Хороший спокойный отдых Nice relaxing holiday

Rested at the hotel from 4 to 14 June 2013. with my family (me, wife, son 14 years old, daughter 8 years old) The hotel is located in the small village of Gouves (20 minutes by bus from Heraklion airport). It is located almost in the middle of the northern coast of Crete, which makes it very convenient to travel to any part of the island. The hotel is not new, a large spacious comfortable hall with a bar, the territory is average, there are three swimming pools on it - two open-air with sea water, one indoor with fresh water. Near the hotel there is a small bay bottom - sand, but not very good, we walked to the left of the hotel for literally five minutes - the gorgeous beach of the Marina Hotel - sunbeds - umbrellas are paid (they didn’t take it. Who collects money for them - didn’t see it). It is very pleasant to walk along the embankment - to the left (go without turning on the asphalt - you will not miss) about 2 km - Crete Aquarium, I liked it very much, especially for children. To the right - everything ends with a small functioning church (about a kilometer to it), of which there are so many in Crete. Along the embankment - car rentals, taverns, not many people. The number of rooms is really not new (they lived in what is called a bungalow in Turkey - No. 410, behind the main building), but nothing fell off, did not flow, especially in the room did not roll around. TV in the room 33 cm, two and a half Russian channels (Planet, Novosti24 and very bad - First). Cleaned almost every day, towels changed three times. At the entrance you need to stick a card hanging on the key - there will be light. One large bed, and for children - two-story at the entrance. Air conditioning within, did not make noise, cooled moderately. The view from the window is on the neighboring building, but if you go out onto the terrace, you can see the sea and the island opposite to the right. Beautiful . Planes fly often, but, again, they do not interfere with living and sleeping. The inclusive hotel includes mini-golf (paths across the road near the Apollo building), tennis and table tennis, billiards for a fee - 7 euros, broken. Bars are normal in the upper from 15 to 16 free ice cream, confectionery - come, collect as much as you need, no one is watching with a keen eye. In terms of inclusiveness, the set in bars is ordinary - lemonades, juices, coffee, tea, local and inexpensive alcohol, several cocktails, beer. Everything is worthy. In terms of nutrition - everything is again standard, last year I rested in Spain - the food was one to one, you couldn’t distinguish it, there wasn’t much variety, but everything was delicious, on high-quality products, I was a little upset that there were few fruits (standard - oranges, apples, sometimes - melon, pomelo, grapefruit) and with seafood somehow a little bit scary - surprised. But the meat is always two or three types, side dishes, sweets, vegetables, herbs, cheeses. Wine - beer-lemonade-juice from the taps on the counter - pour as much as you want (unlike Spain, where free drinking is only for breakfast). In general, I liked it, there were no complaints. In terms of entertainment - the animation team is good, they try, they entertain children, in the evenings there are performances, well, all sorts of bocci, volleyball, darts, water aerobics - according to the program. The guys are great. For vacationers - Germans, British, Russians, Poles, Greeks are few. The hotel is calm, no one yells at night, you can travel with children safely. Everyone is treated equally, I have not seen any discrimination, if you are a normal person, then you will be treated normally. At the reception - a woman Elena, speaks all languages, understands Russian, you can explain yourself and Mr. Stavrakis is such a serious man, he also understands Russian, but worse. In general, the Greeks study Russian diligently, but it is better to know at least a little English - then you will definitely explain yourself everywhere. In general, benevolent people, solve all problems, do not brush aside, I have never seen conflicts. Very nice staff in the restaurant, unlike Turkey, they don’t stand and wait for you to grab a plate - polite girls and boys with slightly embarrassed smiles, well done. They took a safe - 25 euros for ten days, a small room diagonally from the reception - not cheap, but they slept peacefully. I rented a car twice, it’s unrealistically great to drive around Crete - for those who are interested - you can read here - http://www.tocrete.com/forum/viewtopic. php? f=10&t=742. There, I tried to give all the layouts at prices. In general, I recommend it, a very good site about Crete. On trips - we went to Heraklion, Ageos Nikolaos, on the Lassithi plateau, to the Palace of Knossos (I especially recommend the latter). We didn’t take excursions from the hotel guide, because it’s unrealistically expensive (Lassithi-Knoss - 145 euros per person), we calmly drove in a day, renting a car and spending three times less for four. Special thanks to the hotel guide Daria (Tez Tour), she is calm, sociable, Crete knows, even when she realized that we would not buy anything from her, she willingly advised. Helped. Shopping - Gouves is small - one shopping street - but, which is nice, the range of shops is different for everyone - that's why it's interesting. We went to Heraklion twice, but it doesn’t arouse particularly frenzied interest either, not Milan, it’s interesting to wander around, but nothing more. Yes, there are VERY few fur coats and leather, apparently, you have to go somewhere specially for them. In Heraklion, despite the number of tourists, shops begin to close at 3-4 pm, so those who gather for shopping - in the morning. I didn’t notice the difference in prices, Greeks don’t like to bargain (not Arabs) - say “Discount” after choosing a purchase - you will always be thrown off a little, but no one will run after you shouting “friend, friend, stand... ” In general - in Crete not as lush nature as in Turkey. there is no such architecture as in Barcelona, ​ ​ but absolutely unrealistic, friendly, open, friendly people with whom it is very pleasant to communicate, at least for the sake of this it is worth flying. I liked the rest very much. As for the hotel - a normal four, nothing supernatural, nothing terrible. I recommend. I wish you all a pleasant stay!