Sometimes a break does you good

Decided to have a bit of a break from blogging after we got back from Crete in May.  No particular reason but I just didn't feel like it, and couldn't come up with the words I wanted to write - a bad case of bloggers block I'd guess you'd say.  

Our holiday in Crete was amazing despite the rain for the first few days.  We'd treated ourselves to an upgraded room - one with our own swimming pool.  Our hotel, the Solimar Aquamarine was beautiful having just had a lot of money spent on refurbishing it.   Our room was enormous just for the two of us, a huge double bed, a walk in shower and a bath and of course the pool outside.

Our pool

the hotel pool

Before we'd left we'd booked a cycle tour with Hellas Bikes and had picked out some other trips we wanted to book through our travel company (First Choice).   Unfortunately because we hadn't been able to contact our rep we missed a Gorge Walk but luckily managed to book a trip to the Palace of Knossos which is on the other side of the island.   Whilst the hotel food was good we did venture out to enjoy proper Greek food at local tavernas.  We've decided we won't go All Inclusive in Greece again, you lose the atmosphere.

We found a great way of getting around Chania - the Little Fun Train provided a number of mini tours including the one we chose - a ride up through the Gorge to a small village in the mountains where we could have lunch and a cold beer or visit a local museum set up to show the German occupation during WW2.  It wasn't very expensive either just 19 euros each - a great way of spending 3 hours, and a lot cheaper than some of the excursions being offered by tour operators.

Wish we'd known about it before we left for Crete - there was so many other trips we could've done.

Our trip to visit Heraklion and the Palace of Knossos meant a very early start and a never ending 3 hour coach ride.  It was well worth it, the Palace was amazing, I've got a zillion photos, far too many to share on one blog.

Our bike tour was brilliant.  Our guides took us up into the mountains and we cycled back down, stopping off at various points to learn something of the life of the Chanian people, their religion and their ancient past history.  We stopped off for coffee and cake soon after setting off.

Coffee & cake stop

it was mainly downhill but there were some small inclines too!

Our finish line - the beach at Maleme

me on my "flower bike"

If we go back to the Chania area we'll definitely do another tour with them.  They picked us up from the hotel at the time we'd arranged and made sure we were safe the whole time.  We even thought we'd hire bikes from them too, getting around seemed quite simple.

We even braved the local bus service and went to Chania for a few hours.   The bus stop was right outside the hotel so we just waited until it came along - no timetable available - it wasn't very expensive and well worth the trip - Chania is a beautiful Venetian port.  Lots to look at and you can just sit on the harbour and get ripped off for food and drink - 17 euros for a beer and a sprite!  Lesson learned - lunch was bought away from the harbour.

All in all a lovely 10 days, despite the weather and First Choice attempting to make our lives a misery! Absolutely couldn't have done without our own pool - it felt a bit unsociable but we still managed to get to know other holidaymakers.  

Lots more to come - including a new bike and a couple of Tribby trips and a sportive!