"trip to Crete" Crete Island by apexro

This island where Zeus was born has an amazing past, having more than 5000 years of tumultuous history. Everywhere you’ll find a mix of mythology, ancient history, Venetian and than Turkish domination. In 1898 with the help of the European Powers, Crete became an autonomous province and in 1908 joined Greece. I had to tell you all these because everywhere you’ll go you’ll see “shadows” of this long history, combined with beautiful landscapes and, of course, traditional Cretan life with extremely friendly people.
The tourism season starts in May 1st and ends on October. The other months are “dead” and people try to gain their money during this extended summer time for the entire year. The only activity for the rest of the year is dedicated to the olive crops and olive oil process.

I stayed in the center of Hersonissos, a small town (was a village before tourism developed) and I enjoyed it very much. The streets are full of little shops, restaurants, taverna’s and coffee’s, which are opened until very late in the night, some 24 hours/day. People are walking without fear, are staying at the terraces enjoying food, drinks, juices, ice-cream or other sweets. The place is very animated and very friendly. There were plenty of LCD TV everywhere, so that the guys didn’t miss the football(soccer) games of the European Championship with some bears in front of them… smile…
There were tourists from all over Europe, mostly UK, Germany, Netherlands, but also from the Eastern Europe or Asia.
Mostly of the beaches are very small and with pebbles, but, you can find sand beaches also, if you go to near places. The local transport is good, there are buses of Minoan Lines company every 15/20min and they are not expansive at all. More than that, everybody is trying to be helpful, explaining you how you can arrive to a certain place or find a certain place. Many of the local people speak English, at least at a level that allows them to talk to you about the usual things.
There are plenty of tourism agency which organized trips along the island. As I told you the tourism buses are picking you up from the hotel. The tours are organized in different languages, so that you can choose the one that suits you.