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Hotel Class: 
3 Stars - 19 Opinions
Lygaria 8, Agia Pelagia, 71110, Greece
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of people enjoy staying here
19 Opinions
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I'm hoping to travel from Ireland to Crete this summer by car. Has anyone any tips? I plan to go from Rosslare to Cherbourg and later take the Anek ferries from Venice to Patras and Pireaus to Chania. All advice gratefully accepted! Thanks!
If you want to relax after driving across Europe from Cherburg to Venice, it is OK. But you will save both time and money if you take the ferry from Brindisi to Patras. Bari and Ancona have also ferries to Patras.
by the way (if you have some time) dont skip Patras like most of the visitors that come by boat from Italy! It's worth to overnight there and check the city and surrounded area. Check my Patras page for more info.
It will be worth using www.viamichelin.com to plot your route and to get info about specific road conditions, tolls etc.
Double -check your insurance will cover you, and also consider extending your breakdown coverage to include Europe (or buying some, if you don't already have it).
Also take a pack of basic spares such as bulbs, wipers and so on. Better than faffing around trying to find them, or having to wait whilst they are obtained.
Make sure you have the various emergency items required by law in each coun try you intend to drive through.
It would be a good idea to take an IDP anyway, but it is essential in Itakly. Italian law requires you to carry an legal translation of your existing licence into Italian, and an IDP fulfils this requirement. It's also a useful piece off extra ID.
You can get an IDP from the Ireland AA:
http://www.aaireland.ie/travel-insuranceone/idp.asp
Make sure also that you carry your EHIC card, so that you can access medical treatment within EU countries within reciprocal agreements:
http://www.hse.ie/eng/services/find_a_service/entitlements/ehic/
You'll also need personal health & travel insurance to cover costs of potential repatriation etc, of course.
Thanks for all your replies, I'll look up the Brindisi ferries and appreciate all the other tips too. Bró
Crete was the centre of Europe's most ancient civilisation, the Minoan. Though early Cretan history is surrounded by legends (such as those of King Minos; Theseus and the Minotaur; and Daedalus and Icarus) that have been passed to us via Greek historians/poets (such as Homer), it is known that the first human settlement in Crete, dating to the aceramic Neolithic, introduced cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and dogs, as well as domesticated cereals and legumes.
In the sixties a group of Hippies started to live in the caves of Matala that are already existing since the young stone ages. First it was accepted by inhabitants of the village and the government, because the Hippies organized their life well and also hygienic. With the years more and more "summer" dropouters who did not take care of the caves,. That is why they were closed after that.
In Greece, people live by the GMT- time, which stands for "Greek Maybe Time". The Greek people have a very different attitude to time. They don't live by the clock.
When the bus is scheduled to come 10:30, it means it will come between 10 and 11, depending on the traffic, how packed and busy is his bus, and many other small things.
In Greece, dinner/supper doesnt start until 9 pm (at the earliest!). We often ended up having dinner at 11pm, midnight and even 1am one night! So, do not rush...enjoy your day at the beach or sight-seeing and then take your time relaxing and getting ready in your room...Youre in Greece! :)
However, Siesta Time, between 3.00 p.m. and 5 p.m. is sacred. You'll find that many stores and restaurants are closed during that time of the day. Be prepared.
I don't know if it's a problem everywhere in Crete, but at least in Hersonissos mosquitos were a huge problem. It might've been the location of the hotel as well, we heard a rumor that some of the tour operators said that our hotel was in the 'mosquito swamp', even though there were no still water or anything for mosquitos. We were addicted to repellent! Some guys we met, who had a room on the first floor, woke up one morning with 43 mosquito bites on their upper body! They looked diseased!
While we were driving back from the east coast to Stalida, we saw on different days a very special lights effect in the air. The sun is at that moment shining right in your face, which doesn't make driving very simple.
The light reflects with thousands of little silver flashes in the sea.
At any moment you would expect to see the shores of the mysterious island of Avalon rise up through the mist hanging on the horizon.
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Address: Lygaria 8, Agia Pelagia, 71110, Greece
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