Athens to Crete

Now we are on our own again. Feels a bit weird having been spoilt by Insight Vacations for the last two weeks.

They give an airport transfer, so we were picked up at 10am by a nice man in a Mercedes.

Athens in a Saturday morning is quiet. Greeks tend to be up and about more in the afternoon and evening.

Air Agean will take us to Crete which is a short 50 minute flight into Heraklion airport. There we will pick up a hire car and drive 1.5 hours right down to the western end of Crete.

I have been watching how the Greeks drive and I have come to the conclusion you just have to be aggressive but fair! This will be different to driving in France.

The boarding process on this flight was one of the worst we have ever experienced. The airline staff had guests arguing aggressively with them about what we don’t know. Maybe it is just a Greek thing to be loud but when you add this to a rowdy group of Americans beside us it wasn’t that pleasant.

The flight was short, and we found the booth to get the car. Turns out it wasn’t his booth at all just a meeting point. He helped with our bags, and we walked into the car pack to his Kombi van office complete with solar panels to power the printer. Very unusual.

Our car is a Fiat. It is tiny but that is all we need. The drive out from Heraklion was easy and soon we are on a freeway in light traffic.

The time share was about 90 minutes away and the only challenge on the road was to work out traffic overtaking you. I was only on the speed limit, but I think I was the only one! Even oncoming traffic drift into your lane so you have to move to your kerb. As expected, the Greeks are aggressive drivers in a hurry and always speeding.

Crete Suites are frankly disappointing. It is an old-time share and a bit pokey. It will have to do. We unpacked and headed into Letapetra where we found a nice beachside cafe for a bite.

Next a supermarket shop and we are stocked for a week.En savoir plus