A visit to the Island Crete

To Celebrate our 8th Wedding anniversary  we took a short break to the Island of Crete.

We flew from Cyprus (Paphos) to Crete (Chania) on a flight that took 1 1/2 hours, we picked up our hire car and drove to our hotel the Solimar Aquamarine which is situated between the villages of Gerani and Maleme and 14k from the Town of Chaia.

 

Our first day of exploring took us along the coast to the small fishing village of

Kolymbari, this village is known for its fine fish restaurants.

We Continued our drove along the coast to the port of Kisamoss where we joined  a boat for a trip along the North West coastline. Our first stop was at the Island of Gramvousa where Rob climbed up to the Venetian fort (built in 1579) and saw the stunning views. We then sailed onto the Bay at Balos with its Blue Lagoon.

We decided to take a drive away from the coastline and headed inland towards the White mountains, our first stop was Agia Lake which is an important wetland site for bird life.

We  continued to drive passing through the villages of Skines and Keres until we reached the small hamlet of Karanos with its stunning church and commanding views over the surrounding area. We took time out to taste the wonderfully produced fresh Orange juice.

We also took a trip into Chania to visit the old port, we thought it was a bit over commercialised on the harbour front but we enjoyed exploring the warren of alleyways behind the port.

On our final day we hired two push bikes and made our way up the coast to Maleme where we visited the WW2 German cemetery and the small museum that records the invasion of the Island.

On the way to the airport we also visited the British war cemetery in Souda. Our final destination was the lovely cove at Marathi, we found it by accident, it is a beautiful spot with a couple of sandy, sheltered beaches and well priced Tavernas.