Crete in September

 Although I would prefer to write about a holiday on returning from it, that didn't happen with the fabulous trip to Crete in September; it is however also really good to look back to the beach scenes, views and drinks accompanied by sunsets on a windy, wet early evening Saturday in January.  The trip was proposed as a chance to go swimming in the sea before the winter set in, and Crete seemed like an ideal destination, having had a lovely holiday in Sisi years ago. Researching where to go and stay was undertaken by my daughter, Ali, who decided the beach at Plakias looked really good, with interesting beaches nearby., it's on the south coast, about 21 kilometres south of the city of Rethymno, surrounded by mountains to the north and the Libyan Sea to the south. Looking at maps of Plakias in the 1970s, it was very undeveloped, so much of the town behind the beach to the east comprises holiday accommodation; we stayed in a newly created apartment about 1 km inland, mostly up hill in Myrthios;  it has a permanent population of 80, and was more popular as a place to live before Plakias became developed. There are lots of traditional cottages down narrow streets, being renovated, or awaiting renovation. It was a lovely restful place to stay with a healthy walk to and from the beach in Plakias making it easy to reach 10k steps daily. Our favourite restaurant was Taverna Dionyssos where the staff were wonderfully friendly and you could see the main meals being offered that evening in the kitchen before going in to order.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom wonderfully appointed, newly renovated house with a small balcony. It was initially quite difficult to find because it's down one of the labyrinthine pathways in Myrthios, but has everything we needed plus a small balcony with a view of the mountains, seen below:

and below a bit more to the right a view of houses going further up into the mountains, and a winding road snaking down to the village

The walk down from Myrthios was steep and offered wonderful views of the coastline

and here's the beach at Plakias

here's a close up of the mountain beyond the beach with a road along it,  taking you to the next village

We also had days out, a boat trip is essential isn't it when on a Greek island? We decided to go to Loutro, which can only easily be approached by boat. Ali drove us to Sfakia where we caught a small boat on the way there and a large ferry on the way back, there were lots of hikers on the boat, possibly they had walked the Samaria Gorge which I still haven't walked.

Below is a photo of sunbeds at  Kalypso Cretan Village Resort not far from Plakias; there's a hotel, swimming pool, gardens and diving opportunities in this fjord like inlet. It was created in the 1980s, although I can't find much about its history online.

This post was intended to remind us of where we stayed, what the beach was like, and our excursions, the next post will be a reminder of what we looked like!