Balou Beach Bar in Agia Marina

Although this is our third summer here in Crete, we are still making new discoveries all the time - the latest being the Balou Beach Bar in Agia Marina.

A couple of weekends back we headed out to the Agia Marina / Platanias tourist strip to try and see as much of the opening 2010 World Cup Qualifiers as possible. I was hoping that the early matches featuring Scotland and Wales would be on somewhere, but we trotted around for a bit with no joy. In the end we said well, why not just have a pleasant drink by the beach, and come back later to try and find the footie.

I don't think I've ever even noticed the sign for Balou before, but we took a peek down the alleyway towards the beach, and liked what we saw.

The bar itself is a thatched hut, set on a bit of grass right by the beach. There are trees dotted about, and the majority of the tables and chairs are in the natural shade of trees. That means that even in the blazing heat it seems a really cool place to sit, and you have a great view of Kri-Kri Island and the sea.

The music when we have been there has been very mellow - either female vocal jazz, or the popular live album by Kurt Nilsen, Espen Lind, Askil Holm and Alejandro Fuentes which we've heard in a lot of places this summer.

Oh, and there is, of course, ice cold beer.