again for free, but we chose to walk around town instead. We went to see a few churches and the famous lion fountain, we sat and had ice cream, and that was basically it.

We drove to the airport, which has clear signs directing you there. It was probably around 10 minutes from the center of the city. We parked in the lot and left the key under the mat and the door open like the guy at Zakros Tours said to do. We weren't sure if we were supposed to park in the lot, given the discussion I had with him (above) and the fact that it was a paid lot, but we asked the parking attendant and she said that that is where you leave cars for Zakros Tours and no payment is necessary (for them, I guess). The airport at Heraklion was overloaded. There were huge lines. We got there early, and of course our flight was delayed an hour and a half, so we had a long wait there. Once you go past security, it isn't a very big area. We were told to wait in the area of gates 4-7, as they don't post the departure gate until close to boarding time. That area was smoky and hazy, because even though there were both smoking and non-smoking areas, there wasn?t really any ventilation, so smoke just permeated everything. It was pretty warm, as well. It got really crowded. Sometimes there weren't seats for everyone. When it was finally time to go, it turned out that we were leaving from Gate 3, the next area over, which turned out to have ventilation and better air conditioning, and well as more bathrooms (there had been lines in the other area).

Overall, Crete was nice, and I really recommend Knossos. English is widely-spoken (at least in the somewhat touristic areas) on Crete. All menus had English, and at each hotel and restaurant the people spoke at least a bit of English, so one does not really need to know any Greek, although learning to say hello and thank you, things like that, is probably a nice thing to do.

zootsi

Very nice trip report. I see that you have been to both Greece and Sicily within the same timeframe. We are trying to decide between these two destinations on our next European trip. We want good scenery, nice beaches good food and some intersting art and history. However, we've been to Italy once - but we thing we would much prefer Italian food (my wife hates lamb and is not crazy about seafood). All things considered, which would you recommend Lesvos and Crete, or Sicily?

Marilyn

Good report, NHC. I don't know if this was the problems or not, but sometimes in Greece they use in-line water heaters. Somewhere there is a box with a switch, and you must turn it on in order to heat the water. This actually makes a lot of sense, since you are not using energy to keep the water hot all the time, but heating it when you need it.

NHC

Zootsi,
Tough question. If food is the main issue, I should note that there are plenty of non-lamb or seafood dishes in Greece. Plenty of beef and chicken. Many restaurants also have pasta dishes on the menu, and of course, there are other types of restaurants (but I think we only ate at one non-Greek place, the Mexican place I mentioned in my trip report which wasn't good). I did have pasta a couple of times in Greece, and of course it wasn't like pasta in Italy, but it was pretty good. Greek food is excellent, as well.
As for beaches, we did not go to the beach in Sicily, so I can't really comment except that the water looked lovely (in terms of our destinations in Sicily, I think you'd really only go to the beach in Siracusa). I found the water rather cold on Lesvos (didn't try in Crete), but I also find the water cold in Hawaii (I'm used to Caribbean sea water). The scenery is beautiful both places.
As for sights, there is a ton to see on Sicily, during our week there we didn't even get to the western coast. Lesvos has some nice sights, although not as dramatic as Sicily (with its Greek temples and elaborate churches). We were only on Crete for 5 days, so Knossos was the main sight that we saw, in addition to the Venetian Fortresses present on the Chania, Rethymno, and Heraklion harbors.
I guess, overall, for me it would depend on whether you wanted a more active or more relaxing trip. I'd choose Greece if you're more interested in relaxing. Sicily can keep you quite busy. There also seem to be more tourists in Sicily (although Crete had a lot of tourists as well). Sicily seems more busy (e.g. traffic, etc.), although you could probably hang out in the quieter areas of Taormina (except for the tourists) and Siracusa. Not sure if I've been much help, but hopefully I've outlined some factors that may help in your decision.

adoptionisfab

Great Report thanks for posting

lisabelina

Thanks for the report NHC...we'll be going to Crete and Cyprus for the first time in October and appreciate any information!
Zootsie...we've traveled to Sicily for the last 2 years...loved it!!!! The island is full of history, good food and great ruins and beaches. We especially like traveling to the Aeolian islands. Lipari is fabulous and you can take excursions to the other islands from Lipari or from Milazzo. I highly recommend Sicily!
Lisa