Crete | teacups and tealights

During the first half of the October holidays I was lucky enough to go on a lovely holiday to Crete, somewhere I have wanted to visit for a long time. I have always loved the look of the Greek Islands and I am fascinated to no end with Greek mythology. I stayed half way between Heraklion and Malia at the Hotel Anastasia, which is a hotel I can confidently recommend. I happily spent two out of our six days there not even leaving the hotel and just relaxing by the pool and sipping pineapple juice (and maybe the odd glass of white wine!). 

Another charming addition to the hotel (in my opinion) is that it was frequented by a couple of local felines. As the swimming pools were freshwater we'd often see a cat or kitten drinking from them before curling up on a sunbed to snooze. 

The highlight of the holiday for me was probably my trip to Zeus' cave, the supposed birth place of the ruler of Mount Olympus and the Olympian Gods. The cave was situated at one of the highest points of the island and the long walk up to the top was not easy but so worth it. 'Cave' is not doing it justice really. It was more of a vast cavern with hundreds of stalactites and a big pool of  crystal clear water, the bottom of which was covered in pennies that twinkled in what little light there was. I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss and threw in one of my own coins. That and the fact that Zeus is not someone I would want to annoy. Unfortunately it was too dark inside the cave for me to get any good photographs but there are some beautiful images on Google search if you are curious.

Though the weather was a little cloudy for a few days it was always nice and hot and I managed to get a tan which is a rare thing for me. The food in Greece was another of my favourite aspects of the holiday. Salads, wine and feta cheese is definitely a diet I could get used to! 

I loved Crete and it has made me want to visit several other Greek islands, and eventually mainland Greece too. Next stop will hopefully either be Santorini, Rhodes or Mykonos!