Греческая сказка Greek fairy tale

Went as a family with a 13 year old son. The undoubted pluses definitely outweigh the few minuses. I really liked the climate - there is no high humidity at all, a small breeze helps to survive + 30 + 35, when it is +40 at home, without any feeling of heat at all. Green well-groomed territory, many plants with signatures in 4 languages.
Oh, very helpful staff! Starting from the reception, Alexandra is the best, but this choice is very difficult - everyone is smart. Top management does not supervise, but works on an equal footing with ordinary staff. The main maid personally arranges flowers in vases in the rooms and at the same time controls the quality of cleaning. The chef goes into the hall, smoothes the surface of the porridge, smoothes the mashed potatoes, chats with hotel guests, and learns their opinion about the cuisine. A very interesting Greek cooking class is taught by the chef at 11.00 on Mondays. There is a simultaneous translation into German and Russian. In general, the hotel has a lot of Russian-speaking staff, and even the Greeks understand basic Russian words. At the a la carte dinner we were served by the maitre d', very attentive, friendly.
I recommend visiting a la carte. It is informal, as it is found in Turkey, but very tasty with beautiful serving, contemplation of the sunset over the sea, candles, etc. The food is very tasty, a lot and often. There is a detailed menu in the previous positive reviews, so I won’t repeat it. Those who are not satisfied with the “juice”, please turn on your head - it’s more like instant drinks like Jupi, try it yourself before giving it to children. Very interesting themed dinners, especially the Greek fish festival with fresh mussels. Still, you should not come to dinner in flip flops, a T-shirt and shorts. The staff tries very hard and expects guests to understand this. The maitre d' unobtrusively made it clear. Always a large selection of ripe fruits - pineapples, bananas, apples, kiwi, cherries, oranges, apricots, peaches, watermelons. Ice cream 3-4 types always in the main restaurant and pool bar. My husband liked Metaxa, the beer, apparently, depends on the keg, the table wine didn’t really inspire me, but people around me drank with pleasure both at lunch and at dinner. If you ask, the waiter will bring their famous Retsina - wine with the smell of pine needles. Sniffing is interesting, drinking - not so much. But, like everything - for an amateur. Ouzo - anise vodka, smells very loud, crayfish - grape moonshine - smells like raisins. In the morning, the animators brew Greek coffee at the request of the guest. for an additional fee, only orange fresh juice - 3 euros each.

A room with a laconic setting, everything works properly, an extrabed is a full bed, the mattresses are very comfortable. plumbing is not new, but everything is whole, clean. In general, for 2 weeks there was not a single problem in the room. Bed linen is changed daily, towels are changed by the maid even if they are hanging. Those. it is clear that they were used, but they were not thrown into the bath, although the memo for guests states that you need to drink this way if you want the towels to be changed.
There is enough space for everyone on the beach, but in the hotel more than half of the guests are Russian-speaking and shady sunbeds, apparently, according to an old habit, they occupy in the morning. Therefore, the husband had to do the same, at the beginning of the eighth, the choice is much richer than at 10: ) The beach is sandy, but the entrance to the water is mostly pebbles, only on the left of the meter 2 length is the sandy entrance zone, where people with small children and not floating. Pebbles with not very comfortable edges, but in us it did not arouse the desire to put on bathing slippers. Water 2m from the shore is already clear with fish, not as bright as in Egypt, but very numerous. We got a complete calm for 1 day, the rest of the time there were small waves, but due to the fact that the beach in the bay they were extinguished and did not interfere with swimming. The lifeguard works from 10.00 to 18.00, he is very worried and will help if people swim behind the buoys. Opposite the beach there is a small island, which is tempting to swim to, but even on a canoe or catamaran, it actively objects to tourists approaching there.
Excursions seemed expensive to us, so we rented a car and received an additional bonus and a small discount - we took it for 4 days in the beginning and the choice of a convenient time for us. The hotel guide freezes on extraneous questions. They asked if it was possible to get to Spinalonga from another port. from Elounda (as suggested in the excursion) it takes 30 minutes to sail, and from Plaka - 10 minutes, which obviously should reduce the cost of the event. The guide said that she didn’t know at all that there were sightseeing boats from there, but the Internet and communication with local residents in Agios Nikolaos helped clarify the situation and sailed to Spinalonga from Plaka. I strongly advise you, if you plan to take a car, upload a map of Greece to your navigator at home - saving 40 euros, because. you don't need a navigator in your rental car. Car rental from a hotel guide is 40 percent more expensive than in ordinary offices. Do not be lazy to walk to Sissi - 20-25 min. walks after dinner to the left of the hotel - compare yourself there. We rented a car at Smile. Information about this office was also found on the reviews on the Internet. Full insurance, no mileage limit, the contract is duplicated in English, the Russian-speaking employee Ignatius is very polite, punctual. We were generally impressed with the process of returning the car. Ignat said just leave the keys at the reception by a certain time - no inspection of the car, checking the remaining gasoline, in short, after that I finally believed that the insurance was still full. With the permission of Ignat, I publish his mobile number and the number of the company itself. Ignatius +0.30 694.185900, Smile mob.
Of the excursions, I really liked the Center for the Rescue of Marine Animals, also known as the aquarium-terrarium in Hersonissos - he conducts an excursion, or rather, talks about his pets with great love, at the same time he cleans and feeds them himself. Many animals can be interacted with up close. Their site is aquaworld. com, I think. In the Crete Aquarium in Gouves, near Heraklion, huge sharks and octopuses impressed. At the Museum of Natural History in Heraklion, I liked the earthquake simulator, my son was interested in seeing all sorts of stuffed Cretan animals, dinosaur skeletons. Very professional animation team. Its core from Romania is Daniel, Simone, Raul, Christina. I was satisfied with Simona's stretching, Daniel's tsumba. Children adore Raul - even outwardly very cool. But they have a very clear age differentiation in activities. Those. children under 18 years old will not be allowed to play darts or table tennis with adults, because. there is a teen club for them. Of the excursions, I recommend that residents of big cities reserve "Agreco" "Be a farmer for a day" - this is a registered agricultural estate of the owners of this hotel chain. For the first time I saw a working water mill, milked a goat, planted and took out bread from a wood-burning oven, showed how cottage cheese is prepared. The children were allowed to bake their own pizza and buns for each, collect eggs from the poultry house, a very cute mini-zoo. It is located near Rethymno, in the village of Adele, 110 km from the hotel, but it’s not a problem by car. It was interesting to cook a Greek lunch with their Vanity Fair titled chef. During the olive season, they also show how olive oil is crushed and wine is made. We were very pleased and would love to come back!