HOTEL AMPHORA CHANIA CRETE *****

In the hopes of selling you your "dream" some Estate Agents marketing spiel states that Crete has wall to wall sunshine 365 days a year, unfortunately this is not so. The great climate is indeed a great selling point for anyone but Crete DOES have a Winter, granted it's not as severe as Northern Europe or as long, but it does rain in the Winter and sometimes for several days at a time, however the temperature very rarely drops below 7° during the day and even in December, January and February temperatures in the 70's are not unkown, however the sunshine is not guaranteed like it (almost) is from May to September.

In Winter Crete is a very different place to the Summertime Crete when the Tourists are around and all the shops, bars and restaurants are buzzing. Of course the main large towns and cities such as Heraklion, Rethimno, Chania, Agios Nikolaos and Sitia are open just like standard large towns and cities anywhere else in the world.

There is a lot of Bureaucracy in Crete and to the average foreigner it is quite daunting to be told "You need this paper and that paper" for every little thing you need to do, even something as simple as buying a car in Crete is not just a case of walking in to the Showroom, paying your money and driving away. But you get used to it and eventually you won't get stressed about it, you'll just accept it as being part and parcel of living in Crete.

The Greek (Cretan) people are extremely genuine (mostly) and will do their best to assist you in most things if you ask for help. You will hear rumours that they don't like Foriegners living in Crete and only like Foreign Tourists because they spend money, this is utter rubbish and if anyone says it to you it should be ignored entirely.

The cost of living in Crete is roughly on a par with the UK and possibly other Northern European Countries, some things are a bit more expensive, others are very much cheaper, locally produced Fruit and Veg is very cheap (and delicious too) If you check out the Markets such as Heraklion you will pick up some real bargains in the way of Clothes and Materials etc.

Other things you should be aware of are:

• The Electric Supply is not as reliable as it could be and power cuts are not unusual.
• There is little in the way of Mains Drains, and flushing paper down the loo is not advised
• Seatbelts MUST be worn and on the spot fines of upwards of 85€ are commonplace
• Despite what you may see, not wearing a Helmet on a MotorBike/Scooter is illegal and fines are imposed

At time of writing, regular DIRECT flights from Heraklion to the UK and back during the Winter are not available, you have to go via Athens which is not that big a deal, but takes a little more time and costs quite a bit more too.

Breakfast included