Just returned from Crete

[Ian_E]

Crete 1/10/06 – 9/10/06

We stayed in an area called Kalamaki in the southern part of the island in the centre, on the Libyan sea

Kalamaki, consites of about a dozen taverns mostly along the 2km sandy beach, there are mini markets and a handful of tourist shops and bars, bakery and car hire etc, in the streets behind.

There were some half finished or closed tavern that gave the place a slightly scruffy look to the place..

On Kalamaki beach all the sunbeds and umbrellas were free

Near by Kamilari is a unspoilt village, with a small main square and some really good taverns, a real taste of local life

We traveled with Simply travel, stopping at Phiastos Villa

http://www.simplytravel.co.uk/st/sun...chureCode=SP61

A villa I hear you say wasn’t that madly expensive !!

It worked out to less then £300 pp based on 4 inc flights and a good sized car, we did pay a little extra for a bigger car I think it was about £40 extra for the week.
( We booked this when simply travel had a £150 off pp weekend, which they seem to have quite often )

We picked up the car at the airport at about 4am on the Monday and drove for approx’ one and half hours to the Villa, the direction supplied by Simply were good, and Iam glad we didn’t have to do it in the day as traffic can be very heavy through some of the villages etc..

The Villa was very nice more details in the link above, just right for winding down in true peace and tranquility, you really could hear a pin drop around the pool.

Sourounding area:

Good supermarket about 10- 15mins drive away

There are a good few archeological sites to be reached within 30 – 1 30 hours drive most notably Phiastos, I could rattle on about the sites, but it’s half the fun of a holiday doing the research yourselves, Iam sure you agree..

There are some more excellent sandy beaches right alone the coast, so if your beach lovers this is the place for you, the only one that looked ‘busy’ was at Matala

Lots of small unspoilt villages, with totally chilled out main squares, to sit and watch the local life, beautiful 100 plus year old houses

Excellent countryside totally barren to green and lush with great views and gorgers

Good and Bad points

Good:

Great Villa

Friendly people

Road network is good, locals tend to drive slowly

Food was good, mostly basic Greek, nothing “fancy”, average prices 4 to 5 starters 4 mains Greek coffee 1 litre of wine 1 large water €45 to €50

Ie. Greek salad €3 mythos €2 whole fish dish €8, and none were small portions.

Puts Kefalonia to shame on the price front !

A great pride in there war effort, they really gave the Germans a run for the money !

Bad:

The area \ island is mostly touristed by Germans, in there droves in Kalamaki & Kamilari

I’ve nothing against the Germans but we did feel overwhelmed by them at times, they seem to eat very early and don’t seem to do the pre dinner or after dinner drink thing, everywhere mad busy for a few hours then dead, bars were shutting up around midnight, or earlier…

The larger resorts were very touristy, hey each to there own !

The island is very large so visiting places can involve a long drive…

Every archeological site I visited seem to have some kind of reconstruction, or rebuilt using concrete, ok it nice to get an idea of home something may of looked, but this was OTT

Whats wrong with a board with a picture next to an area giving you an idea of what it looked like !?!?

I felt the overall island had a scruffy feel to it.

Flight times were bad, out at 10pm back at 2am

Oh well that rounds it up one final question

Would I go back ?

Maybe, but not in a rush…

[Phil]

No, please send a report Ian.
I will be sending a few reports of our latest visit to Kef once I have caught up on bills, correspondence etc [smiley=csad.gif]

Phil

[monty]

Would you like one of Rhodes, got back last week .

monty

[john]

I think it would be nice if everyone gave a report from wherever they stayed. As you can see i ventured away from Kef for the first time in a few years and really enjoyed the change of scenery! Go for it Ian and Monty and Kefallon, how about adding a section for other destinations? 8-)

[kefallon]

Done
Hope you guys had great holidays, we were actually looking at other islands for the 2007 but just could not do it...Back to Kef. for us next year!!
[hr]
Kefallon

[Ian_E]

updated... BUMP...

[john]

Nice report Ian. I stayed on Crete in 1990 and know what you mean about the Germans! They weren't exactly popular with the islanders then and a lot of the waiters used to leave them sitting in their seats for so long without service they would get up and leave! (Don't know if that is still the case!)
I saw a bit of what you meant with the concrete structure thing at Knossos. It did seem to take some of the atmosphere from the place.
I have long wanted to take a look at the southern end of the island, the only part i saw was the little village at the end of our walk down the Samaria gorge and Chora Sfakion where the boat dropped us at the road the Allies built during the war. Crete is a fascinating island if you can escape the crowds! 8-)