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Planning our second Crete trip and Rethymnon, Amari, Agia Galini, Kourtaliotiko, Preveli, LappaThree years ago we went to Crete, that time we lived on the Eastern side, Crete 2018. We like it a lot and now we want to visit the Western part of Crete. When only have one week of vacation you can feel a little bit stress about everything you want to do, this time we booked a two week travel. This time I do not bring the heavy DSLR camera, only used the smart phone and do not take many photos, most filming. So much easier and I saved my back. Don't be confused by the different spelling of the names, that's how it is in Greek. Google Map over Crete:At Wikipedia you find more information about Crete:
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Day 1:Stockholm to Crete:Night time bus time table: 
Our plane departure was early in the morning, 6 am. No subway or train to take to the airport this early morning. We looked for alternatives, taxi was one, but cost 80 Euro which was a bit expensive. After a while we found a night bus, it start only 100 meter away from our door, what a surprise ! We planned to take the bus at 1:57 am. 
Waiting at the bus stop, will there be a bus here, really ? 
This travel is done during the Covid pandemic, a lot of documents to fill in to be allowed to travel. Will they be correct or do we have to turn around direct and go back to Sweden ? Rethymnon:
Everything worked perfect, we landed at Chania airport which is the Western airport. The transfer bus was waiting for us at the airport and took us to Rethymnon where we had our hotel. Linda from Airtours helped us with information already at the airport. 
We arrived early to Rethymnon and could do a lot of thing already the first day. One of the first things was to find a nearby Super Market where we could buy food for our breakfast. After that we took a long walk to the old town of Rethymnon, our hotel Daisy is on walking distance from that place. From two to three km dependents of which side of the old town to visit. Here we had come to the old lighthouse at the Venetian harbor. It's about 200 years old and built during the Egyptian occupation 1830. 
There are a lot of beaches here, about 5 km long together, all the way from old town and far beyond our hotel. 
When walking back to our hotel we had a fantastic evening light behind us. |
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Relaxing at the bar close to where we stay, Sangria to drink and a fruit salad. At Wikipedia you find more information about Rethymnon:
Map over our walk to old town of Rethymnon:
Day 2:Rethymnon old town second walk:
My shoes was a bit hot to wear, I bought new sandals at a shoe shop, it was a bargain, low prices now when the season ends at Crete. Gunilla look desperately for a special kind of coffee, she never found it and bought a standard coffee to have on the hotel room to breakfast. 
We have read about the entrance port to the old city in the South defense wall, here we have just found it. 
Another thing we wanted to see was the Venetian fountain. Not much left of it but still very beautiful. 
Another thing we did this second day at Rethymnon was to take a walk around the fortress Fortezza. 
The rocky beach at North side of the fortress. Exciting rock formations to look at. 
Tired after all walking during the day we sat down at a restaurant to have a dinner. In the old town there are restaurants everywhere. 
We took a seven dishes dinner with different tasty foods. |
After the dinner we walk out to the nearby square, had a look at the the Moon and a bright object nearby, must be the planet Jupiter or Venus. 
At the square is also this mosque, Neratze Mosque. More information about Neratze Mosque: 
Beautiful horse drown carriages. 
A more modern transportation, Volkswagen Beetle. I asked for the price to rent this car, about 80 Euro per day, almost three time more than an ordinary car. Day 3:
The third day we rented a car, we got an offer from Airtours which we travel with. Pay for three days and have it for four days, all insurances included. Here we have stopped close to the Amari Dam Reservoir. 
We did a lot of stops to take photos of the beautiful landscape. We tried to find the archaeological site of Thronos but never find it. The Minoan archaeological site at Monastirake we found, but not allowed to take any photos at that place, because they did some research at that place. Agia Galini:
At the old fishing village Agia Galini we stopped before we turn around and drive home. At Wikipedia you find more information about Agia Galini:
This is a course map of our trip today: Crete is not a big island, but all the mountains makes the driving to go slow. 
The hills close to Melampes. |
A last photo before we go North. Day 4:Kourtaliotiko Canyon:
This day we took the car to South of Crete once again. Our plan is to visit some beaches close to where we ended yesterday. On the way we found this exciting canyon. 
There are very high steep cliffs on both side of the road and some small caves in the rock. 
We make another stop when we leaving the Canyon, there is a sign with the name of the Canyon. At Wikipedia you find more information about Kourtaliotiko Gorge:
Moni Piso Preveli:
Out on the cliffs to the ocean we visit the Monastery of Preveli. At Wikipedia you find more information about Moni Piso Preveli:
Preveli Bridge:
On the way out to the Monastery we passed through this place, on the way back we make a stop here. 
The old bridge looks like a Roman bridge, but when we read about it we found that it was a Greek bridge built during the 19th century. When the modern road was built they cut of the bridge's end parts and added these 90 degree ramps. From here we drove the car South up the mountain and down to the Preveli Palm beach. Ammoudi Beach:
The second beach today, here we found people bathing and they have their off road vehicles with them. |
Damnoni Beach:
It wasn't far to the next beach, but no road that our car could handle, we have to go back and around to reach Damnoni beach. Here we took a rest with a lunch. We visited a fourth beach, Plakias Beach before we were satisfied. The second day trip with the rented car: The first part is the same as yesterday. 
After we had seen the four beaches we took a small road over the mountains, at the summit we do a stop to have a look at the view. 
They seems to expect bicycle tourists too stop here. But it was a very steep road up here, how could any people take a bicycle to this place ? But believe or not but we saw a lot of bicyclers on the steep roads. Lappa ancient Cemetery:
On the map we could see that is some sort of archaeological site in Lappa. That's something we must see. We hade some problem to found this place and didn't know exact what it was to see. 
A small road lead us down a canyon, we pass by a church. Lot of water purling deep down in the canyon. 
Gunilla explain that the middle string of the road is for the horse or mule and the sides for the wheels of the wagon. 
At last we found something that looked ancient, but this is not rock houses, it must be rock tombs. After have seen this we took the old road back to Rethymnon, some road works forced us to take a longer way and we got back to the hotel tired.
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