Friday, 03.10.
We arrive in Agia Galini in the evening and eat in a small family restaurant. I really want to try retsina without knowing what it is. Now I know it tastes, just bitter …
After dinner we walk down to the beach and actually find a bar where the FC game in Hoffenheim is shown live! Final score 1:0 for FC !
Saturday, 04.10.
Our first hike takes us to Agios Georgios the next day. By the way, Agia or Agios means saint, we will encounter that more often. The path is winding, we always have a view of the sea and the offshore Paximadia Islands.After about an hour and a half we reach our destination. The place has a pretty little beach and a nice beach bar.
Sunday, 05.10.
The weather is wonderful, we enjoy a day at the beach. In the evening we take a tour of the city. Agia Galini is a very pretty town. Above the harbour are the statues of Daedalus and Icarus.
Later we make the first attempt in Charlie’s Place, but are only there 20 past 6. Charlie has no employees, he does everything himself, cooks, serves and also has a chat. We wait 30 minutes, this time we couldn’t get Charlie’s attention to help us. 😄
The first attempt failed, but we ate a delicious fish platter in a restaurant right on the beach.
Monday, 06.10.
We drive 10 km to Melambes and want to do hike no. 6 from the booklet that our landlady lent us. The path in the village is difficult to find. We meet two nice ladies from Antwerp, Ria and Elsa, who have the same problem.
The adventure begins when Komoot sends us on a junction. We climb over loose stones and pieces of rock with a lot of scree for half an hour up a mountain before we find a way again and have solid ground under our feet.
The rest of the trail is very nice.
Tuesday, 07.10.
After small discussions, we head for the Amira Valley. After 1 km we are slowed down by a wire gate. Disappointed, we turn back. Later we learn that we could have simply opened the gate.
But luck in disguise: We drive to Platania and hike up into the gorge of the same name, a very nice experience!
Mittwoch, 08.10.
We hike from home up into the mountains to the chapel of St. Anthony (yes, another Antonio 🙂 ). Uphill is exhausting, but okay. On the way back, we first have to overcome a busy country road, after about 700 meters we take a barely passable path along the riverbed, and finally there is also a rather dangerous climb over an illegal garbage dump on the program.
On the way back, we visit the campsite near the beach.
Unfortunately, we are not rewarded for the effort by the weather this afternoon, the sun can only be seen briefly. After all, we both went for a short swim in the sea once.
Thursday, 09.10. und Friday, 10.10.
We have a good time and enjoy two days with sun, beach and good food in the evening. Our favorite restaurant is the “Old Town” in the middle of the city. There we quickly come into contact with the friendly employees.
Saturday, 11.10.
On this day, a highlight is on the program. Our destination is the palm beach of Preveli, about 50 kilometers away, the most beautiful beach of Crete.
On the way there, we make a longer stop in Spili and visit the botanical Maravel Garden.
Around noon we continue, to Preveli it is still about 20 kilometers.
We end this wonderful day in the evening in our favorite restaurant “Old Town” in Agia Galini.
Sunday, 12.10.
This morning it is very stormy. We drive to the next beach town Kokkinos Pyrgos. A waiter explains to us that you can easily walk along the beach from Agia Galini.
Afterwards we continue to Kamilari, where there is a small art market today. Gaby finds a pair of very pretty earrings.
Monday, 13.10.
We drive to the Phaistos Palace near Tymbaki, which was built between 1900 and 1700 BC.
Then it’s off to Matala, a tourist hotspot. The place is known for its caves right on the beach. In the alleys you will find some nice shops, such as a hippie bar.
After dinner in Agia Galini we go for a beer in our corner bar. A drunk Belgian woman with a dog causes chaos by knocking over her glass twice without having drunk it! 😂
Tuesday, 14.10.
Slowly the holiday is coming to an end, today we enjoy another lazy day at the beach. In the evening we make a second attempt in Charlie’s Place, this time we are lucky ! The food is excellent, Charlie does everything alone, is completely relaxed and finds time for a few nice words for every guest.😄
Wednesday 15.10.
Today we want to walk to Kokkinos Pyrgos, about 5 kilometers from Agia Galini as the crow flies. The waiter there said that you can walk along the beach.
About half of the way went quite well, then the climbing became more and more arduous and in the end too dangerous. So the only sensible thing to do was to break off, turn around and spend the rest of the day on the beach.😄
In the evening we go to the “Old Town” for dinner one last time and say goodbye to Anculla, who gives us three business cards. So if you are planning to go to the south coast of Crete in the near future …😄
Thursday, 16.10.
Day of departure from Agia Galini.Our return flight on Friday is very early, so we drive to Heraklion today. We booked a very nice room in the old town for one night. The son of the landlady welcomes us friendly, in the evening we also get to know his mother Eleni. After returning the rental car at the airport, we walk to the manageably large city, it takes about 40 minutes to reach the port.
Worth mentioning in the very lively old town are the Church of the Apostle Titus and the bust of the famous Greek painter El Greco.
Surprisingly, we see the passage of a group of demonstrators, mainly young people. When asked, it is about the fact that the government wanted to force people to increase their weekly working hours.
And in the evening we finally drink a few glasses of raki with our landlady and review this wonderful holiday a bit.
The next morning we go early to the airport and from there non-stop home.
