Отдых для души Rest for the soul

May 18 -May 29.2011 with PEGAS TOURISTIK from Rostov-on-Don. Before Crete, everything is on the level. Hotel Bali star 3 * is located 47 km from Heraklion. In the bay of the village of Bali (awarded with the blue flag of the UN roofing felts, UNESCO roofing felts). The hotel is clean, with a large green park, where there is a path straight to the beach, in the park itself there are sun loungers with umbrellas, a tennis table, a small playground for children. People often sunbathed there after swimming (the distance to the beach is 50 meters). There is a rather big swimming pool for adults and a "paddling pool" for children, and the water is constantly flowing and therefore does not bloom and does not stink, there are many sun loungers with umbrellas near it, everything is free. We swam mainly in the sea - the water is very clean, the beach is sandy, the sand is grayish-reddish and coarse. By the way, all the beaches in Crete are municipal, so there is always enough free space, you can take 2 sun loungers with an umbrella for the whole day from 3 to 5 euros (bargain). But we went after swimming in the park at the hotel. The size of the beach in our area is 50-70 meters and the width is up to 10-15 m, but in Bali there are 4 beaches, as if small bays are combined into one large one, therefore, in general, the beach stretches for 2-2.5 km, interrupted by rocks overlooking the sea and around the mountains. The landscape is impressive.
They ate according to the HB system. The hotel restaurant has both indoor and outdoor areas. There were always enough free seats, there were no queues. Everything is very tasty and the choice is wide for both breakfast and dinner. There were always meat dishes, often fish, fresh fruits, coffee, tea, drinks in the morning. If there was a desire to dine (by the way - in 11 days such a desire arose only 3 times) around the mass of taverns for 1 person "from the belly" to eat in the region of 6 - 8 euros, and if with a drink, then you need to throw another 4-7 euros (depending on the amount and strength of the drink). The rooms are mostly 2-bed, small, but cozy and clean, linen changed every 3 days, cleaning daily.
The hotel is a solid 5 in all respects. True, there is no animation. But my wife and I were looking for a cozy and quiet hotel. For those who want to have fun, there are a lot of taverns nearby with live music and parties, in the village there is a daily disco for young people. The hotel staff communicates tolerably in Russian and English, German. There were a considerable number of Germans, Czechs, British and Balts. The hotel guide Alexander was daily in the morning and in the evening, he solved the main issues (if any) at the first meeting, the main topic of the conversation was excursions (the financial part of this move is clear). But as it turned out, the same excursions can be taken on the street (there is a stall with a manager nearby) more cheaply. Even with discounts from the main tour operator. Special thanks to our compatriot Valera, the bartender in the lobby bar at the reception. He has been working and living in Crete for 8 years and knows the peculiarities of the life of the local population, their way of life, what and where to look for home shopping, where and how to get there, etc. He always helped with advice and deed to solve all sorts of everyday and not only trifles, worked in the hotel all the time, always friendly and courteous.

Some tourists rented a car, a Russian driver's license is enough, a small car will cost approximately 28-35 euros per day, depending on the timing, car brand, engine size, car condition, etc. Haggle. Carefully study the conditions of insurance, you must take full. The guide at the hotel will tell you, although he suggests taking cars from a certain company, but this is not at all necessary - it is cheaper on the street. Be prepared for a meeting with the traffic police, although rarely. They will definitely check for alcohol (fine up to 800 euros or arrest), punished for an unfastened seat belt and speed limit (from 400 euros), although you can meet “racers” on the roads - more often our tourist. Locals can travel differently than guests, keep this in mind - in Crete, all natives are related, so they have concessions.
From the mass of excursions, we chose 4. Cretan evening - at a delicious dinner with a glass of dry wine in a musical and dance performance, you will be shown the history of Crete. And then everyone will be picked up by the sirtaki dance, especially by this moment the audience is already in the right degree condition, It was fun. Then excursion to Gramvousa to the ruined Venetian fortress and the island of Ballos. There the waters of the three seas meet, washing Crete in the west. You should definitely visit the island of Santorini - an unforgettable experience from the island itself. His settlements, which crashed into the rocks in the truest sense, since each house has rooms carved into the rocks. Beaches with black volcanic sand, beautiful churches nestled among houses stuck along the rocks. Steep serpentines of roads. Swimming to the island takes about 3 hours on a high-speed catamaran, very comfortable, large, pitching is not felt at all. At the bar you can have a tasty and relatively inexpensive meal. I highly recommend going on excursions in the old capital of Crete - Chania, a Venetian town with its unique flavor of narrow streets, open-air taverns, an old Venetian fortress, an old port created during the Minoan era, where the famous pirate Barbarossa used to go.