Hotel Cactus Beach Stalís

... pashas – have all left their mark on towns and villages throughout the island. We had opted against booking an organized tour and decided to team up with our new friends: FIU lecturer David Rifkind (who had given an amazing talk about Crete the previous evening), his wife Holly, Toronto realtor Bill Thom and his girlfriend Angela. It made for a group of six and our attempt to find a van that we could drive ourselves was difficult due to the fact ...

... next day and caught a cab back in to Chania. We then caught the bus back to Heraklion (or Iraklio) and the fun of finding somewhere to stay for our second night on Crete began.<br><br>P!ssing down with rain, no cagoules, no money, hungry, nowhere to stay - it was pretty rubbish. Crete is a pretty ****** place as well. Lots of graffiti around and dog poo on the footpaths. But, we managed to get another credit card working and then found an internet cafe ...

Yesterday we got up at 5am in order to catch our plane from Santorini. Most of our group was on the same plane , so we said our sleepy good byes. We flew on Aegean Air which has nice new planes. We went to Athens and then basically retraced the short flight by flying to Crete. We staggered into hotel Lato at 10am where we received a special bonus upgrade to the 5th floor executive suite. 2 rooms on the 5th floor with an ...

We had decided to go to Knossos on our last full day (Friday) as it is close to Iraklio where Chris and Milly will fly from on Friday night. But it made sense to take the last day in a more leisurely fashion and visit the Minoan palace of Knossos on Thursday. So we did.<br><br>After a brisk drive through the usual nightmare traffic and narrow streets, and our usual lunch, this time just across the road from the palace, we entered the grounds. The entry fee is &#8364;6 ...

Somehow wherever I am on holiday I think about Mark. Perhaps it's because you notice couples holding hands on the beach or it's just part of the holiday romance ...

We had a delay. Got up around 3:45 am and left Rose Cottage at 4 O'Clock for the airport. It was already starting to get lioght as we cruised by sleeping English villages. By the time we arrived at the airport it was fully light. Stood in a lond que(sp?) for check-in where we were told that our plane was delayed adnd that would we would hear further news at 10 am! (the joy of ...

Just finished reading Portraits by Cynthia Freeman. Makes me feel even more grateful for my family. I must be one of the luckiest girls around to have a family who love and support me.

... to get us eating at there place. But thankfully they didn't - with exception of one, but you have that evrywhere, don't you? "Hello come into my restaurant. We sell nice food.. fish.. meat.." and they quote the whole menu to you while all you want to do is run away. So in our case not the best way to get us to eat there. That's sounds like rather childish behaviour of us if I read that :/ <br><br>I just swollowed salt water *Yuck!* The sea was lovely though - many waves!<br>

It's been hot! Walked down to Lagaria beach this morning and even at 10 am the sun was phew! We wanted to find a supermarket for some breakfast and perhaps dinner. Lagaria beach is very picturesque. The sea looked so inviting! Why oh why didn't we wear our bikinis? Thankfully found a supermarket where we bought some apricot jam, sesame rolls, Edammer cheese, cream cheese, and a blow-up ball with pretty ...

... heavy backpacks. I just hear or parents say 'I told you so!', but why did we take so many clothes with us? All we need is a bikini! Finally - after my flipflops breaking and me not being able to bend down to make them- Laura did it for me- we saw the sign we had arrived at our destination at last! Phew!<br><br>Holly &amp; Eve <br><br>btw we are taking a cat or 5 back home!