After a brief rest on the balcony of my hotel room in Malia, I asked the exceptionally kind woman who worked at the reception for a recommendation about a place where I could have a very late lunch. She even called the restaurant to check if they were open and since they were I headed there.
The restaurant was located in the direct proximity of Potamos Beach, so I had a fine view at the beach from the terrace. As for the food, well, it wasn’t too bad, but I have certainly eaten better things in my life. However, the important thing was that I was no longer hungry.
Lunch close to Potamos Beach
Later I walked a little along the sandy beach and its surroundings. There were visitors here, but the beach did not make any impression on me and did not seem inspiring. It was quite ok for a walk, but the shallows were full of seaweed that seemed almost like mud and after seeing some spectacular beaches in the other parts of Crete, this one did not stand a chance to make it to a shortlist.
Potamos Beach
Potamos Beach
After the short stroll, I returned to the car and drove to the centre of the town of Malia that was some 3 km away from this beach. There I went on foot in the direction of the local beach that is around 1.5 km away from the centre..
In the main street that leads to the shore and the beach there is an uninterrupted line of small hotels, restaurants, cafés, bars, souvenir shops and everything else that accompanies tourist industry, but this all seemed quite unimaginative and uninteresting to me. I thought that perhaps Malia was a place where the residents of Heraklion come during summer when they want to get away from the city. Still, I did not find the place attractive at all.
After a while I got to the beach, that is, to a smaller rocky promontory where Malia Beach ends, while in the other direction, towards the west, starts another one – Mallion Beach. Maybe all of this looks better in July and August, but somehow there was something that bugged me, but I could not pinpoint what it was. I have certainly in my life visited less attractive places, so I could not fathom what it was here that did not suit me, but my sensation seemed somewhat unpleasant. Well, ok. I took a few photos and following the same route returned to the car after which I drove back to the hotel.
Islet and chapel of Afentis Christos opposite the Malia Beach
Mallion Beach
It was only later that I learned that Malia is one of the most popular tourist destinations on Crete and even one of the most popular in Europe because a centre of nightlife has developed here. In other words, the place is all the craze and the gathering point of young people, especially from north Europe, and that is what explains the pronounced tourist aspect of the main street that I didn’t like. Well, that’s just one more solid proof that I am no longer young and I can “feel” this even by the energy of a street or a beach. But, I don’t mind this at all. Each to their own.
I spent the rest of the day in a tranquil mode at the hotel and mostly by the pool where I even swam a little, although generally speaking I much prefer beaches to pools.
Before departing from Malia the following morning, I had breakfast at the hotel and then it took me about half an hour to get to the airport in Heraklion where I returned the car I had rented earlier in Rethimno. My plan was to spend the last day of the trip in Heraklion and for that I did not need a car. This time I tried transferring to the centre of the city by bus and it all functioned perfectly. I had a suitcase with wheels, so it was not a problem at all to get from the rent-a-car parking lot to the bus stop where I bought a ticket and entered the bus. Soon enough I was in the city.
I stayed again in the same flat where I had stayed at the beginning of the journey, but since I arrived too early, I had to wait a little before getting in. Still, I had an agreement with the owner that I could leave my things in a shared area, which helped me through the next few hours. First I walked a little around the old part of the city, retracing some of my earlier footsteps.
Thus I took the opportunity that the Basilica of St. Mark in the centre of Heraklion was open, so I went in to see what this space looks like. When I first passed by here, the former basilica was closed (https://www.svudapodji.com/en/crete-3/). Nowadays it is used as a public art gallery and I certainly enjoyed the visit to this place.
Basilica of St. Mark, the interior
And then I took a seat in one café/restaurant close to “my” flat and enjoyed the pleasantly warm weather while sitting in a shade. First I order a frappé coffee that included a scoop of ice-cream. Like in all the cafés and restaurants on Crete, here too I got a mandatory free bottle of drinking water.
Frappé coffee in Heraklion
I started to eat the ice-cream, but there was something odd about its taste. I tasted it again and then I realised what it was, but I still had to check with the waitress. Oh, yes, this was a modern place and they make ice-cream with goat milk. I know that goat milk and goat cheese have become all the hype as of lately, but I simply don’t like them. I can say this with the extremely easy conscience, because there is a whole story about it. For health reason, at some point I had to take a product made of goat milk for over a year and I never got used to it. I can eat and drink goat cheese and milk, but I don’t like them. So – there is no chance in hell that while on vacation I would voluntarily eat goat milk ice-cream. I asked the waitress to replace my frappé coffee and she did it very kindly.
Since I was mostly killing time on this day, after a while I realised I could actually have an early lunch here and so I did. The dish I ordered was again “modern,” but with no goat additions and it was very tasty. Therefore I devoured it with joy.
Early lunch in Heraklion
I kept sitting here for a couple of hours and felt wonderfully lazy, even sleepy, which was more a consequence of my being very relaxed than the real need for sleep.
Afterwards I went to take over the keys to the flat and put my things in there and I even had an unsuccessful attempt at having a nap, but a little later I went for yet another stroll around the centre of Heraklion. At some point I ended up in another restaurant close to the sea where I had a late lunch.
Late lunch in Heraklion, part 1
Late lunch in Heraklion, part 2
Late lunch in Heraklion, part 3
And this was how I spent most of the day, enjoying the relaxation, food and nice weather in Heraklion. This also provided me with a fine opportunity to sum up my impressions about the whole trip.
As I’ve said at the beginning of these travel stories, I wanted to come to Crete for who knows how long. I believe that any visit in the past would have been positive, but the fact is that there were certain things I could afford now which I would not be able before. One of them was the renting of a car. This certainly facilitated my moving around the island, but it also allowed me to visit some places I was interested in more efficiently. In effect, it also greatly contributed to the positive impressions I have of Crete.
Crete is an exceptionally beautiful island. Pardon me, it is an exceptionally and fantastically beautiful island! Not only was this the place where one of the most impressive civilisations known to man developed, but also throughout the history different conquerors and “owners” of the island came one after the other leaving traces that permeate the indisputable Greek quality of Crete which, among elements, is reflected through the impressive Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries, diverse landscapes – the turquoise-blue water at some of the beaches, the sheer number of bigger and smaller beaches, the crystal clear waters of the sea, the stunning landscapes in the interior of the island filled with seemingly endless olive groves, high mountains and numerous spectacular gorges. All of this makes the island unique and incredibly attractive. I spent two full weeks here and was very active, moving almost incessantly, simply because Crete is not a small island and there is so much to see there. Any serious beach holiday would require even more time. And that is perhaps a very good idea for some future visit.
This was how I was parting from Crete in my own head, but as it turned out Greece was still not ready to part from me.
It all started quite normally and as to be expected. In the morning I woke up nicely, packed up my things, the taxi was waiting and then it took me to the airport, I checked in my luggage, found the gate where I was supposed to leave the airport building and started to wait. Admittedly, it was horribly crowded at that comparatively small airport, so I could not take a seat right away, but soon enough I did find where I could sit down. Right across a board with information.
At some point the departure of the plane was moved by 10 minutes. “Ok. That’s not too bad.” Although I had quite a short period of time to change planes in Athens, my luggage was supposed to go directly to Belgrade, so I did not worry.
And then the board displayed that the next information will be provided in half an hour and then in another half an hour... It became quite clear that I could not catch my next flight. I asked the girl who worked at the information desk and she explained everything in details. Namely, there was an extremely strong wind in Heraklion and the incoming plane was rerouted to Chania. Now we had to wait for the situation to calm down. In any case, somebody would wait for me in Athens with further information.
And so the waiting began. Although I was in no stress whatsoever about the newly arisen situation I was still very glad when I started to chat with an absolutely pleasant couple from Romania. They also had a change of planes in Athens and were worried about their connecting flight, but we agreed there was nothing to be done about this and so we continued to speak as if we had known each other for years. They were both quite clearly very well educated, but also exceptionally nice and kind. A particularly striking feature in positive terms was the chic hairdo of Dana.
After several hours of delay, we finally left for Athens. Meanwhile I hoped that maybe I would be able to catch the second flight to Belgrade, but I was not that lucky. Together with Dana and her husband, I went to the transfer desk at the airport in Athens. All of us who came there because we had missed our flights were given hotel accommodation for a night, as well as a modified reservation for the following flight. We all got a different combination and I was told that I was given a hotel in the very centre of Athens and that my flight would be the next morning at 4:40 am!!! I beg your pardon!!!???
This meant that I would have to leave the hotel at 2 am and then I wondered why go to sleep at all. I asked the persons at the desk if they could put me in a hotel closer to the airport, but they referred me to the official client support counter of the air carrier, which was in a completely different part of the airport. Still, before going there I had to retrieve my bag, since it also had to make a stop here. This was a first for me, so as a type of experience it was rather interesting, albeit not necessarily good and pleasant.
With the rest of the passengers who were on my flight from Heraklion and who shared my destiny I went to the lost and found desk. They took our data there, told us to wait close by and that they would inform us when they pinpoint our individual luggage.
Soon some of the bags arrived and this is where I parted with Dana and her husband. They were given another hotel and we were actually quite ready to swap, but it was not possible.
As it turned out, however, there were two young women from Serbia on the Heraklion flight and so we spontaneously decided to keep going together. Namely, I wanted to complain about the hotel (because of the distance and the departure time), plus I needed some information and so did they.
After a while my suitcase arrived. Then we waited some more and a suitcase of one of the girls, Jana, also arrived. But, then we waited for almost an hour and the suitcase of Anđela was nowhere to be found. I must admit I did not feel like hanging out at the airport any longer, so I got out with Jana, i.e., we passed the customs and then we went to the customer service desk.
As soon as I said it did not suit me that after the whole day of the uncertainty and waiting at the airports I went to the centre of the city only to return back to the airport almost at once because of the practically night flight (the sunrise in Athens in May is after 5 am), the guy at the desk offered to put me on a later flight, at 4 pm. Well, that made sense! As it turned out, in this way I was given a bonus on top of my Crete journey. I was very content. Jana, on the other hand, had to return by the first flight and, as it happened, so did Anđela.
Still, the three of us got together again at the airport and then took a taxi (which we paid for, but were reimbursed for by the carrier) and transferred to the hotel. We even had half-board there. After getting our rooms, we met again at dinner and then went for a walk around Athens.
I must say that I would have been quite satisfied if I had just gone to a café close to the hotel, where I could sit in the garden, but none of the girls had ever been to Athens before and did not know where they were or what could be seen there. So, I proposed that we walked to Sindagma Square. And that’s what we did.
On the east side of the square there is a former royal palace that was turned into the Parliament in 1935. In front of the Parliament building, there is the Monument to the Unknown Soldier and this is where two sentries dressed in traditional garments with famous pompom shoes are located. From time to time, they leave their sentry boxes and perform a very specific military ritual. This is one of the famous attractions in Athens. I was quite lucky to find myself here right at the time when the ritual was taking place.
Military ritual by the Monument to the Unknown Soldier
Then we crossed the street and entered Sindagma Square, which provided a fine view at the Parliament building, and then we continued zigzagging in the general direction of Monastiraki Square that we did not reach in the end, but that did not diminish in the least the beauty of the sights we were surrounded with while strolling.
Sindagma Square and the Parliament building
Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens
Church of Panagia Kapnikarea from the 11th century
Church of Panagia Kapnikarea from the 11th century
Remains of an early Christian basilica
Tower of the Winds and the Acropolis
After this walk, we went back to the hotel since the two of them had to get up in a few hours, while I could have a nice sleep without any pressure about ungodly early waking up.