Crete

We stay at Bali, in a small bay 50 km from Heraklion. A week's stay and three days of car hire is not much to manage to see the whole island, which is very large. All the same we manage to visit the palace of Knossos (I take lots of slides but the film jams, to the delight of my daughter who didn't want to come and see "ruins"), we make various stops along the north coast, from Georgioupoli to Rethymno, and nearby we have lunch at Vrises, beside a stream and under centuries-old plane trees. The sea water isn't too warm, especially in the south, in the Libyan Sea. The landscape in the centre of the island is stunning, lunar, expanses of stones and moorland. The beach at Elounda is rather stony, but sheltered by the Spinalonga peninsula. The beach at Malia is very beautiful, with huge amphorae along the seafront.

You eat well everywhere, in the little restaurants and the characteristic tavernas.