(Dec. 20, 2024 – Jan. 4, 2025)
Since we visited Greece in winter, we chose the warmest and one of the biggest Greek island—Crete to visit, hoping that there would be enough interesting places to visit, even though we cannot take a swim, and hoping that the shops would stay open during Christmas time.
Also, we chose the 3 most popular cities to stay, because there were many regular public buses running between these big cities everyday, and they were just a few hours in-between.
There are both Ports and Airports at Heraklion and Chania, so they should be accessible from Athens even in winter. I waited for the ferry schedules to show up, but they did not show up till 2 months before, also I worried about the cancellation of ferries due to weather, so finally we booked direct flights to Heraklion (HER) and return to Chania (CHQ) by Aegean Air.
The Best Places to stay in Crete~~
These were where we stayed in Crete:
- Filia’s Traditional House, old town (in Heraklion)
- Sea Front Old Town (in Rethymno)
- Fivos Pension (in Chania)
Heraklion was a nice town surrounded by the old city wall. Our rented house was really an independent house of 2 floors, completed with all the household electronics and spacious, so it was quite comfortable. The interior looks like traditional house like that we really liked.
Our favorite were definitely Rethymno, although we only spent one night there, and it was raining at night. The town was in front of beautiful seaside, very relaxing for walk. The streets & shops were so cute. We even found a private workshop making & selling traditional Crete knife. They were gorgeous and made a good souvenir.
In the morning it stopped raining, so we sat outside, drank coffee and ate freshly-baked Greek spinach pie while enjoyed the beautiful street view, before walked to catch a bus to the next town.
We spent our Christmas Eve and Christmas day in in Chania. Fivos Pension was a modern room with beautiful balcony, excellent location near the old Venetian Port, inside the old town.
Places & Restaurants in Crete that you must visit~~
- Palace of Knossos (Heraklion)
Right after we arrived Heraklion, we hurried to catch a bus to Palace of Knossos, the key feature of Heraklion. Fortunately, there were enough buses to go & return from there, so we did not need to take a taxi.
It was winter, so not many visitors, we could take our time to walk around the huge site. I was most impressed by the complicated 4-floor structure of this Palace. Although most of it was already damaged, only a few rooms and walls could be recognised, but the painting on the wall, men and women, boars, monkeys and dolphins, were still fascinating.
- Heraklion Archaeological Museum (Heraklion)
If you have spare time, this is an interesting place to visit, because the history and culture of Crete are quite different from Greece mainland. You will have better understanding of Crete.
- Rocca a Mare Fortress (Heraklion)
Heraklion Port, Rocca a Mare Fortress and Heraklion Lighthouse were beautiful, and a nice walking distance from city center, which is full of shops and restaurants.
- Akadi Monastery (Rethymno)
Akadi Monastery was a key feature in Rethymno, but it is inside the mountain, only 2 buses per day to go and return. The bus ride was windy all the way and took more than an hour one way.
However, Akadi Monastery was really special. It is isolated, all by its own. In the old times, the monks living there made their own wine, cheese and even weapons. The Cretans famously fought against the Ottomans in Akadi Monastery, and finally ended their life there.
The buildings and ground of Akadi Monastery are still well-reserved, looking sad, lonely but beautiful.
- Italian Pizza & Pasta Heraklion (Heraklion)
It is actually just a pizza stand at center of Heraklion city, with outdoor tables to eat at. They have several kinds of pizzas pre-cooked, shown in heated shelves, and you can buy per slice of pizza eat-in or take-out, at very good prices. They also have pastas order-to-cook.
Both the pizzas & pastas were very high-quality with fresh ingredients. The texture of their pastas were no worse than any restaurants. We liked there so much that we ate there 2 nights in a row.
Perhaps Greece is close to Italy, the pizzas and pastas I ate in Greece always tasted good.
- Stella’s Kitchen (Rethymno)
It was raining heavily & cold at night when we were in Rethymno, so we randomly picked a local restaurant from the google map. It was surprisingly good!
It was a family business that they cooked many traditional cuisines everyday, you get to pick 3-4 types for your dish. They also deliver to many regular customers, and close early like 8PM. Fortunately, we got there early enough, to occupy one of their few tables.
As a small restaurants, I was surprised to see more than 10 kinds of cuisines were prepared, beef/pork/chicken/duck/rabbit meat stew, potatoes and large varieties of cooked vegetables and salad…
- Patsas Agnos Marmaritsakis (Chania)
Most of the shops and restaurants in Chania were closed during Christmas, fortunately we found a traditional traditional restaurant, also provided takeout. Their cuisines were pre-cooked, but tasted excellent.
On Christmas Eve, it was crowded with families eating there. Even the take-out were super lined up. We waited for quite a long time. However, when we were eating our take-out from here, we actually regretted that we did not order more!
- Old Venetian Port of Chania (Chania)
This was a place that we had visited repeatedly, day and night. It looked different every time, but always beautiful, looked like a miniature Venice.
- Maritime Museum of Crete (Chania)
Near Chania Port, Maritime Museum’s indoor exhibition required entry fee, but the outdoor ground was free to walk around. It was a nice view of the seaside.
- Firka Venetian Fortress (Chania)
We really wanted to visit this Fortress in Chania. We even walked up to its main door, but it was close for Christmas holidays. We never know what’s inside.
All in all, we are really glad that we had visited Crete. Although we had spent 5 days there, still have not visited the southern beaches and other remote areas of Crete. It really is a big island, require a car to really travel around.
It seems that wherever we go in Crete, even busy ports or the sea next to the town, the seawater were always transparent with beautiful color.
Also, although Crete is an island, it seems to have everything, never in lack of shops or foods, fields and mountains. The best fruit yogurt ice-cream we ate in Greece was actually found in a supermarket in Chania! It tasted so good that we finished the whole bucket in one night, while we couldn’t find this ice-cream in Athens anymore…
