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On the third day we first went to Malia. While the modern town is a spot for young people on drinking bout (they have the fishbowl cocktail!) you can also find a Minoan palace (no English Wikipedia) which is really nice. Not as crowded as Knossos and not such a intensive restoration. I preferred it compared to Knossos.They had also a little cafe with some nice snacks.








After the Palace we visited the Amazonas Park, the first Zoo in Crete. Itīs a privately owned park which house rescued endangered animals and try to place the animals back into the wild. They have many birds, but also a donkey, goats, some lemurs and monkeys! With a guide you are able to visit the monkeys who live together with the goats and you are allowed to feed them with popcorn. Cool!
The squirrel monkey visited our shoulders :-)



Habitats arenīt too big, but very clean and new.




If you visit the monkey you have to be careful. They donīt like to be touched (if you do, they will show you!) but they are masters of stealing.




The lemurs (who like to be touched) had lunch shortly before our visit, so only few were ready to accept popcorn-donations.



On our way back we had to go through the monkey habitat again and they were still waiting for their victims!



Overview and landscape

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Later this day we visited Spinalonga. Spinalonga is the small island you can see from our room.

Spinalonga is an old fortress which was later used an a leper colony. After itīs closure in 1957 it was abonded and today itīs a tourist attraction. You can reach it by boeats from Plake (shortest distance), Elounda and some other ports. We paid 8, € per person return for the short ride from Plaka and 2,00 € entrance fee.

The island itself offers good views on the Elounda gulf and you can visit the old buildings. Nothing I would travel to Crete for but a nice trip if you have time.

pbartp

What a nice trip report. Great pictures! I was lucky enough to visit Crete earlier this summer. We only stayed for 2 days, but would love to go back. Can't wait to here about your departure experience. We left from Heraklion and it is quite an adventure.

farbster

makes me want to post a TR from our Greek Island cruise on Silversea Spirit from 2011.

offerendum

Thanks! I donīt wonna tell too much now, but departure from HER is an adventure

Would be interesting!

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As I said before food at the Blue Palace was mediocre but expensive – not the best combination. We decided to eat istead in Plaka, which is really near by. At the second evening we tried Taverna Thalassa which looked nice and has a direct water location.
Food was nice, we really like it. Service was friendly. Also we met a nice cat, so what else do you want? Price was under 50 €.
Swordfish

Octopus

Cat


Third evening we went to another restaurant which was called Ostria. Food was pretty good but not as good as Thalassa. Price was more or less equal.
Octopus


We saw a restaurant called Taverna Delphini which looked nice from outside and was always very full. We had a look on the menu and immediately a waiter came and began to tell us how great his restaurant is in some funny German. On the menu were dishes like „Wiener Schnitzel“. OK, thank you. Now I saw itīs 14 of 14 at tripadvisor. OK. Instead we ate at Thalssa again. This time we took a whole fresh Red Snapper as main course (58 € per kilo). Again we enjoyed our meal.
Appetizers

Red Snapper (sorry, bad picture)

Dessert


Our last evening we decided to take the save bet again and ate at...... Thalassa.
eggplant with feta

shrimps

Cat

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On our forth day we did some other highlights of Crete, Dikatio Antro, Lassithi, Panagia Kera (on German) and Lato.

We started at Panagia Kera, an old church with beautiful frescoes. I wasnīt sure if it is possible to visit the church with shorts, so I took some long trousers with me to be safe. In the end it wasnīt a problem, the church is mainly a museum now.













Next we visited Lato, another ancient Dorian city. Itīs relatively good conserved and you can see nearly complete houses.

Landscape

The ruins









Next we drove to Lassithi, which is a plateau. The drive was „wild-romantice“ 40 kilometers in nearly 1 ― hours. On the plateau you can see some old villages, main attraction is Diktaio Antro (Psychro Cave). If we arrived we saw many busses, it was very crowded with tourists. After we parked our car we had to take a steep climb. You can also rent a donkey (5 €), but I donīt see any need for it. Itīs really nothing too exhausting. The Cave itself is also an old Minoian sacred place. They claim Zeus was born here (and of course we trust them). Inside the cave you can see some dripstones. Itīs quite nice but nothing special in my eyes. I think the dripstone caves in the Sauerland near our home are more spectacular. So again: Nice if you have time but no must see.

Entrance to the cave

Inside the cave (no flash allowed, hard to photograph)



View over the plateau

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The best comes last? I wasnīt so sure about this. A colleague had told me how chaotic Heraklion airport at departure is. He advised me to take a VIP-service which also includes lounge access. As I have a Priority Pass and may enter 2 lounges in HER, I thought itīs too expensive with 35,00 €. I decided to try to be early at the airport.
At the airport we were greated by 3 street dogs which were sleeping on the street. Really cute dogs, I which I could take them home with me. I gave them some bread I had taken with me, but they were interested but obvious not really hungry.
At the terminal chaos got a name. Shabby design, long lines up to the street, people who had to make their way through the lanes with their baggage – absolutely great! I searched on the panel for our flight but didnīt find it. I decided to got to the Air-Berlin counters and hoped it would be right. As I saw the line I had a look on the fast lane and was really angry I havenīt my status any more. We checked-in online but I didnīt see a baggage drop-of. After a while I had a closer look on the fast lane. In a small writing I could read „drop-off“. I decided to try my luck and changed lines. After a few minutes I had my labels on my lagguage and I got new bording passes as I wasnīt sure my electronic bording pass would work properly. Now I had to go to x-ray to drop off my lagguage – like in stone age. Security was relative fast and inside the terminal we searched for the lounge – unfortunally we didnīt find it, the Schengen-lounge is landside! Great!



We visited the duty-free, which had much higher prices than the shops outside the airport. The waiting area was full and not really comfortable, but OK. Bording started in time and we had to wait for the bus.


We had again exit-seats which were pretty good.



Unfortunally the plane was fully with pensioners. The one in the lane behind us were talking about their vacation loudly all the time. Main theme was how much they paid. Very important! I also absolute hate it, if the person behind me draws up herself on my backrest!

worldtraveller73

Interesting choice with the luxury collection resort. I haven't found great reward availability on these properties in Greece. I don't know whether I'm looking in the wrong place or what have you. At least you did the reconnaissance work for us. ^