Crete Road Trip #7: Onwards to Ierapetra

Well, back to the journal of our road trip, although it does rather seem like I started writing this in 1866....

On the seventh day, we got up early after the Eurovision excess of the night before, and visited Sitia's old fortress. Perched on the hill above the city, it is now mostly used for live theatre and open-air concerts.

After that we checked out, and got into the car for what turned out to be one of the most pleasant drives of the whole trip.

We were heading south to Ierapetra on the south coast. The road was unusually straight for Crete, and so Claire was able to relax a bit more and sing alone to the iPod a bit more freely.

We made really good progress, and stopped at a little place for a coffee break when we hit the Libyan sea.

We picked a little bar in a small resort called Analipsi, and enjoyed our coffee with a view of the beach, and, slightly bizarrely, of a duck in a bucket.

The road along the south coast wasn't particularly picturesque. Although the mountains and hills to the right of us looked beautiful, the road led through a series of villages that had been completely over-developed into tourist resorts. It resembled the Kato Stalos to Maleme stretch of road near us.

Ieraptra was a whole different matter though. It was full of tiny winding streets, and seemed much more for the locals than for the tourists. We were hoping to drive straight to the guest-house we wanted to stay in, but the one way system soon put paid to that idea. Instead we parked by the sea front and explored on foot.

We found a room at the Cretan Villa Hotel, which was a lovely little place to stay, with a very helpful owner. He gave us a detailed map of the town with the one way streets and the best places to eat marked on it.

Once we'd dropped the car back at the guest house, we went and had lunch on the beach. We picked one of the more local looking taverna places, and found that all the staff there seemed to be over 60. The service was very "σιγα, σιγα", but the food was fantastic.

Then it was straight back to the guest house to sleep off lunch!