We arrived in Crete late on the 21st of August in a town called Iraklion. We chose not to stay there but to hire a car a head west across the island. We booked the car from Caldera car hire and we arranged to pick it up from their downtown office. I´d seen that it was 8 minutes away from the port so thought that it was perfect. What I didn´t realise was, that it was an 8-minute drive away which was at least a twenty-minute walk with our suitcases. As we were walking I was getting slightly concerned that the place would be closed by the time we got there, but luckily it wasn´t. There seemed to have a bit of a mix up with our booking and in the end the car wasn´t there, however, someone drove us to the airport, to where we actually had to pick up the car. We thought this would be the end of our car problems. Sadly, it wasn´t, but more on that later.

Javi and I had booked ourselves into an apartment in Askifou that we couldn´t recommend more. The owner was great, and it was no issue what so ever that we ended up arriving at 11 in the evening and he still kept his restaurant open so we could have a quick dinner before we retired to our cottage. Not only did the place offer great views but the quiet area in the mountains and perfect swimming pool made this one of the best places we stayed in on our trip. You need to have a car to get here, and it isn´t close to many things, but Javi and I were keen to use our 4 days here to relax and see the real Greece, not the beach resorts nor eat in the tourist restaurants, which are generally overpriced. If you are keen to do the same, then Panorama Askifou is the place to go. The restaurant next to the apartments is cheap and serves traditional Greek food and wine. The food was great and we liked everything that we ordered both times that we went. The wine on the other hand has an acquired taste, that I definitely didn´t get, the Dutch couple that were at the table next to us loved it and even ordered a second bottle.

On our first full day we drove south to Hora Sfakion to check out the port and to try and get money out. The place isn´t very big, and at the time the cash machine was out of order. This came as no surprise to anyone as apparently it is always either broken or doesn´t have any money in it, so don´t rely on it too much. We chose to spend the rest of the evening chilling by the pool and having dinner in our apartment looking out over the mountains.

Other day, another trip, this time we went north to Rethimnon to visit the fortress of fortezza. Well worth a visit, but we did spend a lot of the time trying to find shade from the blazing sun, so not recommendable during the hottest part of the day. There are pebble beaches that you could visit and cool off in the Mediterranean. Otherwise, like us, you could walk through the streets and try not to spend all money in any of the 100s of shops. In the evening we took a short hike to the ruins that were near our cottage, just a short 5km round trip but with great views.

One of the top things to do in Crete is the Samaria gorge. Now, if you are in Chania, it doesn´t seem that difficult to organise, there are buses to get you there and then you can get the boat/bus back. From where we were staying, we would have not only had to have got up at the crack of dawn but to pay almost €50 for all the buses and ferries just so we could walk 16km. In the end we decided not to do it, but to do the sister gorge that was incredibly close to where we were staying. We drove to the entrance, paid our €2 each to get in, and then walked 8km down the gorge. From what I have read it is just as nice as the Samaria which runs parallel to it. Once we reached the end, we had considered turning around and walking back up it, but instead we chose to walk to the beach. This is where the adventure really started. We´d been informed that we had to follow the road for about 4km more, Javi at his best decided that we shouldn´t do that and that the wee path that cut through fields would be quicker. So, we walked and walked and came to the edge of a cliff. We may have reached the water quicker, but with no feasible way of getting down to it. Away in the distance we spotted what looked like a restaurant on the beach front although we were still stranded on the cliff. Javi will claim that there was a path, but I disagree entirely. He made a path as we clambered down the rocks. Was it worth it? We got ourselves the nicest beer (they always taste better when you´ve worked for it) and we plopped down on a deserted pebble beach.

Funnily enough, after having to pretty much rock climb down, I wasn´t most keen to have to go back up so we had the restaurant phone a taxi for us to take us back to our car which was parked at the entrance to the Imbros Gorge.

Our ferry to leave Crete was an overnight one leaving from Chania so we decided to spend the day there before dropping off the car and catching it. The first thing we did was to head to the port and collect our tickets and then we drove into town. Persistence paid off and we eventually found a parking space even though it took a while. Top things to do here include a nice walk out to the lighthouse and looking at the architecture of the old buildings. There are other options, such as going on a boat trip or there are few museums but we chose to stick around the town and take in what was there. We didn´t need to head on a boat to see the wildlife, Javi spotted a turtle swimming close to the wall we were walking along which was a lovely treat.

So the plan was to drop the car off at the downtown office and then catch a bus to the port to get our last ferry of the trip. We drove around and around and around trying to find the office. The satnav on my phone was going barmy trying to get us to go down one way streets the wrong way and have a drive in pedestrian areas. Eventually, I had to jump out of the car and head down the street to see if there was anywhere that looked like a car rental place. There was. Who puts a car hire building on a pedestrian only street? I think it is really illogical. Anyway, the guy working there had no record of the car and we weren´t to drop it off there, even though it clearly stated in our email that we had received from them that this was the address. It turns out that since we had collected it at the airport we had to drop it off at the airport. As I tried to calmly explain to the man, and later to the women on the phone, we had not wanted to collect the car at the airport, it was through no fault of our own that we had. After about a 20-minute (international) phone call the women finally decided that it would be ok for us to leave it there, and there would be no penalty. I should bloody hope not as it was their fault. The car was rubbish; the service was even worse. I would never recommend Caldera car hire.

Quick and easy bus journey to the port to find our two bed cabin awaiting us. We could have not paid for a cabin, and saved money but I´m glad that we did as the normal chairs around the boat were not that comfortable to sleep in.

Athens, Lisa and Nick - next stop!