Anita had flown in a couple of days early into London and had come in with a hunger, a hunger for exotic fruits. She spent most of her time in London this time shopping for and eating mangoes and pomegranates. Her London part for the trip was a day and a half packed with a visit to Southall and a couple of dozen mangoes and pomegranates (white and red). Once she was satisfied, we were ready to board our EasyJet flight out to Heraklion (Crete).
We had booked a week at a resort in a town called Rythemno. Rythemno is on the north coast of Crete, in the middle of the two biggest towns in Crete, Heraklion and Chania. Our flight flew into a beautiful Heraklion airport. It was almost like the pilot was going to attempt a sea landing, just as the airstrip became visible. The airport is on the edge of the sea, with the water swelling, looking as if it is at a slight angle to the land, about 5 degrees or so to the land.
We hadn't booked a car before hand and took one from a rental company just outside the airport. Got a pretty decent deal on a Hyundai i20, which later broke down and we exchanged it for a bigger and better i30. Well, we had 7 days of sunshine and beaches to look forward to and we enjoyed every bit of it. Here are some pictures of the trip...
Our Resort
We had a very nice one bedroom apartment in the RCI resort in Rythemno. A complex with a nice swimming pool, jacuzzi, squash courts, palm trees etc. It also had a little kitchen where we would make our breakfast or the odd dinner. Helped us save quite a few pence and also eat home cooked food along with the traditional Greek taverna food that we anyway had once or twice a day.
Although we had a great resort at our disposal, we were there to visit Crete and not just chill at our resort. Our fantastic tour manager (Anita) would plan each day out, where we would visit, what beaches, what was unique about them etc. This wasn't always easy on her with me, an inherently lazy person, and a very pregnant Anusha. Thanks to her great planning, we still managed to see quite a bit of Crete without it actually being exhausting on Anusha. I am sure she would have managed a lot more out of this trip had Anusha been, well, less pregnant.
Rythemno
Rythemno is a nice, quaint town with coast line lined with cafes and shops, leading into the main town square. The same road leads further on to the castle, which is perched up a little hill along the coast line.
The drives and the local Tavernas
Anita had done quite a bit of research on Greek food before we arrived in Crete. Her theoretical and practical knowledge of traditional Greek food was quite astonishing, as was her appetite for wine leaves and Salad (Since we were in Greece, we didn't really call it the Greek Salad). And to her and Anusha's luck, we found quite a few really fantastic cafes along the local roads that served our staple diet of wine leaves, stuffed capsicum and tomatoes and salad. Well, bread, chips and juice for me. Both Anusha and I had ODed on the Greek food within the first couple of days and were looking for some alternatives but Anita kept on packing in the wine leaves and salad. I would like to think she's had her quota for a lifetime but I would be surprised if I was wrong. By the way, never order Pizza in Crete. It's some local variant that has bread, some sort of sauce and tons of cheese. Quite soggy and unappealing to our taste buds. Here are a few of the cafes and the views from there.
The lay of the land
While the coasts are adorned by beautiful, warm, sandy beaches, the middle of the island is quite mountainous. The roads to the south from the North cut through these mountains and at places are quite narrow (single laned) and there are a few tunnels for good measure.
The Beaches
We visited a few beaches during the week we spent there. From the shabby Falasarna to the fabulous Elafonisi. Falasarna didn't even deserve any picture time. Well here are pics from some of the other beaches.
Trio Petra - Not too bad
The beach with the three rocks. The three rocks on the beach that have been cut by centuries of the sea beating into the coast and give this beach its name. The beach nice and clean, the sand soft and the water a pleasant blue. The water was a bit rough and the waves were quite harsh. Not the kind of sea you would like to swim in too much.
There are a couple of cafes just by the beach. We went to the one with the blue umbrellas and weren't disappointed. The waiter was very nice and even let Anusha order from the breakfast menu during lunch. The waiter was a great conversationist and explained that the "Toursists" that come to Crete stick to the North coast, enjoying their resorts whereas the "Travellers" roam around the many unspoilt and uncommercialized beaches in the South. So before you visit Grece, decide if you are a tourist or a traveller.
Elafonisi - Highly recommended
Absolutely clear, beautiful, shallow, calm turquoise waters in which you can see your toes twitching even if you are standing in neck-high water. This was the best beach for my money. It does tend to get quite busy and we were there a couple of weeks before peak tourist season. Finding space on the sand might be difficult in peak season. However, there is quite a bit of water for people to walk and swim in. You can walk quite a long ways into the water on to the little island and back or swim all the way there.
There is an additional feather in the Elafonisi cap. The sand is a very pretty pink. I haven't seen pink sand anywhere. If you pick up a fistful of sand, you will see bright pink sand particles mixed in with the traditional sand. It gives it a beautiful shine.
Matala Beach - Not worth it
Matala's only claim to fame are the shallow caves that line one of the cliffs that walls the beach. These caves were created naturally by the water hitting the cliff but today there isn't anything natural about them. Tens of years of use and abuse by nomads and beach bums have left the caves smelly and quite unwelcoming. The caves aren't really deep or interconnected, hence taking away all the potential fun factor. Not much to write home about. The beach itself is a small over crowded piece of real estate, lined by cafes and hotels. Too touristy.
A note of caution, do not let yourself be welcomed to a cafe by an aging, potbellied, greek guy with offers of free ice cream.
Anita's Santorini Trip
One of the days, when us two lazy bums decided we were just going to stay in the resort and not do anything, Anita took off to Santorini for the day. She took a ferry from Heraklion port to Santorini with a tour group and came back that evening. Although Anusha and I were happy not going, Santorini does look enticing. Maybe another trip?
On our way back after picking Anita up at Heraklion port, we came across this shot. It was too good to miss.
Greek villages and people
We met some of the nicest people on this trip, living in some of the cutest looking villages. Hardly any of them spoke English, but that didn't stop them from talking to us or helping us. We asked one German couple for directions and didn't really follow those to the T because we wanted to kind of do something different. They chased after us for a bit to tell us that we had missed a turn. A couple of girls driving a pickup truck led us about 10 miles out of their way to get us back to the highway since they could not provide us directions in English and it was easier for them to show us the way.
This little girl in the picture and her dad helped us find Elafonisi beach and the girl was happily chatting with Anita.
One of the villages we drove through was Spili. Just loved the quaint feel of the village. We stopped for a while for us to walk around the local shops etc.
All in all, it was an amazing week spent in one of the most amazing places a week can be spent at. Left to us two lazybones, we wouldn't have done much, but thanks to our tour operator and whip cracker, Anita, we actually ended up doing so much. I would highly recommend enlisting her planning services the next time anyone is travelling to Crete.
I would definitely like another trip to visit some of the other islands. Crete was amazing and I am glad we went.
