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Beautiful Crete Island

September might be the ideal month to visit or have a holiday in Crete, Greece, as it's not that hot as in July or August, there are also less tourists than in summer, but still the weather is just fine for swimming and sunbathing. We landed in Heraklion in the evening.

On the first full day, we decided to explore some of the historic sites around. We had a nice breakfast and then headed to the bus station in Heraklion.

We took the bus to Minoan Palace of Knossos, the mythological home of King Minos and the Minotaur. We took our time to visit the restored Archaeological Palace of Knossos, that once was the center of a sophisticated civilization that lived on Crete thousands of years ago.

We got back to Heraklion towards the evening. It was not the perfect idea to visit Knossos in the middle of the day. It does not have any shade, so you better go there in the morning or later in the evening. Once back in the city, we had just enough energy to walk a bit on the streets of Heraklion city center.

We stopped to eat at this wonderful restaurant. We knew about it and made reservations before. It's an authentic place with delicious Cretan cuisine dishes. The kind of food we'll remember for a long time. We do reccommend it.

Today we decided it was time to explore some of the most popular beaches on the island. For that we rented a car so we could move easily from one point to another.

Our first stop was at the blue flagged Matala beach. It's a beautiful beach and a former hippie hangout, with cliffs and rocky caves. There are also bars and you can also try some water activities.

From Matala, we decided to go on a hike and visit Red Beach as well. The Red Beach is over Hill Kastri from Matala. The hike isn't difficult and it led us through a path with beautiful views over the sea and the area. But there's no shade here as well, so do wear a hat and put plenty of sun cream on!

The hiking trail leads to this shoreline with red brown sand and towering rocks. It's a beautiful corner of the island, totally worth the hike. And there's also a bar there, you cand have something cold to drink.

Towards the evening, we got back on the trail and back to Matala. We spent the night on Matala.

From Matala, we moved further. After the breakfast, we headed to Chania.

We drove to Chania. When we arrived, just checked in in Chania and left the city towards a wonderful natural spot on the north coast.

We went to Seitan Limania, Crete's secret beach located in a marvelous scenery. It's a narrow bay with a small extraordinary beach where you arrive after a short hike down after first seeing the landscape from above. We spent the rest of the day there, we simply loved the place.

We headed back yo Chania at the end of the day.

For the first part of the day, we explored Chania a bit, with its narrow beautiful streets in the old town, its old port and the promenade along the water near the port. It's where we had some fresh seafood prepared for us.

Then jumped in the car and headed to another stunning spot of the island, the famous pink beach, Elafonissi Beach. I thought it is an exageration with the sand beaing actually pink, but it is so, due to shellfish red / pink shells that they leave on the beach forming this wonderful colour. It's a wide beautiful spot with perfect water and pink sandy beach.

We returned to Chania when we had enough of sun, sea and the beach.

Today we explored some inland beauties. We went to Argiroupoli village, which is a mountain village of waterfalls. They are running through the entire village and even the restaurants are built around them and you even get served fresh water from the waterfalls.

We then moved to Lake Kournas, the only freshwater lake in Crete, it's a beautiful place to visit and you can even rent boats on the lake or simply relax at its rocky beaches.

Got back to Chania for the night.

Today was the last day on the island, but as our flight was late in the evening, we had just enough time to enjoy another gorgeous beach.

We went to Preveli Beach. It's a famous remote beach where the Kourtaliotis River meets the sea and the beautiful landscape is completed by palm groves.