[Closed] Anyone been to Crete?

yep, although years ago - avoid malia and you'll be fine 🙂

I'll second that, Malia is a complete hell hole. Aghios Nikolaos is nice, if a bit commercialised, Elounda's quite a nice place too.

yeah, ****in hated it.

Bali (near Rethymnon) July 1997, didn't take enough money, no credit card, no ATMs within 15 miles of the resort. Too ****in hot. nowt to do except sit around the pool or on the beach. 2 bars, 3 tavernas, none of which took anything but cash. 2 minimarkets doing their best to match each other's (highly inflated) prices

Toilets that won't take toilet roll, so you have to put soiled toilet paper in a plastic, open-sided bin. And then when you have a shower, said bin gets wet, and then the sh*tty water goes all over the bathroom floor

would never ever go to [i]anywhere[/i] in Greece again as a result

+1 Aghios Nikolaos

Experience from some time ago too (early 1990s IIRC), but really nice hols in Paleochora (south coast) great coastal walking east & west from town (get the boat back), walking in the mountains above the samarian gorge (avoid the bus loads of tourists though) and we even hired bikes. I seem to remember the surfschool in town did a guide written in English with walks and bike rides. Plenty of taverns, twas mellow then, no crazy nightlife, and I have good memories of sitting at the harbourside taverna, watching the sun go down supping a cold beer with Cafe del Mar tunes playing in the background. I think we booked the accommodation through Simply Crete.

My father was there once.

He didn't like it. Germans kept dropping in and being unpleasant.

Too ****in hot

Umm ... you went to the Eastern Med in July and it was hot.

Too hot? What does that mean? 😆
We did a week near Rethymnon (sp?) in summer 07 and had a right good time. Depends on what you want. We hired a car, spent most the time driving around to see the archeological sights and wildlife - there's loads to do if you seek it out. And of course being in the Med, the food is utterly fantastic.
Beware of the plumbing though....
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Do my eyes deceive me or is that a sign for Hora's place in the background?

Yep - Hora Station by the look of it! 😕

It's actually a sign for Hora Sfakion - which is a lovely place. It's where many troops were taken off the island after the invasion, and it's a long walk across the mountains and down the Imbros Gorge, especially when you are being strafed.

Crete is the most amazing place for scenery, archaeology, walking, history - you name it.

Chania is a wonderful old town, for our money the nicest of the three main towns along the north coast. The restaurants in Chania are excellent - there's even a Chinese (it feels a bit strange to be sitting outdorrs eating a Chinese in Greece!), a restuarant in an old Turkish baths and the best restuarant we have ever been to in Greece - Taverna Ela (on Kondilaki). It's in an old (17th century) Jewish soap factory which now has no roof, just awnings, the locals go there to play music (traditional music) and it is just fantastic. We asked them if they had any CDs, so they said they would burn one (turned out to be two!) for us and left it for us to collect the next day, refusing any payment.

Also in Chania is the Etz-Hayim Synagogue, a beautifully cool and calm place amongst the relative heat and noise of Chania. Sadly it was firebombed last year, but remains visitable as the damage was serious but fortunately limited.

To the east of Chania is Souda Bay Cemetary, where lie some of the bodies of the troops caught in the invasion. Graves include that of one of my heroes, John Pendlebury, archaeologist, scholar and resistance fighter, an inspiration to all who knew him and even those who didn't. Mention of his name to andartes in the mountains was a pass to obtaining any kind of help required from them as they respected him so much.

On the Akrotiri Peninsula are a couple of lovely monasteries, the beautiful little bay where part of Zorba The Greek was filmed and fantastic walk down to a little rocky cove - park just past Gouvernatou monastery and walk down, but take plenty of water! Oh, and make sure you visit Aghia Triadha monastery as well (the other one).

In the middle of the island, 30 km or so south of Rethymnon, just after you pass the Armeni Cemetary (Minoan, and full of orchids and other flowers, is Spili, which is beatiful and full of flowers in baskets and pots. It also has a Venetian fountain - 17 lion's heads gushing water all day and all night.

Agreed, Malia is a dump of the first order, but 1 km or so east of the main town is Anciant Malia, the remains of a Minoan palace and traditionally thought to have been that of Sarpedon, King Minos' younger brother. It's fascinating to compare Malia with Knossos, as they would presumably have been similar, but of course Knossos has been 'reconstructed'.

We love Crete to bits and would happily live there. If you told me that I had to choose an island on which I had to live and could never leave there's no competetion - it would be Crete.

As you can see, I'm quite keen on the place - actually, that's a lie: I love Crete more than anywhere else (apart from The Peloponnese and most of the rest of Greece!)

As you can see, I'm quite keen on the place - actually, that's a lie: I love Crete more than anywhere else (apart from The Peloponnese and most of the rest of Greece!)

Julian - slight hijack, but I recommend reading Flight of Ikaros by Kevin Andrews - best book ever about Greece, describing the travels in Peleponnesos of a young guy during the Civil War

Thanks DrJ - I'll look out for it! Have you read any Dilys Powell?

[i]Umm ... you went to the Eastern Med in July and it was hot.[/i]

it was hot even by their standards. The locals called it something like "a heatwave". If the locals thought it was hot, it must have been.

went there a few years ago it was utter overpriced sh*thole well past it over inflated glory went to cyprus last year and that was just as bad NEVER EVER GOING BACK TO ANYWHERE GREEK EVER AGAIN!!!!.

p.s iam even glad the whole place is going to the dogs maybe next time they won't take the holiday maker for granted and take the pi*s out of them 👿

I spent a month or two near rethymnon monitoring turtle nesting sites many years ago. It was nice Crete is fairly big and variable. I except its changed a lot since 1995 though.

went to cyprus last year and that was just as bad NEVER EVER GOING BACK TO ANYWHERE GREEK EVER AGAIN!!!!.

Err .. Cyprus is not part of Greece.

he didn't say part of Greece, he said anywhere Greek. Cyprus is part Turkish & part Greek. simples

So what does this mean:

p.s iam even glad the whole place is going to the dogs

Why even raise the issue of Cyprus?

Love Greece - been to a lot of the islands, small and large. Would happily live on most of them 🙂

I love the Greek Isles and have been to Crete and would recommend it but like others have said - avoid Malia! It's like a very hot Blackpool, very commercialized and full of drunks pmsl. Crete is steeped in history and you must visit Knossos and the museum in the capital. The people aren't as friendly as some of the other Isles and they do seem to suck up to the Germans more - as in they spend more so it seems. Greek food is brilliant too. As for the loos, yes you have to put the used paper in a bin but they are/should be flip top and it's easy keep them away from the shower lol.

If you do end up in Malia, the old part of town is much nicer than the club 18-30 hell hole that the rest of malia seems to be.

I had a very dangerous encounter with Ouzo in [url= http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=loutro+crete&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a ]Loutro[/url].

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Lovely place the night before - less nice the morning after.

Edit - that's not me or anyone that I know in that picture.

Why even raise the issue of Cyprus?

I expect he's talkling about Greece's financial meltdown.

Back OT: I went there in the mid-90s and found the people friendly and the scenery magnificent.

Took my (Saracen) MTB and rode from the coast to the Lassithi Plateau and around. Still think it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been...

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Anyone know how the financial crisis has affected theholiday situation? Off to santorini a week on Tuesday and wondering whether it'll be cut price or super expensive. Santorini is very affluent and I reckon it won't bother the island too much...

We stayed in Agios Nicholia? I can remember it vivdly. Not 'bad' however I'd much rather go to Ibiza or Kefalona than Crete- for me it was Magaluf/Spain transported a couple of hours further away..