71 replies to this topic

[Graeme]

How nice to find a friendly and informative Crete forum

My wife and I + 10 year old daughter arrive in Crete 18th June very early am :shock:
We have booked our accomadation after surfing many internet sites and hope that our quest for somewhere quite and peacefull will be fullfilled during our stay at Akropolis Apartments Nr Rodakino, which will be our first visit to Crete

We shall hire a car which we pick up at airport on arrival but I'm not wishing to drive to our apartment in the dark on strange roads in strange car. So my first question is what time will dawn break 0n the 18th June, second .....how good is the road from Heraklion to Rodakino ?

Has anyone here stayed at Akropolis apartments ?

We plan to to visit Samari Gorge and whilst we are aware there are tour company's, we would prefer to take our car and leave it parked near to or at the gorge entrance. After arriving at Agia Roumeli we will travel by ferry to Sougia where we will stay in another apartment for 2 nights. From Sougia I will take taxi back to gorge entrance to get car :wink:

So.....next question, what is the road like from Rodakino going over the mountains via Imbros to Samari Gorge and is this the best route, or would it be better to go via Plakias /Rethymno ?
Also.....whats the road like going up to the Samari Gorge, its seems very wiggly :shock: :oops:

Water Parks
We were thinking of visiting the one at Varipetro, is this the most fun one, or is there one better ?

Next question, Its possible to take car on ferry from Chora Sfakion to Sougia but despite emails to the ferry company I can't find out how much it would cost :cry:

Any tips, advice, and help with any of above will be much appreciated.

Thank you and congrats on the excellant forum

8)

[Graeme]

Wakey wakey you lot
I know its spring and the sun is shining but you cant all be at the beach

[harribobs]

not all the answers you wanted but :- the road from heraklion to rodakino is pretty good, the first section is the national road, nearly a motorway, then from rethymion (where you turn off) probably equivilant to an english A road but (IIRC) it starts getting a bit worse when you turn off (right) to head off towards Selia, take your time

the ferry that runs from chora sphakia to sougia is a car ferry, check your hire company allows you to use it, i don't know how much it costs. Sougia is a magical place, very quiet and undiscovered (the beach is stoney and about 80% nudist)

any roads that are 'wiggly' will be 'interesting' and there are lots around there! the road out of Chora is very 'interesting' in parts

have a great time

[Graeme]

any roads that are 'wiggly' will be 'interesting' and there are lots around there! the road out of Chora is very 'interesting' in parts

have a great time

oh 'eck, does that mean steep drop offs at side of road and no barriers
I suffer from vertigo ...even in a car ! :oops:

Good advice about checking to take car on ferry......thanks :wink:

[yannis_s]

The road from Rodakino to Sfakia and then up to Askifou is not an easy one, especially for someone who suffers from vertigo.
I suggest that you take the road to Rethymnon and then to Chania and Omalos. The road to Omalos is not an easy one also, but less difficult than the one from Sfakia to Askifou. Drive carefully and you will be safe.

[Graeme]

The road from Rodakino to Sfakia and then up to Askifou is not an easy one, especially for someone who suffers from vertigo.
I suggest that you take the road to Rethymnon and then to Chania and Omalos. The road to Omalos is not an easy one also, but less difficult than the one from Sfakia to Askifou. Drive carefully and you will be safe.

Thank you for the advice

Is the road up to Askifou single track with passing places or narrow two lane ?
We were in Maderia last year and mostly the roads were ok, but oh so many tunnels :shock:
We had a frightening experience with a rock fall that we could'nt avoid driving over and it set the passenger air bag off and immoblised the car for 10 minutes :shock:

[harribobs]

We had a frightening experience with a rock fall that we could'nt avoid driving over and it set the passenger air bag off and immoblised the car for 10 minutes

i bet that is a good laxative!

IIRC the road is mostly two lane with a few single sections, my missus doesn't like it

another way of 'doing' samaria might be driving to sougia and getting the bus to omolos, walk down and then ferry back to sougia. i am assuming the bus runs from sougia, it does from paleohora YANNIS!! do you know mate?

[yannis_s]

Harribons is right about the road to Askifou, as well as his suggestion for the alternative way of approaching the Samaria Gorge from Sougia. In the article www.explorecrete.com/routes/Elafonisi-Sougia.html this is exactly what we did also.

[Graeme]

Woops.... forgot to login :oops:

[harribobs]

i think you'll find the bus leaves early for omolos, so you won't be sleeping in too long

try this link for sunrise times http://www.timeandda...year=2005&day=1 it says 6.04 btw

if you like a walking, can i suggest walking from rodokino to plakias along the coast, easy route to follow and very enjoyable, probably about 3.5 hours, lunch in plakias, walk or taxi back, excellent!!!

[harribobs]

Bus leaves at 0700 :shock: we've already got timetable :wink:
Thanks for that link for sunrise times, I'm amazed how little the times change compared to uk, but then Crete is obviously nearer to Equatar :wink:

So....We should be able to leave Heraklion about 0530 and have daylight guiding us for safe drive 8)

Going back to the Sougia options, If we could take the car on the ferry to Sougia, this would be much more relaxing than driving north then west, then south. Still no word from Ferry company

We all enjoy walking and have the right boots, rucksacks, etc, but we iintend to balance things out, some beachy days, some walkies, some visits to historic monuments, and noshing in fishy restaurants, and one day at the aqua waterpark
Plakias will be our closest town and the walk to there sounds a good idea too, can you get fishing trips from Plakias ?

don't forget if you are comparing sunrise times to the UK, Greece is two hours ahead of the UK!

try this link for ferry times and prices http://www.sougia.info/anendyk.htm i've not looked in detail

here's another link for one of my favourite pics of sougia beach http://groups.msn.co...oto&PhotoID=571 from the far end

i've never seen fishing trips advertised in plakias, but i've never looked either

your holidays sound very much like ours, although i've never stayed at rodokino, you right in the middle of a fantastic area.

another idea for you, walking to sweetwater bay from Chora, maybe then on to Loutro

[yannis_s]

The link didn't work due to an extra comma at the end of the url. It is fixed now: http://www.explorecr...isi-Sougia.html
Your idea about getting the ferry from Sfakia to Sougia is very smart. This way you will skip more than 4 hours of tiring driving.
Don't expect any email reply from the ANENDYK company. You had better call them instead and ask them directly. With the cheap phonecalls that some companies in northern Europe offer, this won't be a problem.

[Graeme]

Thanks for link to Ferry timetable, we already have that printed of, but alas no phone number or email contact, unless i've missed the obvious :oops:

We're not in Rodakino but near to, not sure if i'm allowed to post the link, but Mr Mod will put it right i'm sure :wink:

We're here READ FORUM GUIDELINES and if you click on details and then go to bottom of page and click on MAP for link, as you see we are out in the wilds with nowt but honeypots and the wide open spaces, and the sea below our balcony, and stunning views. One gets to it along its own track coming in from the west . (that reminds me, must pack fishing rod) :wink:

[Graeme]

We had a frightening experience with a rock fall that we could'nt avoid driving over and it set the passenger air bag off and immoblised the car for 10 minutes

i bet that is a good laxative!

Well the whole story was somewhat alarming, we were motoring along at a sedate pace with the windows open as we had no air con in our rented Clio from Avis, twas a hot sunny day but fortunately not a very busy mountain road. Suddendly this rock fall fell in front of us and though the rocks were small one hit somewhere underneath and set off the passenger side impact bag positioned inside the passenger seat (upright part), my wife screamed so loud as the bang went off that that alone scared the hell outa me :shock: I thought she'd been hit by a rock, she thought she'd been hit by a rock......but it was just the bag exploding around the right hand side of her body. The car stalled and would not restart and so there we were with an exploded seat with the inside blown all out, stuck on a quite road and no one in sight
Eventually we managed to get the car restarted, apparently there is a delay safety feature that prevents the engine from re-starting after air bag activation.
So .......we phoned Avis who insisted we drove the car back to Funchal because we were staying too far away and out in wilds. So we lost one day of our holiday returning the car and getting a replacement, but worse was yet to come :x
When we returned the second car at the end of the hols Avis had debited our credit card with £190 for the air bag seat damage on the first car, despite the fact that our insurance covered ALL claims. There was no damage to underneath of car and I suggested that the air bag sensors were too sensitive, but my arguement fell on deaf Maderian ears :wink:
On arrival home we took it up with Avis Uk, who after a 30 day investigation paid our money back with an apology and some compensation + vouchers for our next car hire

Beware of Clios with over sensitive air bag :wink:

[harribobs]

We're not in Rodakino but near to, not sure if i'm allowed to post the link, but Mr Mod will put it right i'm sure :wink:

We're here http://akropolis.kre...index-en.html and if you click on details and then go to bottom of page and click on MAP for link, as you see we are out in the wilds with nowt but honeypots and the wide open spaces, and the sea below our balcony, and stunning views. One gets to it along its own track coming in from the west . (that reminds me, must pack fishing rod) :wink:

it looks pretty damn good to me ,

i have walked passed it, that's a lovely country lane leading to the apartments, in May the sides of the road are a mass of flowers.

you can walk further down the lane to a taverna (by the turnoff to rodakino proper) so if you fancied a pint, you could walk it easy enough and stagger back !

(frightening story about the clio! i have ordered a 4 wheel drive for next month, they are a bit more robust ---i hope)

[Graeme]

The link didn't work due to an extra comma at the end of the url. It is fixed now: http://www.explorecr...isi-Sougia.html
Your idea about getting the ferry from Sfakia to Sougia is very smart. This way you will skip more than 4 hours of tiring driving.
Don't expect any email reply from the ANENDYK company. You had better call them instead and ask them directly. With the cheap phonecalls that some companies in northern Europe offer, this won't be a problem.

Thank you for fixing link, still trying to get ferry company on phone, as yet no luck. I suppose it can wait till we get there and go down to the harbour and ask at the ticket kiosk, its just that we like to plan well ahead if possible

[yannis_s]

I have found this phone number: +30-28210 44222 . I don't know if it is the same as the one you have.
Another solution is to call the police station or the Port Authorities at Sfakia: www.explorecrete.com/various/crete-phonenumbers.html

[Graeme]

I have found this phone number: +30-28210 44222

Just tried that one, a lady answered, spoke some greek and put phone down after i said hello :cry:

The number I was trying is +30 28210 95511.....i'll try again tommorrow
Thank you again