How to get the best from my holiday - July 12th 2009

[Saffy]

.. and it's HELLO from me !

I'm so excited! In desperate need of a holiday, I have been trawling the internet for a relatively "cheap" holiday that will guarantee sun, sand and sea. My "heart" holiday, would be to a Greek island, but I had convinced myself that this would be out of our financial range this year and that I would end up on the Spanish mainland. (Nothing wrong with that I hear you cry. No there isn't, but my first love is Greece and her islands)

I think Lady Luck must have been looking down on me (for once) and I booked a holiday for my OH and I for £580 - checked online the following day and it had gone up to £574 PER PERSON!) Plus, the pound is trying desperately to poke it's head up a little bit and maybe we wont have to scrimp so much on holiday and eat out a little more than we thought we would.

Anyways .. to cut a long story short .. I am here to ask all of you who have been to Crete (or are indeed going, and have done your research), just how I can make the most of this lovely island.

I've been to Crete before .. ooh, way back in 1979 - I went on my own, and stayed in the quiet resort of Malia .. yes, it was fairly quiet back then. I remember walking up the road each day and waving hello to a little old man, who one morning, called me over and invited me to share in an early morning Raki and a plate of figs. Neither one of us could understand what the other was rattling about, but it was a shared half hour or so of what I have come to know and love of the real Greece.

Mike (OH) and I are staying at the Golden Bay Aprtments in Goumes (near Gouves) - and whilst I could quite easily spend the week wiggling my toes into soft sand, closing my eyes and feeling the sun warm my body and being lulled by the breaking waves, Mike gets itchy feet after sitting still for more than an hour, so I'm wondering what to see.

We're quite keen to hire quad bikes, as we had these in Santorini a couple of years ago and had a real hoot travelling around with the smell of mountain herbs in our noses and the sun on our backs.

I appreciate that Crete is a large island, but how far up the island could we actually get do you think? Is there anyway we could get right down South the Balos beach? How long might it take? We're self catering, so not tied to any meal times.

Where, close to us should we see .. apart from Knossos obviously, which, in my opinion, is a MUST SEE.

Any opinions, advice, directions, would be greatly appreciated .. as would any links to photo's and tales of your experiences on Crete.

THANK YOU ..

Blessings,

Saffy x

[Saffy]

Wow .. not one reply ... glad I'm nto going next week.

Bye !

[wills15]

Hi Saffy
Maybe everyone in the UK is enjoying the "unguaranteed" warm sunny weather of the last 24 months and not had time to look at HW. However, have you tried a google search.