on our way to crete. a turbulant flight and a bumpy landing!
The First day was Friday, no, not the 13th! But arriving very early on
the airport in Rotterdam and viewing the timetable it looked like the 13th!
The holiday’s in Holland were starting so they advised people to leave home
early enough. And that is exactly what we did. Early! We had to check in at
15.20 hour. But we arrived at 13.00 hour. Walking inside the small but cozy
airport we saw that our plane was delayed. Of course we went to check at the
desk from Transavia. It seemed that the plane was still in Crete! And it is an
almost 4 hours flight. We wanted to store our luggage and head of to Rotterdam,
but the Lockers were not working, and you would not like to visit Rotterdam
with 2 big suitcases.The only thing we
could do was walking in circles. After a while the hostess of Transaviafound us, and handed over a coupon for
dinner. That was nice, and the food before the customer service was in fact
quit good. At 19.00 we decided to check in and see how the other side of the
airport looked like. Small! But they have a real nice bar above the departure
floor. And also very nice, a really comfortable lounge place outside. From here
you could see the planes arrive and leave. So the time went fast enough without
being very bored.Finally the plane
arrived and we could board at 20.40 hour. Leaving Rotterdam at 21.10, this
meant we would arrive very late in Heraklion.The flight was not very smooth at all, because we had a lot of
turbulence. The landing was also a bit strange and bumpy, but we arrived
safely.
After a trip that took about an hour we arrived in the apartment in
Malia. Our first impression was ok, but the beds were very hard. And we noticed
that it was very, very quiet. Normaly it should be overcrowded in this place.
(we did not have a problem with that at all). The next morning waking up late I
heard the hostess already talking to the guests. This early???So we missed this little chat. No problem,
because we do not want to do the touristic thing at all. We had just one tour
we would like to do organized, and the rest we can do by ourselves.This morning the weather was wonderful, very
warm. This day we used for orientating and buying drinks and so on. And find a
place to eat in the evening.
We found a real nice restaurant in the old town of Malia. Real Cretan
cooking. Very good food.
We could not find the square in the first place, but the lady of the apotheque drove us to the restaurant. She recommended it to us.
Entering the bar, the atmosphere is right. The staff is also very friendly. We ordered our dinner and it was ok. Not as good as Milos. This restaurant is a bit more for the tourists. And you will notice that by the kind of food the serve. It is not quit authentic Greek food. But the location was very nice.
This restaurant is a bit difficult to find, but a taxidriver will know where it is. This restaurant is a traditional Cretan Cooking. You can not imagine how wonderful this food is. We really eat too much! Also a lot of local people visit this restaurant. When the weather is ok, you can sit outside in the garden, when it is warm but rainy, you can sit under the roof. And of course you can sit inside the restaurant. You have to take your time, because everything is fresh made.
The first evening we had garlic bread raosted, and some other bread with herbs. Very tasteful. Another dish was fried aubergine and courgette with parmazan cheese, and a bit Tzatziki with it. Sooooo wonderful! The souflaki we had was also good. And the owner of the restaurant is very helpful. This is why we came back to this restaurant the last night we were staying in Malia. If you are in Malia, you really must go to this restaurant for sure!!
What to say, this apartment is a good choice if you visit Malia in the last weeks of the season. It will be quiet at that moment, and I mean no more fast-food restaurants are open, no more discotheques or clubs in your surrounding! For us it was ok, because we did not want to go there anyway. If you have young children it can be a bit crowded in the summer, but the apartment is really good for families with young children. We had the renovated ones, and still the bathroom was not quit ok. It was raining inside the bath as hard as it did outside. The food in the restaurant was ok, (just had our breakfast there for 5 euro pp. and they really offer a lot of different fresh food).
If you have a question or a problem, the lady at the reception is very friendly and trying to solve your problem. Even the owner and the cleaning lady. Very helpful and friendly people. For us the location was not very well, because we had to go to the bus station, or the restaurant and for walking each time it was a bit too far. So most of the time we took a taxi. For 7 euro they will bring you in Malia where ever you want to go.
But I think a lot of people have not visit the old town of Malia, and it is small, but nice to walk around.
and i hate it when they are very hard. You better sleep on the floor!! I always ask for extra blankets to put under the sheets. It is not ok but better!! BRR! They should really do more about it. THis is a big issue on a holliday!
I hate when the beds are crap - like when they put two beds next to each others and call it Kingsize - my ass! Parden my French!! Now I travel with a QuickGrip to put under the beds - haha!
