Holiday post - at last!
OK here is a long overdue (see post below) update on our holiday to Rethymnon in Crete, which was on the week of 5th October! Amusingly enough I was reminded to do this by the fact that my postcard back to work has only just this week turned up - the post is rubbish at the moment.
Goats, gorges and bull monsters beneath the cut...
We hopped on the train straight after to work flew out late on Friday night via Birmingham - we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 4am in the morning so it took us a total of about 7 hours travelling to get there - we were knackered! We got put in a lousy room at first because our beds weren't ready, and we had to get up in the morning (i.e. 4 hours later) to move... uh oh I thought…
But I was so wrong - they gave us a choice of room so we got a lovely double right on the lobby, and a free security box for our trouble. The hotel was great - half board and the rep had swung us a deal to have a free lunch instead of a free dinner so we were free to explore the local restaurants at night. The hotel - "Golden Beach" - was literally right on the beach. So we spent lots of time chilling reading and doing puzzles, and I found out that Amy is an even bigger wimp than me when it comes to things living in the sea :) and also forgetful when it comes to putting sun cream on the backs of her legs!
But we didn’t actually spend that much time lying about, even though the weather was hot and perfect (this being early October no less!). We'd come with a plan to do things, and do things we did.
The resort centre of Rethymnon was a gorgeous old Venetian town which had the largest Venetian fortress still standing - beautiful. The old town there was also a treat, with lots of little Greek coffee joints and restaurants - we ate authentic Cretan cuisine (very cheesy and leaf-heavy) in a garden restaurant and were entertained by the resident cats.
We also did some day trips - one on a mock pirate galleon (arrr) which was simple touristy fun, and another to the capital to see the Minos museum. Crete was the home of the ancient Minoan civilisation - for those of you acquainted with your Ancients you will no doubt be aware of the myth of the Minotaur. Well we went to see the palace which was the site of the legendary labyrinth! However it’s a bit different than you might think - firstly "labyrinth" literally means "house of Labris" - the two-headed axe which was the dynasty's crest - and so the place wasn't actually a maze. Also intriguingly the English archaeologist who discovered the site, in the best tradition of Victorian touristry, had attempted to recreate what the place might have looked like using plaster. Still, an educational day. We also got to go to a wine and olive oil production centre, which I enjoyed - although in fact the olive oil was tastier than the wine!
The only slight problem we had was on the day trip to the Samaria Gorge - we had been misinformed about the extras we had to pay on the day trip and didn’t have enough Euros (as it is was we thought we'd underbudgeted but on the Thursday found 50 euros under our passports in the safety deposit box!). Embarrassingly we had to borrow ten euros from the tour guide, and later pay her back. But the trip itself was fantastic - the gorge was very geologically impressive, and we saw some cool and frankly death-defying goats there too.
Anyway all in all it must have been one of the best holidays I've ever had as an adult - Crete is one of the few European holiday destinations I'd like to see again!
Goats, gorges and bull monsters beneath the cut...
We hopped on the train straight after to work flew out late on Friday night via Birmingham - we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 4am in the morning so it took us a total of about 7 hours travelling to get there - we were knackered! We got put in a lousy room at first because our beds weren't ready, and we had to get up in the morning (i.e. 4 hours later) to move... uh oh I thought…
But I was so wrong - they gave us a choice of room so we got a lovely double right on the lobby, and a free security box for our trouble. The hotel was great - half board and the rep had swung us a deal to have a free lunch instead of a free dinner so we were free to explore the local restaurants at night. The hotel - "Golden Beach" - was literally right on the beach. So we spent lots of time chilling reading and doing puzzles, and I found out that Amy is an even bigger wimp than me when it comes to things living in the sea :) and also forgetful when it comes to putting sun cream on the backs of her legs!
But we didn’t actually spend that much time lying about, even though the weather was hot and perfect (this being early October no less!). We'd come with a plan to do things, and do things we did.
The resort centre of Rethymnon was a gorgeous old Venetian town which had the largest Venetian fortress still standing - beautiful. The old town there was also a treat, with lots of little Greek coffee joints and restaurants - we ate authentic Cretan cuisine (very cheesy and leaf-heavy) in a garden restaurant and were entertained by the resident cats.
We also did some day trips - one on a mock pirate galleon (arrr) which was simple touristy fun, and another to the capital to see the Minos museum. Crete was the home of the ancient Minoan civilisation - for those of you acquainted with your Ancients you will no doubt be aware of the myth of the Minotaur. Well we went to see the palace which was the site of the legendary labyrinth! However it’s a bit different than you might think - firstly "labyrinth" literally means "house of Labris" - the two-headed axe which was the dynasty's crest - and so the place wasn't actually a maze. Also intriguingly the English archaeologist who discovered the site, in the best tradition of Victorian touristry, had attempted to recreate what the place might have looked like using plaster. Still, an educational day. We also got to go to a wine and olive oil production centre, which I enjoyed - although in fact the olive oil was tastier than the wine!
The only slight problem we had was on the day trip to the Samaria Gorge - we had been misinformed about the extras we had to pay on the day trip and didn’t have enough Euros (as it is was we thought we'd underbudgeted but on the Thursday found 50 euros under our passports in the safety deposit box!). Embarrassingly we had to borrow ten euros from the tour guide, and later pay her back. But the trip itself was fantastic - the gorge was very geologically impressive, and we saw some cool and frankly death-defying goats there too.
Anyway all in all it must have been one of the best holidays I've ever had as an adult - Crete is one of the few European holiday destinations I'd like to see again!