Crete - Greece's Prized Gem
One of the pleasures of travelling is the opportunity to return to places one has not visited for some time. Such was the opportunity with Crete where, through a family connection, I was able to return 25 years after my previous visit. This was to be my third time on the island. Just four years had separated my first two trips and even then then the coast town of Malia had altered out of all recognition. So how would the island shape up after more the decades away?
There was one significant difference this time. This was an out-of-season holiday in October rather than the June days of the previous vacations. Questions about about what might be open and how warm would the weather be, were obvious.
The answer in the first case was pretty much everything was sill functioning. Crete, as with much of the Mediterranean area was enjoying an extended summer. Temperatures was frequently more that 20C during the course of the day.
The village of Analipsi was my destination this time, just a few kilometres from where I had stayed before. The village is dominated by four or five massive four or five star holiday complexes. Non of them bad and affording the guests every possible luxury. The beach was long if not the most attractive on the island. It had the usual collection of bars and restaurants laid out close to the sea. All in all not unappealing and behind the village along the main road was a bus stop which would take visitors to the island capital of Heraklion or Agios Nikolias on the western side of Crete. I had remembered the efficient bus service from my previous stays but this time I had hired a car.
Having the car allowed the freedom to explore. At one point it was a walk in one of the many gorges that criss cross the island as a result of rivers that flowed through Crete when times were wetter. On another day it was a first visit for me to the south coast. It was one of those moments you were glad you had undertaken the trip but nothing on the south would lure me back. It was not bad, far from it, just not remarkable. Little wonder then that most of the tourism is situated along the north coast.
No trip to Crete would be complete with a visit to the Minoan Palace at Knossos. We wanted to make our own way around but somehow found ourselves been shown around by a guide on a vague promise that there would be no payment. At the end he demanded 10€ from each member of the party. I refused and walked away and in doing so nearly caused a diplomatic incident. In the end I negotiated a price of 5€. The money was neither here or there to me but it was a point of principal. Nevertheless, Knossos was splendid in the late afternoon sunshine that October day.
With its size, Crete has so much to offer and a favourite day was to Agios Nicolios. So good in fact, I went twice even though it was a little over an hour from my base. More shocking though was Elounda, just up the road. I remember this as a quaint, quiet fishing village but it was a little more established than I recalled. My fault I guess not Elounda's.
Finally Maila, the first place I had ever stayed and before the bars and nightlife had taken hold in what was a most perfect little village. The Strip as it is now called is as raucous as one can imagine but it was beginning to close down for the season.
Closed down once and for all though is the Ellen Hotel. This was where I had stayed on that first Cretan holiday but the summer of 2012 was its last. The building seemed structurally sound and reasonably well decorated for a place that had not a guest for more than a year. I think it was a victim of its time. It was probably just a little too smart for the present-day Malia clientèle.
Yet astonishingly the old village of Malia has survived the tourist onslaught. It is still possible to walk through those pretty little streets just as one had those two decades or more ago.
Crete used to be the tourist destination of the British and German's in years gone by. The British are still here but they have been joined by growing numbers of Russians and Poles. The East Europeans gather around the resort of Hersonnissos and have brought one unusual facet of home with them. The fur shop. Not that I noticed much in the way of furs been traded while I was in Crete. Who needs to wear animal skins in a sunshine resort?
There was one significant difference this time. This was an out-of-season holiday in October rather than the June days of the previous vacations. Questions about about what might be open and how warm would the weather be, were obvious.
The answer in the first case was pretty much everything was sill functioning. Crete, as with much of the Mediterranean area was enjoying an extended summer. Temperatures was frequently more that 20C during the course of the day.
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| Tiny Beach Church |
The village of Analipsi was my destination this time, just a few kilometres from where I had stayed before. The village is dominated by four or five massive four or five star holiday complexes. Non of them bad and affording the guests every possible luxury. The beach was long if not the most attractive on the island. It had the usual collection of bars and restaurants laid out close to the sea. All in all not unappealing and behind the village along the main road was a bus stop which would take visitors to the island capital of Heraklion or Agios Nikolias on the western side of Crete. I had remembered the efficient bus service from my previous stays but this time I had hired a car.
Having the car allowed the freedom to explore. At one point it was a walk in one of the many gorges that criss cross the island as a result of rivers that flowed through Crete when times were wetter. On another day it was a first visit for me to the south coast. It was one of those moments you were glad you had undertaken the trip but nothing on the south would lure me back. It was not bad, far from it, just not remarkable. Little wonder then that most of the tourism is situated along the north coast.
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| Knossos Palace |
With its size, Crete has so much to offer and a favourite day was to Agios Nicolios. So good in fact, I went twice even though it was a little over an hour from my base. More shocking though was Elounda, just up the road. I remember this as a quaint, quiet fishing village but it was a little more established than I recalled. My fault I guess not Elounda's.
Finally Maila, the first place I had ever stayed and before the bars and nightlife had taken hold in what was a most perfect little village. The Strip as it is now called is as raucous as one can imagine but it was beginning to close down for the season.
 | ||
| Ellen Hotel |
Closed down once and for all though is the Ellen Hotel. This was where I had stayed on that first Cretan holiday but the summer of 2012 was its last. The building seemed structurally sound and reasonably well decorated for a place that had not a guest for more than a year. I think it was a victim of its time. It was probably just a little too smart for the present-day Malia clientèle.
Crete used to be the tourist destination of the British and German's in years gone by. The British are still here but they have been joined by growing numbers of Russians and Poles. The East Europeans gather around the resort of Hersonnissos and have brought one unusual facet of home with them. The fur shop. Not that I noticed much in the way of furs been traded while I was in Crete. Who needs to wear animal skins in a sunshine resort?
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