Blog

Blog for Greece 9/03/23

We had a lovely week on the largest Greek Island, Crete, formerly its own state. This region has natural beauty of mountains, beaches, lush vegetation- many which bear fruit, flowers, or olives, also several historical archaeological sites plus buzzing towns and amazing food at relaxed tavernas. Since the accommodations were located near Hersonissos (NNE coast) we traveled as far east as Agios Nikolas and as far west as Chania. 

Arrival, Village Heights Resort, Palace of Malia

     On 9/3 Sunday we arrive by air – 3.5 hour direct flight from Paris, then picked up a rental car. I was surprised there was no passport control, and it was a confusing shuttle car pickup. Most rental cars in Crete are stick shift (manual transmission) so you have to seek out to reserve an automatic transmission in advance. Ours came priced with a full tank of gas. I recommend getting a small car because some roads are tiny.  We had a lovely late dinner in the on-property fine dining restaurant Alia- I had fish, he had moussaka, we were grateful to.get such a good meal after 9PM. 

     On 9/4 Monday we checked out the Village Heights resort property, and half day around Malia.  The resort is mix between a high end resort (like HGV Cabos) with a lot of staff and several restaurant options plus spa, and a Club Med resort which has lot of small free activities like tennis, putt putt golf, yoga, swimming, and lush flowers everywhere. It definitely has a laid back vibe. We were slightly disappointed the pool is only open 10-6 since we were often away during the day. There is a small store on site that takes cash or credit card (you cannot charge purchases to room) but the upside is they have good selection of food for the room, at standard grocery store prices (1E for two 1-Liter bottles of water) and not hiked up rates. Plus they sell the best cashews I’ve ever eaten. 

CLICK HERE for my detailed review of the Village Heights Resort

     Malia is becoming known as a party town for 20-somethings, we generally passed through this an onto some quiet beach areas also found the ruins of the Palace of Malia, just 6 Euros per person. It takes a bit of imagination to figure out what the buildings would have looked like since only ancient rocks remain about 1-2 meters above ground. However they have unearthed grounds in very good preservation including protected below grown (open air) pits and a crypt. These were built in 1900 BC and therefore almost 4,000 years old. The first palace was destroyed (by earthquake?) in 1700 BC, rebuilt in 1650 BC, which fell to ruin in 1450BC. My boyfriend was really impressed with this excursion. It was also a treat to have just half dozen other explorers on site, as opposed to say Knossos which easily had a hundred. 

CLICK HERE for images of the Palace of Malia ruins 

Tip: If you’re driving to the Palace of Malia ruins, watch for signs along the road. We followed google GPS which had us driving off-road through an olive grove. We gave up when it said take a left and we just saw trees. Instead, the signs along the road point you clearly to a large parking area for cars and tour buses. 

After that we had a fun time cruising through the Malia grocery store and checking out different foods (? who knew cucumbers had so many cousins?), buying a slice of feta from a large vat, sampling local wines, nuts, chocolates, etc. We had a spectacular open-air dinner at on-site restaurant Rodies, with 2 local musicians singing and playing stringed instruments through dinners. We had some excellent lamb in a special Cretan oven, of course followed the meal with Raki (tastes a bit like Saki)

Spinalonga, Elounda, Agios Nikolas 

9/5 Tuesday was a big day. Spinalonga (plus boat), Elounda (view), beach (nap), Agios Nikolas (sing/busk), double harbor.

Story about Spinalonga

CLICK HERE for SPINALONGA ISLAND video including historical overview

Story about Elounda, Hope (view), pebble beach (nap)

Agios Nikolas (pretty double harbor, sing w busker)

CLICK HERE for ELOUNDA and AGIOS NIKOLAS video 

detail some prices for boat, tour, guide, entry…

Heraklion, Archaeological Museum, Knossos, Greek dancing

9/6 Wednesday was another big day. Heraklion Archaeological Museum, driving in circles to find the best take-out of home made Cretan food, hot sunny afternoon in crowded Knossos palace, return early to resort for a dip in the pool and some sips of wine; dinner in restaurant with musicians, dancers, congo line, stand on a chair!

Story about Heraklion Archaeological Museum

CLICK HERE for Heraklion Archaeological Museum slideshow

Story about Heraklion and lunch

Story about Knossos palace

CLICK HERE for KNOSSOS slideshow

Story about Cretan dinner and dancing in the resort restaurant

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO of Karen dancing and standing on the chair (as instructed!)  

detail some prices for museum, palace, entry…

 

Minotaur Labyrinth, Taverna Me… Raki

9/7 Thursday was our first real down-day in Greece- just relaxing, taking it easy, exploring the resort and nearby spots.  We checked out a local theme park, family style but was also enjoyable for an hour or so. Just 2 minutes drive from the resort, we enjoyed getting lost in the labyrinth maze and learning more about the mythology stories, peacocks and small farm animals, a replica of the Trojan Horse, we tried our hands at archery with guided instructions (“now just do that 20,000 more times”) etc. 

CLICK HERE for images of the Labyrinth park

I had a deluxe massage in the on-site spa “SPA NAME” including a body scrub, deep tissue massage, and facial. She worked out some knots in my back! plus it was very relaxing. After a nap we went to a local taverna – the staff is really friendly, you can tell they are a family-run outfit and I especially liked the aubergines (eggplant) with tomato and cheese, but other dishes were really tasty too.

CLICK HERE for Spa and Taverna images

Tip: If you are staying at the Village Heights Resort, you can fill a day or two with on-site activities like tennis and mini golf, with a swim in one of the numerous outdoor pools, with a visit to the spa, or just dining and drinking. We had excellent meals at both Rodies restaurant and Alia restaurant, and we had a total blast on the Cretan dinner and dancing night in the main restaurant. Just 5 minutes up Hwy 92 is the chill open air taverna Me… Raki with great food and adorable found-object artwork, plus real grapevine full of grapes hanging overhead through the pergola.  

Put the prices here: 

 

Chania Harbor, Beach Bar, Writing Lyrics

Description.

Tip: For s

CLICK HERE FOR Spa and Taverna images


Cretan Restaurants 

We definitely had some good meals on this trip. Here are my favorites

  • My favorite dinner at the Village Heights Resort is a tie between excellent fish over fava bean puree and red pepper coulis at ARIA, and ___ cooked Lamb (specialty of the house) under the stars at Rodies. The latter gets bonus points for providing live local musicians throughout the meal.
  • My favorite takeout style lunch was the “Home Made Delights” in Heraklion, along the road from town toward Knossos. You won’t find a menu in English, but someone will explain them and you can see pre-made pans of food through the deli glass. The line moved fast but never ended. Moussaka was scrumptious and huge.
  • My favorite lunch time view was at the Hope restaurant in Elounda. It was a bear to get the rental car up a steep tiny winding one way road, but the payoff was a spectacular view of the bay between the mainland and the Spinalonga peninsula.
  • My favorite beach-side bar was this tiny place we found….. I definitely hope to return
  • My favorite taverna meal was Me… Raki, a family run local business just 5 minutes from the resort and far from tourist areas. 

CLICK HERE to view some tasty favorites.

Thanks for reading! Safe travels!