#greece Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

August 3, 2026August 5, 2026

Driving through Crete

if you really wanna see Crete you have to enjoy Driving through Crete In a rental car. Public transport is not going to get you around the island and it’s pretty easy driving with one exception. Some of the roads are very narrow and many of the roads in the villages and towns are the width for one car but it’s 2 way traffic. Most people are driving very slowly so it’s not a difficult place to drive. Just take your time and enjoy everything.

Beautiful vegetation Driving through Crete — You will see all sorts of wilderness and rockiness since this is a very dry part of the world but you can also enjoy the agricultural fields a lot planted with olives and grapes.

Delicious breakfast Driving through Crete — This was the breakfast which was very delicious

Rocky and dry Driving through Crete — You see how Rocky and dry it is

Pepperoncini Bill Smale — These pepperoncini in vinegar are one of my favorites

Memorial Bill Smale — I didn’t translate it but I suspect it’s a memorial for the people who died in a war

Myxorrouma Bill Smale — Myxorrouma has a very interesting river Canyon

Plakias Bill Smale — Looking out my hotel window in Plakias

Winding road — Long and winding Road up the mountain side near Kampos

Eggplant in a tomato sauce with some feta cheese and herbs

Monastery near Kolymvari — Mother of God Odigitria Gonia Monastery is one of the interesting stops you should make near Kolymvari

Founding document — The monastery founding document

Mountain top trees — I just like to show the trees and the mountain top

Blown tree — This tree shows you which way the wind blows

Safety — Going to see a beach way down in a canyon there were many cars parked on the side of the road and all of them were very careful to block the tires in case the brake fails

Mining operation — Here is a mining operation near the Gorge Beach

Small church — A small church near Seitan Limania Beach

Wine with a snack — A nice bottle of wine with a little snack provided by the hotel

Looking out the window — Looking out my window near Platanos

Chicken wrap — Just a very simple lunch, chicken wrap nicely presented

Nice café — A nice little café near the harbor at Heraklion

Salmon toast — The salmon toast was very nice

The fountain — In Heraklion This is about the most interesting thing I saw, a fountain where the tourist groups seemed gather

Nice motif — Some interesting motif On the side of the Presidio on the wharf

Vegetable salad — A very simple vegetable salad. Very delicious

I’m cheating here. Actually this is down a small street in Spata Near a place I stayed one night after landing in Athens airport

July 30, 2026July 30, 2026

Seaside Crete

in general the seascapes and seaside on Crete are really beautiful but don’t expect most of the beaches to be sandy. In fact you will find most to be very large to small pebbly. Most beaches you will want to be wearing sandals down to the edge of the water to protect your feet from the pebbles but whether there is some course sand you could find it’s extremely hot so be prepared. But the water is beautiful and generally very clear.

Geropotamos beach Seaside Crete — Geropotamos beach

Heraklion port Seaside Crete — Heraklion port which is very close to the airport

Heraklion fort Bill Smale — At the port there is this large fort at the end of a long walkway

Flat pebbles Bill Smale — The speech was interesting because it seemed most of the pebbles had been eroded into flatness. So if you like skipping rocks on the water you will find a beach with millions of these flat pebbles Geropotamos

Iguana Beach Bill Smale — Sunset at iguana Beach, Kato Daratsos

And nice Greek salad with a lot of cheese at Kissamos

Zooming in on the beach. I went down there for a lunch and there was only one other person there

Sheep herding — A Sheep herder Was moving his stock

Narrow roads — Many of the roads in the smaller villages are much narrower than this

New cat friend — Paleochora was a nice quiet place to make a new friend

Grilled food plate — I just had to try the mixed grilled plate which was really way too much food for me

Dessert watermelon in a very nice environment

Messi fan — Wht is this Messi Fan doing?

There were a number of these ducks just walking around. They were very friendly but I assume that’s because they’re looking for food

Plakias nighttime — Nighttime at Plakis. This is a nice little beachside town to visit with some nice beach area

July 26, 2026August 4, 2026

Moving Around Santorini

Santorini is one of the significant islands off of Greece with tons of tourists. It has an airport and the transportation is really very good but very packed. If you come during the summer season you have a lot of competition for space but I found a number of places that were not so crowded in the main city of Fira. I stayed in the Villa Roussa Hotel Which was actually pretty nice and the people were there were extremely interested in making sure everything was in good shape and working properly. It is not an expensive hotel to stay in And it’s right next to the bus station which is the center for 20 to 30 minute interval travels to the different parts of Santorini. I found a few restaurants that were serving good food at reasonable prices. This place is very expensive Considering the economic Situation Greece is in. They are charging more in most restaurants than in large tourist cities in Italy. I was planning on island hopping to Turkey before my 90 days in the Schengen area We’re finished but the other islands Had the cheapest hotels priced at more than $200 per night and that was for a budget Hotel. I don’t find that attractive at all so I decided to fly out to Istanbul and come back to these islands when it’s not the tourist season which people tell me is around March and April and again in September and October. Between October and March people on Santini have told me they shut down for Lack Of business. If you want a good taste of the Aegean sea Beaches, the nice little islands around and the beautiful white buildings with some blue domes which are so often pictured as typical buildings on these islands, Santorini is a good place to get a taste of all of that. But even during tourist seasons you can find accommodations which are reasonable.

Fira

Sunset viewing — This is the area where everybody comes in the evening to watch the sunset

Terraced area Moving Around Santorini — on the west side of Fira most of the city is terraced down to walkways with shops and restaurants so it’s easy to get slightly disoriented but eventually if you go back towards the main streets you’ll find your way back no matter how far north you go on this terraced area

Old Harbor steps Moving Around Santorini — The steps will eventually take you down to the old harbor

Beautiful stone on the walkway Moving Around Santorini — just one of the stones on the walkway which I thought was very beautiful

Indian and Thai food Bill Smale — Very often in Europe you find “Asian food restaurants“ which give you their own ideas of food based upon some basic Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and other food. But in increasingly I see these Indian and Thai restaurants. I’m sure they are set up by Indians since Thai people are not interested in making Indian food.

Cruise ship Bill Smale — The cruise ship was all lit up

Terracing Bill Smale — You can see how intricately the terracing is done

Nighttime Fira Bill Smale — The West, sunset side of Fira

Asti wine Bill Smale — I left Asti weeks ago but here they are with a nice wine from that

Pajama guy — While sitting at my often frequent breakfast restaurant, the magma city Café, this fellow walks by and what I thought were his pajamas

Westside approach — Walking up toward the sunset west side by the Orthodox Church

Gathering for the sunset — And you see people are gathered to take photos of the sunset

Winding pathways — You can walk on the windy pathways up to the top of this little city

Boat at sunset — You can see many boats in the harbor sitting out there to watch the sunset.

I want to add here I met a very nice lady on Crete telling me I can go to Santorini for two nights, watch the sunset and then leave for another island indicating that’s all that was interesting on Santorini. Actually I found the island a kind of interesting although overly touristy Fira There are places and beaches to go which are very quiet and relaxing like the place I stayed for four nights in Kamari.

Cruise ship — The cruise ship in daytime

600 steps down — You can see the number 572 on this step. There are about 600 steps to go down to the old harbor, or you can take the cable car down

Here you can see some of the winding steps going down and the southern part of Fira

Man-made object — This looks like something man-made. I didn’t check to see what it was

Metropolitan Church of the Presentation of the Lord

Different color houses — People are painting their houses to show different colors to interest visitors

China famous foods restaurant — China Famous Foods 溢香居. The one Chinese restaurant had adequate food at reasonable price prices.

Mocha with coconut — There are so many gelato shops with products that are double or triple the price of what I found in the smaller cities in Italy. But this is a tourist Mecca. This was a mocha with coconut

What a combination. That’s kind of like having German, French and England food in one restaurant.

These Greek style pretzels were very nice, soft and delicious.

Small island — One of the smaller islands nearby

Interesting lighting — The light here at this time was obviously planned

And you can see where the light is coming from

Two dimensional art — I find the orthodox churches to have more two dimensional style artwork than the Roman Catholic medieval art

Open space — Not everything is buildings on the island. There is some open space

Peressia

Not interesting — There doesn’t seem to be much at this village except some places on the beach. I didn’t find it interesting at all

Clever sign — But this sign is very clever

Tasty squid — The squid was very tasty but also very expensive

Kamari

Crowded bus — On my way to Kamari. You can see how crowded the bus gets during the tourist season

Nice beaches — The beach is not Sandy, it is pebbly. You need to find a place that doesn’t have too many large pebbles which are difficult to walk on but this is a big area with very nice swimming so I stayed here for four nights

so if you look below you see the prices. This is something you can do in Thailand for free at some rivers. You put your feet in the water and the fish come to feed on the bacteria and whatever you have on your feet that they like and it tickles.

One thing people know about the islands in Greece is that a lot of things are white. Of course that keeps things cool but I find it almost blinding.

I thought I had given up the days when I was carrying my tank to the water but here we are again.

After several years I went on a dive trip which was through some caves and passageways which were very narrow. It was an interesting and shallow dive and the people managing the dive we’re fairly good at customer service but the briefing about some details was lacking. Overall the dive was good.

I think these are bougainvillea. There’s a very pretty flowers around the island.

This was the magma special omelette for breakfast at the local café which was very delicious. of course I had to bring it up to my level.

Necessary food — And of course I had to have one of these. Occasionally this is necessary food for me

July 17, 2026August 4, 2026

Santorini Volcano

Tholos is the center of the volcano which created Santorini so you can say it’s the Santorini Volcano. to get there from Santorini you have to either climb down 600 stairs or take the cable car down for €10 one way. I decided since I’m going to be walking on the volcano I will save my steps and take the cable car down which only takes a few minutes but it is a very steep few minutes.

Cable car Santorini Volcano — Here you have the cable car arriving

Very crowded port Santorini Volcano — it was very crowded not only with people getting on tour boats but also with the cruise ship visitors getting off to visit Santorini.

Many touristS Bill Smale — You can see how crowded these tour boats get. Many people are enjoying the sunshine. I was trying to stay out of the sun as much as possible

Volcano ship Bill Smale — Our very nice sailing ship taking us to the volcano

Volcanic strata Bill Smale — You can see the strata from the different volcanic layers

Close to the crater — We are coming close to the crater

Docked at the crater — Here we have docked with two other ships between OURS and the dock

Largest crater — The largest crater on the volcano. This volcano last erupted in 1956 was such a large Force the seismic activity leveled much of Santorini

Steam from below — You can feel the warmth from the Steam coming out and the smell of sulfur

Santorini view — Santorini behind the different volcanic rocks

Thirasia can be visited of course but you have to climb all of those steps from the port up to the village

Activity measurement equipment — There are many monitors on the volcano to measure activity

Hot spring — Just to the left of the temple which is on the lower left, the white building just above the waterline, we went swimming on Nisis Palaia Kameni. you could see that very close to the shore is Brown water. That is the heated hot spring so you get to experience the warm hot spring water and also the cooler ocean water on your swim

Wisconsin people — Here we are going back. You can see these people here from Madison Wisconsin

Long lines at the cable car — in the afternoon the line to get on the cable car went on for many hundred meters. It would’ve been a long time waiting in line to get down to the old port. I’m glad I went in the morning. There was nobody in front of me. And coming back in the afternoon also was not crowded. So if you visit you might want to plan your trip accordingly

July 12, 2026July 12, 2026

Beaches on Crete

I came to Crete because it’s one of the major islands and I thought it was a good place to start some island hopping in Greece. The highlights of course of these islands are the beaches and some amazing scenery. Since this is a volcanic area you recognize right away how rugged the terrain. I rented a car and as soon as I started driving it became very clear I was going to find some pretty steep and windy roads which is what the island is pretty much made of. But people drive slowly so it’s pretty easy to make your way down a road which is the width of one car while having another car come at you. People cooperate and they make it work.

A lot of the advertising photos of Greece are the clear blue Aegean waters. You will see some of that along your journey on Crete but many of the beaches are like others around the world with a lower visibility of a few meters to maybe 5 m. But I have been in several beaches where the visibility is maybe 30 to 40 m which is very good. For you people from the US 1 m is approximately 1 yard. My first stop was two nights in Chania at Kosmoss A. G. K. The people there are exceedingly helpful, nice and the accommodation was just fine. Within a few minutes walking distance you have a choice of a few beaches which can get crowded in the afternoon but it seems the tourists here prefer starting their beach and sunbathing exercises at about 11 AM and finish about 5 pm or so. So if you go earlier or a little bit later you can beat the crowd and sometimes have a beach all to yourself. The two beaches I went to within walking distance are Yannis beach and Iguana Beach. There is a larger beach at Golden Bay.

Iguana Beach Beaches on Crete — Iguana Beach

Then I traveled along the road looking for a good fish restaurant and this name came up on the map in Kissamos, Akrogiali seaview rooms and restaurant. When I arrived there were no restaurants open even after 1 PM but their were a few people in the water. Even though the beaches was small stones you take a few steps and you are in deep enough water to have a good swim and you won’t have many people around. The second day I went there and I was the only person.

Seitan Limania Beach Beaches on Crete — Seitan Limania Beach. The speech seems to be pretty famous but it is a little difficult walk all the way down to the beach. I didn’t go, too much work.

The next day I wanted to try the famous Falasaena beach. When I got to the southernmost point there was a huge parking lot for five euro and I couldn’t believe that I would have to pay to park a car to walk to a beach so I went farther north, found a free parking place and walked down to the beach and took a short swim. It was very nice but it was around some old broken down coral heads so I had to be a little careful where I was swimming so I wouldn’t bump into these old coral formations. I would not recommend this place if you have kids. There’s two much stuff to bump into and cut them or scratch them. So i was not really impressed with this arrangement at the beach.

Falasaena beach Bill Smale — In the distance here you can see the Falasaena beach Area. The large beach is accessible from a free parking area but you might have to walk a little bit. Actually, you actually have to walk a little bit if you park in The 5€ Area as well.

The next day I went south along the west side of Crete and I was told that Elafonissi Beach was really superb and I had to go there. When I arrived I was waved into a five euro Parking place. But the strange thing was they wouldn’t let me continue down the road. They stood in front of my car and insisted that I go into the five euro parking area. I thought this is such a famous beach I have to try it so I parked there and I walked down 100 meters and there was a not full three euro parking lot, actually two of them. As I walk further down the road there was a souvenir shop where you could park for free if you were going to buy something. Walking down a little bit further there was a minimart where you could park for free if you were a customer. None of these parking lots were full. So you can figure out the appropriate word for this kind of behavior. Anyway, to walk to the beach it was about 1 1/2 km or about 1 mile which I found to be too much for me in the hot sun but since I paid five euro for parking I decided to continue. I got down to the beach and there were thousands of people. I got down to the water and there was nobody anywhere at that beach in water above their pelvis. It was a child beach area. If you’ve ever been to a decent beach before that had any depth you would recognize this as the child’s pool at the hotel. I found this very strange because I have never seen this before. I have seen very shallow beaches but I could never imagine adults going in. And I have never seen a shallow beach that was the shallow for such a distance. But I guess Europeans are OK with hanging out for hours at a very shallow beach which I should add has pretty nice sand for a European beach. It was definitely not my cup of tea so after about a half hour in the water and cooling off in the hot sun I walked all the way back to the parking, getting way too much sun on the way and not really happy with that venture.

That evening I drove for a one night stay in Palaiochora which is a nice little town and if you have extra time you might want to stay there a couple nights. It’s very relaxing with many restaurants and bars, it’s very low-key but it’s a cute little town and it has nice beaches. The most popular and biggest beache is on the west side which tends to get pretty crowded. It’s a nice Sandy Beach. I was staying on the east side and while it was more of a large pebble beach, once you get in the water you get some depth and it’s quiet water so it’s very good swimming. I went in the early morning for a swim and there was only one other person there at 8 AM. I stayed in the water about an hour and during that time a few other people showed up, setting up their beach equipment and umbrellas. The waters were extremely clear and calm.

My last beach stop was yesterday at Plakias. There evidently are some very nice beaches around here but I don’t really need to be around hundreds or thousands of people and difficulty trying to find some space to sit down my sandals and small bag. Within about a five minute walk there is a nice entrance to the town beach which I went to at 6:30 in the morning and there was nobody there. The sun was still behind the mountains. The waters were extremely clear and calm. I stayed for about a half hour in the water, nobody else showed up, and I went back to get a shower and some breakfast. So that’s the extent of my beach experiences in Crete. My next stop is Santorini

It seems that many of the tourist are interested in setting up equipment or lying in a lounge chair with an umbrella for the day. Many of them also are sunbathing. Living on the beach for almost 15 years I don’t find either of those activities interesting or healthy for me. After eight years in a diving business and getting too much sun it’s now important to protect myself so I tried to be pretty careful. My best time at the beach is always in the water with the sun behind me.

Plakias Beach where I was swimming this morning

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