We revisited Rethymno, Crete, at the beginning of the month staying once again in the Aquila Porto Rethymnon Hotel. This was a half board deal, booked through TUI, flying from Bristol UK into Heraklion, Crete. The flight and airport were pretty uneventful although the transfer from the airport to the hotel took 90 minutes in a pretty uncomfortable, packed minibus. Still, we were on holiday and didn’t care.
We arrived just before midnight so it was pretty much straight to bed once we were shown to our room. In fairness to the hotel, they gave us a free midday meal voucher to make up for missing that days evening meal, which was a nice touch and really appreciated.
Having visited here last September we were quite familiar with the Old Town area. I always wonder where my photographs might come from when we re-visit anywhere. As usual I needn’t have worried. We found a few new places, some different cafes, took in some lovely sunsets and we were really here to just chill out, after a busy first half of this year.
Most of our days followed the same routine with a walk into the new and old towns after breakfast. We normally stayed out until lunchtime before making our way back and then spending the afternoon on sunbeds at the beach. I did snorkel in the sea on a couple of occasions but there was nothing much to see. Swimming bores me senseless and just looking at a sandy floor was better than spending time in the sea with no goggles and a snorkel.
We spent our evenings walking back through the Old Port which comes alive with harbourside restaurants at that time of day. A short walk from there, on the coast road, are some fantastic sunset viewing spots. We made our way there most evenings and joined other tourists and locals sharing the same sunset experience. There was always a nice vibe with people of all nationalities.
Quite often, in these situations, people see my camera and automatically assume I know what I’m doing, so I regularly get asked to take pictures of people. I never mind and we’ve had some really great interactions with others as a result. I quite often learn a thing or two about mobile phone cameras when I’m being asked to take these pics
We thought Rethymno seemed a lot quieter than when we were last here, even taking into consideration that June weather is a bit more unpredictable than September. I did ask the waitress in our favourite coffee stop about that. She confirmed what we thought and said ”yes, the tourists are staying away”.
We’re not quite sure why that might be but reckon it’s probably a mix of different factors. The UK ‘cost of living crisis’ will certainly be having an impact on the number of British visitors travelling this year. We’ve recently seen package holiday prices (outside of school holiday times) being reduced with our usual tour operator. The war in the middle east will also be having some impact I guess.
