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A trip to the glorious island of Crete

29 January 2011 • Travel time: with 12 august 2010 on 26 august 2010
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Greetings, dear travelers!

We rested with my wife on the glorious island of Crete from 12.08. 10 to 26.08. 10. And, according to tradition, we want to please you with a report on this trip.

For me personally, this was not the first trip to Crete, I had already been there 3 years before. Then I, however, rested in another place (the city of Hersonissos - 26 km east of Heraklion), but oh well, first things first.

Yes, since there will probably be a lot of letters in the report, I decided to assign a title to each paragraph so that everyone can read only what they are interested in.

So, the first day, 12.08. Thursday 10

We took off at 9:35 from Domodedovo by Nordstar, which used to be called Taimyr Airlines (charter flight). It was possible, of course, to fly with Saira (regular flight), which, in fact, I flew 3 years ago. But this, firstly, was somewhat more expensive, and secondly, the departure dates are not very convenient, so we decided to take a chance.


And they didn’t lose: Nordstar (at least this time) turned out to be no worse than Saira (the fuller name is Transaira, if someone didn’t get it right away): they distinguish Crete from Taimyr at a time. The only 2 small minuses: they delayed the flight there for 40 minutes, and during the flight the TV, which is next to our seat, was always retracted inside, then protruded again. Something was wrong with the automation. But when we flew back, everything was already clear, and we were happy to track the movement of our aircraft over the countries that flew over.

TRANSFER AND GREEK

In general, we flew without any problems to the airport "Nikos Kazantzakis" of the "capital" of Crete - the city of HERAKlion (travel time 3.5 - 4 hours, the time difference with Moscow is -1 hour), and then by transfer to the hotel located in the village Platanias, which is somewhere 6-7 km east of the city of

Rethymno (do not confuse with another Platanias, which is located west of Chania, it seems to be spelled exactly the same). On the way, the guide usually conducts a monologue about the features of the place of stay, however, since there were not many people on the bus at all, I was not the first time in Crete and my wife and I were sitting in the first seats, the guide turned out to be not a monologue, but a dialogue with me.

We discussed with her where to go, where it is better to relax in Crete (according to her, this is the West, the West, and only the West, because this part is more “green”, however, in our opinion, the east of Crete is also quite not bad), as well as the peculiarities of the Greek language, which I began to learn about 2.5 months before the trip from textbooks downloaded from the Internet, and by no means unsuccessfully.

Of course, you won’t master a language well in such a period, especially not similar to the languages ​ ​ u200bu200bof either the Slavic, or the Anglo-Saxon, or the Romance group (I own some of them), especially from scratch, however, I understood, for example, the content of a roadside poster which amused me:

which translates as "I love life and drive carefully. " And yet, as soon as we got on the bus, I asked the driver if the hotel was far, and he answered me that the hotel was 75 km away, and it was about an hour away (it turned out to be a little more). Okay, Greek can be discussed separately if anyone is interested.


The guide also handed out envelopes to everyone with a brief guide to excursions, a map of Crete and questionnaires, which she asked to fill out and give to another guide upon departure, as this was required of them by the management of the Millennium Travel Center - the meeting party.

Yes, the guide also warned that when returning home, you need to monitor the weight of the luggage.

It can be carried free of charge at 20 kg per person, but the weight of each piece should not exceed 32 kg: this is such a concern in the European Union for employees who load luggage.

She also said that the next day at 16.00 a meeting with our guide named Carlos was planned (it was he who had to give the completed questionnaires upon departure).

Advantages of the hotel:

- the hotel is located so that nearby noisy establishments do not interfere at all;

- the room is quite spacious;

- for those who like to cook: the room has a kitchen;

- quite good food for a hotel of this level;

- you can always find a parking place near the hotel;

- not very many Russians (about 30%);

- for those who are not friendly with foreign languages: the hotel manager Maria speaks Russian;

- beautiful territory, many flowers and greenery;

- nice nearby beach.

Hotel cons:

- a bathroom that leaves much to be desired, a shower - generally full of atstoy;

A few minutes later, Maria came into the room, brought us a remote control from the air conditioner and a key to the chest, and everything was free, although the chest in the room seemed to be paid, as the announcement on the door of the room said in English.

We got a room on the first floor overlooking the path between the hotel buildings, and quite spacious, I must say. You can easily climb there right through the balcony, so it’s better to lock the balcony door (however, for some reason, the maid always stubbornly opened it during cleaning; however, there don’t seem to be many thieves there, often even cars are left open on the streets). The floor in the room is tile, the furniture is unpretentious, but not shabby. There are also 2 chairs on the balcony, there is also a backlight.


There is a kitchen in the room with an electric stove, microwave, toaster, electric kettle, extractor hood and a Whirlpool brand mini-fridge (the only electrical appliance that does not turn off when you remove the key card from a special holder). There are also cutlery, a frying pan, a saucepan, a coffee pot, mugs, plates, saucers, glasses and glasses of various sizes, a manual juicer and even a funnel with which you can pour mineral water from large bottles (cheaper) into small ones (more convenient to carry) . However, it is convenient to pour water without a funnel. There is also a TV, however, the remote control from it, most likely, needs to be taken from Maria or turn on the box manually. However, we are not fans of this type of entertainment, especially on vacation.

There is also a hair dryer, quite powerful, but without a “cold” button, and in the hotel lobby (if, of course, this corridor can be called that : D ), there is also an iron with an ironing board, which you can always use if you wish. There is not even a rotary phone in the room (see the report about Hersonissos), so lovers of ordering Bukhara in the room will have to break off. Well, only some rich lazy person will call Russia from the hotel. On the other hand, a wealthy person is unlikely to go to such a hotel, and if he raises his ass in scrap to leave the room and go buy a card, then what's the point of coming to rest in Crete, which requires some activity?

But the bathroom didn’t please us at all: somewhere in the size of a freight elevator, in the sink there is a herringbone-type mixer a la Scoop (well, that’s okay), the toilet is “push-button”, but you need to press this button either sharply or several times, otherwise, nothing merges, even at first it seemed to me that there was simply no water in the tank (you can also get used to this), but the shower does not hold water: it’s like the bottom of a shower cabin with a drain hole and low edges. The shower head is not removable, which makes it quite inconvenient to wash. The role of the walls of the cabin is performed by an ordinary plastic curtain, which does not fit snugly against the wall, and splashes of water enter the gap. However, the bathroom is designed for this, because there is a drainage grate in the floor, into which all the water that has fallen on the floor drains. So it’s better to hang a towel for your feet somewhere first and lay it on the floor after washing.

Naturally, do not expect such great inventions of mankind as a bidet either, it simply cannot be there, because otherwise you would have to step over it or through the toilet. There is also a basin for washing, which, however, is unlikely to be a worthy consolation. : D We even wanted to change the number and told Maria about it, but she replied that there were no available rooms at that moment, and asked me to remind her of this the next day.


BEACH AND POOL AT THE HOTEL

Well, such a bathroom is not such a big problem, after all, you won’t use it all day long (unless, of course, you follow the basic rules of hygiene : D ). Therefore, we decided to quickly change clothes and explore the local beach, which, unlike the shower, turned out to be quite worthy: there is sand all around, however, at the entrance to the sea there are small pebbles, which is not very convenient to walk on.

However, if you wish, you can always buy beach slippers in one of the local shops, which cost Jews there. which you can go around the whole island and go to any beach to your taste: rocky or purely sandy, with a flat coastline or located in a bay, with a steep or gently sloping coast, with or without water activities, etc. That day there were small waves, and a yellow flag was hoisted over the beach.

For those who are not in the know: a green flag means that the sea is almost calm, so you can also swim safely; yellow - pronounced waves on the sea, so you can swim, but be careful; and, finally, if the flag is soviet, then swimming is prohibited due to strong waves (however, there are also **ists who climb into the water and with a soviet flag (he, sinful, was among them), but along the coast from some horseradish drives by on a quadric and whistles for everyone to get out of the water). From the hotel to the beach is about 250 m, and in front of the beach (about 200 m from the hotel) there is a swimming pool with a bar and a toilet. The pool there is the most ordinary, with a depth of 1.5 to 2 m, there is also a children's pool. The pool area is open, in my opinion, until 20:00, but the food in the bar is only sold until 16:00, then only drinks are sold. As for food at the bar, only the most common dishes typical of Greece are served there: Gyros, Souvlaki, Mix-grill, Dolmadakia, salads - with tuna, Greek, as well as all sorts of hamburgers and sandwiches.


From drinks there are all sorts of milk shakes, fanta-cola, mineral water (which, of course, is much more profitable to take in a store), freshly squeezed orange juice for 3 Jews per glass and, of course, beer, for the same price (0.5).

NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF DISHES

Above, I gave some names of dishes from the local cuisine, however, I think not everyone knows what it is, so I will give a description of some of them.

the same shawarma, only not in bread, but on a plate, is served with a side dish, which usually consists of french fries, cucumbers, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce - yogurt with garlic and something else (in some places it can also be added to the side dish rice and/or steamed defrosted vegetables).

an ordinary kebab, usually of pork, lamb or chicken, with the same garnish.

assorted grilled meats with the same garnish.

Paidakia - lamb ribs with the same garnish.

Stifado is a stew.

Kleftiko - lamb baked in foil.

Dolmadakia (dolma) - grape leaves stuffed with rice, sort of like meat (meat is hard to see without a microscope).

Saganaki is baked cheese.

Draft beer, by the way, throughout Crete is far from a Franciscaner and not even a Goat. It's kind of analytical. In bottles, beer is more expensive (the same 3 Jews, or even more, but already for 0.33) and, as a rule, also not the best varieties. Good beer should be looked for there, and, perhaps, these searches will even be crowned with success. For example, in Iraq we saw a beer restaurant (there was a statue of a man with a beer mug at the entrance), but they didn’t even ask what kind of beer it was, because I was driving anyway.

BEACH AND POOL AT THE HOTEL (CONTINUED)

Returning to the topic of swimming, sun loungers with umbrellas at the pool are free, and you can almost always find free ones, but there are already 3 Jews standing by the beach, and an umbrella is attached to two sunbeds for free. On the neighboring beach, however (on the left, if you face the sea), there are already 2 sunbeds.

5 Jews. Well, if you want to sunbathe right by the sea, and don’t pay money, then for two you can always buy a mat (2.5 Jews each) and an umbrella (15 Jews) at a local store. A simple economic analysis shows that such an acquisition pays off in 4 days. : )


SOME FEATURES OF LOCAL CATERING

After about an hour we got hungry and since it was past 4 pm and the pool bar only sold drinks, we decided to go to the Finikas Tavern, which is on the way from the hotel to the beach. They ordered a salad with tuna (4.5 Jew each), paydakya (lamb chops - fried lamb ribs - 7.5 Jew), beer (2.5 Jew for 0.5) and a glass of ouzo (1.8 Jew for about 50 g). Ouzo is their national drink, aniseed, with a strength of 40%, with the taste and smell of some kind of potion (but generally cool). Another national drink is crayfish - grape vodka, which Italians call grappa, and Georgians call chacha. It tastes like moonshine, but quite well cleaned.

They charged us another 1 Jew for homemade bread and butter, but for dessert they brought melons with watermelons for free. There, in general, if not in all, then in almost all restaurants they bring melons and watermelons for dessert for free, pour a glass of grappa or ouzo, and in one restaurant, in addition to melons, they brought 3 types of desserts like apple pie and raki and limoncello on a 100-gram scale (lemon liqueur). Oh, sorry, I was driving, and my wife does not really like strong Bukhara.

In the evening we walked around the local bars, drank cocktails, and in one of these bars we even found Guinness beer, which, however, it seemed to me, was diluted. Or maybe I just spoiled the Franciscanner ...

MINERAL WATER

We bought at a local supermarket, among other things, a block of 12 bottles of 0.75 l mineral water (the name is not important, you can take any, it is all good) for 2.34 Jews (this is to have convenient plastic bottles).

In the future, they already took mineral water in blocks of 6 bottles of 1.5 liters, which was almost 2 times cheaper, and poured it into small bottles to make it easier to carry with you.


We were also pleased with the large number of cats on the territory of the hotel. Among them were both shy and not very shy, who allowed themselves to be stroked, but they did not impose their society, so it is enough for allergy sufferers to just bypass them. A red cat and a cat (a short-haired cat, a long-haired cat) live near the Stethali building, which tourists sometimes feed with sausages brought in napkins from the dining room. And before entering the territory of the pool, we counted as many as 15 individuals, one of them is a small kitten, which healthy cats constantly chase. Not far from our building there were also 2 cats, and one of them with 3 kittens.

Day two, 13.08. 10, Friday

MORNING AT THE HOTEL AND FEATURES OF THE LOCAL FAUNA

In the morning I woke up from the noise of passing cars.

It seems that the path is narrow and ends in a dead end, what the hell do they all need there, you ask? However, looking ahead, I’ll say that it was just such a day (see above the combination of the date and day of the week : D ), the rest of the days were calmer. Only the local grandparents sometimes started clucking in the morning (they lived right next door to us, and the stairs to the balcony led to their room, they probably rented apartments there for a long time). They were echoed by local birds, similar to pigeons, making sounds that were something between cuckoo and chicken, something like ku-kuu-ku, ku-kuu-ku. It can be annoying at first, but then you kind of get used to it. This, by the way, is not the problem of this hotel, but of the whole of Crete, unless, of course, the hotel is located in such a center of the city as Hersonissos. I didn't even notice these birds there. They love, you see, nature, not partying.

Well, sometimes the silence was broken by roosters and goats (not bipedal, which pleases).

BREAKFAST IN THE HOTEL


After taking a shower, which I already wrote about above, we went for breakfast (to the Stethali building - where the reception is located). Breakfast, contrary to our expectations, turned out to be quite worthy for a hotel of this level: fried potatoes, fried sausages, scrambled eggs, fried eggs and just soft-boiled eggs in a special bowl, ham and cheese, fried and fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumbers, melons and watermelons, simple pastries (croissants and cream rolls), jam and honey, delicious coffee with or without milk, chocolate, tea bags (black and green), fry toast in a toaster - you are always welcome too. But I was especially pleased with the freshly squeezed (! ) orange juice, and not some u-pi. By the way, Stepashka himself brought food to the buffet, and he poured us a glass of juice on the first day of breakfast, probably to let us know that it was freshly squeezed.

Another employee cleared the tables, and cooks worked in the kitchen. Maria also helped in some way there, at the same time answering questions from Russian tourists, such as where to eat fresh fish, where to go, where to buy, etc. We reminded her of our desire to change the room, and she asked to come to her by 11 o'clock (breakfast at the hotel from 7:30 to 10.00, and we only took breakfast, which we recommend to everyone who is going to travel around the island, and not sit on the territory of the hotel, so as not to depend on dinner, or even lunch).

DO YOU NEED A NUMBER REPLACEMENT?

At 11, however, she was not there, and I turned this question to Stepashka. He asked what he didn't like about the room, and I explained to him in Greek (occasionally switching to Anglican) that, firstly, the shower was very bad, and secondly, the cars were noisy. To this he answered me that the problem with cars can be solved by moving us to another room, but the shower will be the same everywhere.

And since the shower was the main problem, we decided to spit on the idea of ​ ​ changing the room and leave everything as it was, which we did not regret, because the cars no longer annoyed us.

TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION WITH RUSSIA


Before going to the beach, we bought flip-flops for 5 Jews at a local store, as well as an IP-telephony phone card for the same price. Sorry, I forgot the name, but it is some kind of gray-blue colors. It is better not to take such a card, because it is only enough for about 57 minutes of a conversation with Moscow, if you call a landline phone, if you call a mobile phone, then for 43 minutes, and if you call a landline phone in the region, then 18 minutes (i. e. , in rubles at the rate of 39.5, this turns out to be 3.46 rubles, 4.59 rubles and 10.97 rubles per minute, respectively). In many telephone booths there, by the way, we saw advertisements for the Dynamite card. It is also with a face value of 5 Jews, but it seems like it should be enough for as much as 320 minutes of conversation with Moscow when calling a landline phone (62 kopecks per minute).

Alas, we were not lucky enough to find such a card in that village, moreover, we didn’t find any other cards at all in other stores. Then only we bought a Vivodi Telecom CALL PLUS card in Iraq for 3 Jews, and it also had a 10% bonus on it. The total is 3.3 Jews. So, this card is enough for 1 hour and 58 minutes of conversation with Moscow when calling a landline phone, for 1 hour and 1 minute when calling a mobile phone, and, in my opinion, for 58 minutes of a conversation when calling landline regional phones, which is also quite enough. not bad (1.00 rubles, 1.94 rubles and 2.04 rubles, respectively). This card on the front side is green and gray with a wavy border between the colors, and on the back it is just green with a white field with a barcode. A call to the provider's phone, as always, is free. True, it is valid only 6 months from the date of first use.

MEETING WITH THE GUIDE

At 4 pm, as planned, we met with Karlik.

He asked if we were in Crete for the first time, and, having learned that I had already been there 3 years ago, he realized that we would hardly be able to arrange any excursion, but for the sake of formality, he briefly spoke about them. We asked how much an excursion to Samaria would cost him, and he replied that there were 70 Jews per person, “well, at 75, ” he said, “you’ll definitely meet it. ” And since we managed to quickly notice the much more favorable prices of local tour agencies, such an offer, of course, was refused. The only plus is that this tour would be in Russian, but for us this plus is not significant, because the Anglican language is quite satisfactory. Yes, he also said that this price was set also because this excursion is individual, because it is not very popular among Russians who do not like to walk, so there will be few people.


They also asked about an excursion to the island of Santorini (on the maps it will most likely be marked as Thira or Fira) - 135 Jews from the nose (usually cheaper in agencies). They also asked how we would visit Athens. He replied that the excursion there could only be individual and would cost 1.500 Jews for two. Then he added that it would be much cheaper for us to go there on our own - about 120 Jews for two, if on a ferry that leaves Iraq at 21:00 and arrives in Athens at 6 in the morning, or about 300 Jews, if on a plane that flies there for about half an hour. In general, as expected, nothing was taken from him in the end.

TYPES OF EXCURSIONS IN THE SAMARIA GORGE

After meeting with the guide, we walked around Platanias, considering in detail the offers of local tour agencies. We were especially interested in an excursion to the Samaria Gorge, along which you need to walk as much as 15.5 km.

In the bureaus there were sold 2 types of excursions: ordinary (30 Jews) and "for the lazy" (27 Jews). I asked an employee of the bureau how the tour “for the lazy” differs from the usual one, and he replied that “for the lazy” is nothing (it is nothing). Then he explained that the usual excursion is a bus from the hotel to the entrance to the gorge - a pedestrian crossing through the entire gorge - a ferry from the city of Agia Roumeli (it is to this city that you exit the gorge) to the city of Hora Sfakion - delivery by bus back to the hotel. The excursion “for the lazy” is a bus from the hotel to Hora Sfakion, a ferry to Agia Roumeli, the entrance to the gorge, perhaps with a deepening for a km or two, then in the reverse order. As a result, we took a “full-fledged” excursion in this bureau, giving 60 Jews for two (+ then we had to pay another 28 Jews: 5 for the entrance and 9 for the ferry), and the next day, because there were still places ( usually you need to order not for tomorrow, but for the day after tomorrow), so thanks to the bureau! By the way, the prices for excursions in all bureaus were the same.

We walked around the city, looked at the local fortress, but did not go inside it - we left this activity for later.

EXOTIC DINNER IN RETHYMNO


There are many different restaurants near the sea, where tourists are dragged almost by the hand by barkers. We stopped in one of these. There, a barker asked us in English where we were from, I answered him in Greek that we were from Russia, and then he answered in pure Russian, they say, please, come in, sit down where you like best. It turned out he was from Russia. He brought us a hefty shrimp the size of a saucer on a tray (“royal” shrimp sold in Moscow, in comparison with it, they are no longer “royal”, but some kind of “lumpen”, some kind of lobster and some other marine reptile - to show and tell how they cook them. Like everything is fresh and they cook it on charcoal. The creveton, however, was red, that is, already boiled, but oh well, they chose him and the lobster.

Such a dinner was not cheap, the steward was then dumped, even if they took beer, although not to say that sea reptiles were worth that kind of money. It's cool, you can try it once, but to eat them all the time - it's not worth it. On the way “home”, a few more barkers tried to lure us, telling how they cook fresh seafood on the coals, but I answered them in Greek that we had already eaten. They sighed in disappointment, but handed us their business cards. Well, okay, you can take a business card, it doesn’t oblige you to anything ...

SOMETHING ABOUT TAXI

Since the time was already late, the buses were no longer running, so they returned back by taxi for 7 Jews. By the way, it turned out to be impossible to catch a taxi in the same direction, because they were all already with passengers. I had to catch oncoming taxis, which turned out to be much easier (and it’s easy to turn around there).

Day three, 14.08. 10, Saturday

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXCURSION TO SAMARIYA

On that day, I had to get up very early, because the bus from Platanias left as early as 5:15 in the morning, so breakfast at the hotel had to be sacrificed. Moreover, the bus did not approach the hotel itself, but to a place located 150 meters from our hotel. On the way, as usual, tourists were picked up from other hotels. When everyone was gathered, the guide began to speak alternately in English and German about the gorge, as well as about the features of the tour. Before the tour, I recommended to eat something salty in the eatery, where we stopped on the way to Samaria, because we will have to lose a lot of salt in this gorge, and along with it, of course, water. However, it is enough to take water there only for a small bottle per person, because there are enough springs in the gorge and water supplies can always be replenished.


She also said that if there are any health problems, then it’s better not to meddle in the gorge, and if any problems arose during the descent into the gorge, then you don’t need to go further, you need to go back to the bus, otherwise it will only get worse. She warned that some sections need to be passed very quickly, because there may be falling stones. She also mentioned that although there is a first aid station somewhere in the middle of the gorge, it’s not worth counting on it in case of something, because it’s just a booth, and the doctor is walking somewhere.

Even in the travel agency itself, we were warned that it is better to go into the gorge in sports shoes such as sneakers. We went in sandals. In principle, nothing, but sneakers are preferable, because if the foot slips and hits the stone with the ankle, then it will not hurt so much in sneakers. Yes, and on the stones (of which there are many) it is more convenient to walk in them. But in slippers it is better not to meddle there.

Those who are not at all friendly with sports other than chess and checkers should not meddle there either. And if you still decide to go there, then I recommend that you first walk 15.5 km (or at least 13) in your hometown (town, village). What? Walking around the city is not so interesting, and therefore more tiring? Well, it’s also true, as a rule, fatigue sets in faster from psychological factors than from physical ones, but we should not forget that the roads there are not paved. And even rural country roads are much more comfortable (if not washed out by rain, of course), because there are stones everywhere in the gorge, as well as numerous descents and ascents, which does not add comfort.

It should also be noted that the entrance to the gorge is located high in the mountains, so in the morning it is quite cool there, so you can take some light clothes with a long sleeve with you.

And also keep in mind that you will have to go at a fairly fast pace: the guide drives everyone on, like you need to have time to go through the gorge before it gets really hot.

In general, for me, as a person for whom it is a common thing in Moscow to walk 7–8 km on foot or ride 30–40 km on a bicycle, this excursion turned out to be not very tiring, but not to say that it was a spit . But the wife had a pretty hard time. But - what can you do, I could not dissuade her from this adventure.

If you are friends with sports and you like such entertainment, then go ahead, the nature is very beautiful, there is something to see.


We entered the gorge at 8 o'clock local time and went down the "pedestrian serpentine" for quite a long time. It was 2 km to the first stop point. There are 7 of these points in total (including the ticket control point at the exit from the gorge). The distance between them is from 1 to 4 km (2 – 1 – 1 – 1.5 – 1.5 – 4 – 1.5).

Then you have to overcome another 3 km to the city, 2.5 of which, however, can be traveled by bus (enterprising chelas offer this service in the old town of Agia Roumeli, located about 500 m from the exit). At each resting point there are benches with or without tables, as well as springs and toilets. The latter, however, are quite often found outside the resting points.

At 11 o'clock with a penny we got to the village of Samaria - the point of the longest halt, and at 11.30 we had to set off again (many, however, were delayed for 10 minutes). The next halt point was already after 4 km, and after 500 m from it the famous Iron Gates are located. In fact, there are no gates there - it's just a narrow (3 m) passage between two high (300 m) rocks. There are also streams with cold water, so if you wish, you can wash your face or dip your feet there, although this is not welcome, because.

this water is drinkable, and improvised wooden bridges are laid everywhere through these streams.

At about 3:15 pm, as planned, we finally reached the new town of Agia Roumeli, where we had lunch at the Faragi tavern, and after half an hour we boarded the ferry. It was a small boat, three-deck. Cars were placed on the lower deck, on the middle deck there were several soft chairs in a row. It turned out something like sofas (there were no armrests between the chairs), on which many simply lay, but at the same time there was enough space for everyone. On the upper deck there was a bar with beer, other drinks and simple snacks. About an hour later we arrived at Hora Sfakion. Then another 1.5 hours to get all on the same bus to the hotel.

Going to some bar after such a trip was already a kink ...

Day four, 15.08. 10, Sunday

Initially, we planned to completely devote this day to rest from a difficult excursion to Samaria, i. e.


just stupid to lie on the beach, even paid for sunbeds to relax like white people. Most of the day, however, we were lying there, but at 16 o'clock with a penny we got tired of it, and we decided that it was time to rent a wheelbarrow. We walked through several offices, of which there are plenty (although some have 2 branches there) and eventually took the Hyundai Matrix. Not the cheapest car, of course, but the engine is powerful (1.6 l), the location of gadgets in the cabin is convenient, but the car is a little bulky and clumsy, so parking is not very convenient. 320 Jews in 8 days was worth such a pleasure (with full insurance, of course). There were, of course, offers cheaper than Jews for 40, but then we would have to wait a couple of days, which we really did not want. By the way, this price also included a small bonus: we took the car at 17 o'clock, and had to return it before 22:00 on the day of delivery, because that's the time the office closes.

Moreover, even if we had not had time to return the car by this time, it would also not be a problem - we could just park the car in the parking lot of the office, and throw the keys into a special box, like a postal one.

The rental procedure there, like 3 years ago, is simplified: no credit cards are needed there, no one requires international rights either (as, for example, in Italy), ordinary ones are quite enough.

The owner of the office spoke to me in a mixed language: at first predominantly in Anglican, then predominantly in Greek, then almost completely switched to Greek. Then another employee began to show me where which buttons are in the car, and only in walnut. I understood half of it, and I already knew the other half. : ) The car came across with obvious traces of operation: there was a small dent on the front bumper, a few scratches on the front and rear parts of the body, and a crack on one of the stopars.

I pointed all this out to the dudes from the office, but they answered me, they say, the insurance is full, so forget about it (this was also the case in Spain last year, by the way). Since it was already far from early in the morning, we decided not to go far - we visited Rethymno again with swimming on one of the local beaches and filming the sunset on video.

Since the car was given to us with only a 1/4 filled tank, we decided to immediately refuel. Gasoline there, by the way, has noticeably risen in price compared to 2007 - now it costs about 1.6 Jews per liter +/- kopecks (95 without Pb), it used to cost 1.1, even a little less. As a result, more than 300 Jews spent on gasoline in 8 days.

Day five, 16.08. 10, Monday

BEACHES DURING CAR RENTAL

During the period of renting a car, we almost didn’t go to the beach at the hotel at all (only 1 time, and then not for long), but chose beaches for ourselves when moving from one city to another.

gg. COURTS, CHANIA


In the morning we briefly stopped at one of the beaches in Rethymnon, then decided to go to one of the four local "regional centers" - Chania (78 km from Rethymnon) with a stop in Souda (6.5 km from Chania to the East). In addition to Chania, Crete has 3 more "regional centers": Rethymno, Agios Nikolaos and, of course, the "capital" of Iraq (Lyon). Another beach was found near Souda - not far from the military cemetery. The beach is quiet, calm, located in some kind of bay and seems to be far from all sorts of hotels, since only locals swam there.

When we arrived in Chania, it turned out to be not so easy to find a parking place there, so we decided to use paid underground parking (2.8 Jews for the first hour, then 1.30 per hour). We looked at local sights: a fortress, a lighthouse, as well as an anchor with a screw, put on public display at the Cretan Maritime Museum. We also climbed the fortress itself and enjoyed the panorama of the city.

LAKE KOURNAS

We still had time, so we decided to visit Lake Kournas, located near the town of Georgioupoli (between Chania and Rethymno). The place is quite popular among tourists, so it’s difficult to find a parking place right next to the lake, but it’s quite possible at 100 meters (although we were already there at 18 o’clock, and if we arrive early, then the people and, accordingly, cars, may there will be more). The lake is quite beautiful, but it’s never cool to swim there: the bottom is clay-stony, then turning into some kind of clay-silt, and then some kind of prickly algae begin in general. It is better to take some kind of kayak or catamaran, which is offered to everyone in Russian by a local employee - Russian Georgian (or Georgian Russian - as you like).

It is true that it is not very easy to see them in this muddy water, but they did make out and even photographed them, and they were also clearly visible in the pictures.

Day six, 17.08. 10, Tuesday

BEACHES, KISSAMOS

On this day, we planned to see the island of Gramvoussa, located at the "appendix", on the northwestern coast of Crete (Balos village). This place is notable for the fact that there is a confluence of three seas: the Libyan, Ionian and Cretan - and the sea in this place has 6 - 8 shades. To begin with, we wanted to stop by the city of Kissamos, which is 42 km west of Chania (on the map it is designated as Kastelli, and the name Kissamos is small in brackets, but I will call it Kissamos, because Kastelli is at least one more - km 15 south of Hersonissos).


On the way to Kissamos we stopped at a couple of beaches. The first, wild, where only locals swam, was remembered for the fact that there are fish for

Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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