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Published: November 19th 2009
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Photo 12
Where I stayed July 26, 2009
Iam sooooo exhausted! All this travelling have really tired me down. So Iam booked at this beach resort called Aeolos Beach Hotel. It is rated 3 star and been recommended by Uniglobe.
It is my first time getting out of an airport and waving down a taxi to take me there as there is no shuttle to this hotel and I have no idea how far or how long it would take to bring me there.
As I was looking for a taxi, I realized that I had forgotten to exchange money in the Athens Airport, I was so tired that I opted to sleep instead of wandering around.
Heraklion airport has no money exchange bureau and the ATM machine does not work! So I asked the Taxi driver if he takes U.S money and how much it would cost to get to my hotel. Of course the doesn’t speak English well and I guess he misunderstood me and was so excited to have a client that all he could say was yes yes! But once we get there and as I attempted to pay him in U.S dollars he freaked out saying he wants Euro...IDIOT!
So I had to walk all the way into the hotel to exchange money but of course, there was no one at reception! This is the first time where I’ve been to a hotel where no one was at reception. Finally, the taxi driver flagged someone down because he wants to leave and he wants his money.
So this Hotel is a family business, which I find management to be unprofessional. Rules are, we can’t bring food or drinks (inc. Water) to the pool area, you will have to purchase from the bar/cafe.
I finally got to my room, the furthest building down the road on the second floor. Wow....as I enter the room, it was smaller than in the picture. Oh yea and did I mention that, towels are changed twice a week and bed sheets once a week? Yea I know pretty gross eh? The bathroom looks ok, small, but I don’t care. The shower is crap, it has no bathtub and has shallow ledge around it but the water spills and overflow the bathroom anyways after I shower, so the whole bathroom is wet after I use it.
It has Air conditioner, but hey....no remote! So
Photo 3
There will be lots of self pics...I am alone after all!!! I went down to reception to ask, but guess what? Nobody there again! So I had to go down to the bar to ask for someone, and sure enough they told me that the AC is NOT included in the price, its 40 euro extra. Whaaaaaaaaat???? Where was this mentioned? The brochure did not mention anything of that sort. So I had to get the AC, because there was no way I could sleep in the heat. At least the TV is included but only one channel is English. So I spent the rest of the day by going to the supermarket to stock up on water and junk food and slept. I had dinner at the bar/cafe and it was disgusting and expensive. The whole menu was practically fried!
July 27-28
I spent the next 2 days on the beach. I didn’t realise that you had to pay to use the lounge chairs. My hotel had nothing to do with the beach I guess, because there were random people going through my hotel and to the beach. Wow...so much for “private” beach as mentioned on the brochure! It cost 3 euro to use the lounge
chair and there are people walking around the beach selling you stuff but they are not pushy, so you do get privacy in some way, but the beach is CROWDED. I am not quite used to European beach yet, as there are loads of women sun bathing topless and men walking around in tiny speedos!
July 29
The hotel sucks, people come back at 5am and I get woken up by their loud talking and them coming up the stairs. So much for soundproof walls!
Today I went on an excursion since there was no way I was going to spent the rest of my vacation laying around on a crowded dirty noisy beach in front of my hotel.
So there Iam waiting in front of Mc Donalds for my bus to show up and watching very young girls and guys coming back from some party either drunk or....drunk? haha
Finally my bus shows up and off we go. We stoped at some village for a coffee break but I never bothered to explored, so I sat at a nearby park and ate my bread and drank orange juice for breakfast. I must say,
Photo 13
1 euro for 3 bananas hahahhaha it’s a real treat here to drink fresh orange juice every day.
Later, we were off to another town where the harbour is. We had 2hrs to explore the city before boarding the boat to Spinalonga. I visited some shops, but it is quite expensive since it’s targeted towards tourists. I managed to find the flee market, it is small and crowded. Mostly junk there, but I managed to find a great deal on bananas! 1 euro for 3 big bananas!!!
Spinalonga is this ford made on an island and that is all I know. It doesn’t matter though, because the view is incredible! It was quite a climb to get up to the very top but wow! The mountains, the water, the buildings on the mountains, it’s quite a view!
July 30, 2009
For my last day, I took an excursion to Chrissy Island. This island is supposed to be paradise with turquoise crystal clear water etc...
The drive to the harbour was 1h30 long, and the boat ride was 1hr long. I thought I would be impress when I see the island, but I wasn’t at all. When we docked, everyone followed the sign
Photo 5
Spinalonga to Golden Beach, which was on the other side of the island, and supposed to be the best part. The hike there was about 15 mins long and no it was not worth it! It was way too windy and there was no way I was going to stay there and get whiplashed by sand for 4 hrs. So I decided to go back and walked all the way near the end of the other side for some quiet time. It was less windy there, but the beach there sucked. There was limestones in the water so it made it really slippery to walk on, so I only went for a dip and tanned for the rest of the day.
I had a late dinner, and the people at the restaurant were great, ive been there 3 times now so they are used to me. Everytime after my meal, they always gave me something extra like dessert on the house....I don’t know why...maybe because I tip well? Haha. Well today...they gave me a farewell cocktail...it was super good but it had a little bit of booze in it, so Iam a lil drunk, which is normal in my case
after an alcoholic drink. But hey why not? Last day in Greece might as well finish it off with a lil bit of booze!
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