My daughter Emma and grandchildren, Ralph and Neve arrived for their two week holiday with me here on Beautiful Crete. The children were so excited that we went straight from the airport to the poolside at the Almyrida Beach Resort. We had to literally drag Ralph and Neve out of the water in order to grab a late poolside lunch there!
This pretty much set the pace for the whole holiday. Ralph, 8 and Neve, 6 are true water babes. Whether we were poolside or on the beach, they were never out of the water. One of the many things I will always remember about this particular family visit is Neve’s constant giggling. She and Ralph get on so well together and during the times Emma and I were not in the water with them, they totally amused themselves and were an absolute joy to watch.
We packed each day to the full and with plenty of variety. We enjoyed at least 3 intermittent days at the Almyrida Village and Water Park, which wasn’t really a water park but for two small slides and one much larger one, which Ralph and Neve absolutely loved. We spent at least two days on the beach at the Tsunami end of Almyrida. This beach is perfect for getting into the sea easily, with no rocks and is shallow enough for children to be safe in. It can be a great place for frolicking in the waves, which is exactly what Ralph and I had such a laugh doing on our first day there. There’s also a lovely rock pool area which they loved exploring on their surf boards.
We spent a day in Kalyves at The Kiani Resort but as it’s an all inclusive resort we drove back to the village of Kalyves and ate a lovely lunch at Café Delight. We also enjoyed two separate days at Georgioupoli beach. One early evening I dug out a couple of canvases for Ralph and Neve to make their own seashell pictures to take home as souvenirs. Ralph also made a turtle on sand artwork as a present for his Dad, Ash. They absolutely loved looking through all the seashells and creating the pictures they wanted.
We spent a whole day at Limnoupolis Water Park located on the outskirts of Chania, which was a first for me. Emma and Ash had taken the kids there a couple of years ago, on one of my selling days but I had never been before. With so many things to do in the water, it is one of Ralph and Neve’s favourite places. Ralph had several go’s on all the slides including the really scary ones. However Neve had to be persuaded into trying the larger slides and even I was coerced into trying one that was mostly in total darkness and I did not like or enjoy it at all! Emma tried nearly all of the slides. There were lots of different things to do there and we all had a great time.
Another day we took a boat trip to Balos Lagoon. It’s a good few years since I’ve been there and I was looking forward to going back. We boarded the ferry at Kissamos after refreshments at a pretty little harbour nearby, thinking the food on the ferry would not be good (which we were right about) and because there would be nowhere to buy any food at the lagoon. Balos Lagoon is a naturally beautiful sandy beach with turquoise waters and a panoramic landscape. But it was very hot and so all we wanted to do was stay in the water mostly. We were all picking the pretty yellow cockles out of the hot shallow lagoons and the three hours we had there just flew by!
Here on Crete it has still been hot hot hot and temperatures remained in the mid 30’s for the duration of their holiday. We ate lunch out every day, dinner straight from the beach on my two selling days and we had a couple of nights when we went out for dinner, at Psaros in Almyrida, where we all played the piano and a lovely meal at Elpis in Plaka. This was indeed a nice respite from cooking in my very hot kitchen!
When the kids were in bed and asleep, Emma and I had many lovely warm evenings chilling on my amazing balcony with a glass or few of wine. I am so grateful for this wonderful two weeks with Emma, Ralph and Neve. We’ve all had such a blast, the kids have had so much fun and Emma has had the real rest she needed after working so hard for her operational Department Practitioner’s exam. She has since told me that she received 100 per cent. What a result.. and I am so proud of her!
PHOTO ALBUM