"Stalis" Stalis by ginaszoo

Our first visit to Crete was this years' holiday to Stalis. We were rather surprised to find it as big as it is and with so many shops.

After I had got over the lack of our promised Sea View, I had a lovely holiday and very soon fell into the relaxed atmosphere the Greece offers.

Our apartment owner couldn't have been more friendly and he was wonderful with my three children. My middle child (William) took a real liking to souvlaki and every given chance that was what he ate. Kostas thought that this was amusing I think and he bought the children souvlaki gyros as a midnight feast, much to the childrens' delight.

The children didn't enjoy the beach in Stalis as it was almost completely covered in sunbeds, most of which were empty. That wasn't a too much of a problem as we live by the sea in Scarborough, North Yorkshire UK.

As I don't drive we were glad to find that the busses were quite frequent and kept better time that our own in the UK.

We went to Ierapetra and Agios Nikolaos by bus. We found that Ierapetra was quite quiet, we were told that this was because it was the end of the season. Although I must say that I like the feel of the place and I would be happy to stay there at a future date.

Agios Nikolaos was pretty but very touristy!

Then I had a few problems with my neck, I think that I pulled something lifting cases! (We really must take less next year!)

We walked from Stalis to Hersonissos, we also did this trip on the happy train.

We walked along the other way to Malia probably more often as we found a couple of friendly tavernas that were quieter as they were more out of the way.

Dominic my youngest found a litter of kittens in one, the lady owner said he could have them, try explaining to a four year old why he can't take SIX kittens home!!!!!!!

Dominic also hid WITHOUT his shoes on on the last day as he said he wasn't coming home! - All I could say was move over is there room for me to hid there too!!!!!!!!

Looking forward to returning next year, this time to Gerani on the north west coast.

Dominic with the kitten that he was totally taken with!

One of the few pictures taken in Agios Nikolaos.

• Pros:Loads of shops,tavernas, restaurants and bars
• Cons:Commercialised
• In a nutshell:A good holiday for families that want a beach holiday but want to be close to a fairly busy centre.