Today we took the KTEL Intercity bus from Heraklion to Rethymno. It would have been a €100 ($160CAD) taxi ride, but was only €9.90 ($16CAD) each full fare with reserved seating on an air-conditioned coach bus. Granted, it takes twice as long as a private car, but we have lots of time.
In addition to comfortable coaches, the bonus of travelling by bus was the bus station cat, who immediately made herself comfortable on my lap and went to sleep. Black pants=cat magnet. It’s been a while since I’ve had a lap cat, so I thoroughly enjoyed it for more than an hour. Cats really know how to sleep. She was fickle, though. The moment I needed to get up to use the ladies’ room and grab a sausage pastry from the café she took Ted’s lap.
In Rethymno we’re staying in another small hotel. After leaving Campbell House in Penang, I said to Ted that if I had my preference, I’d always stay in independent boutique hotels or true B&Bs. There’s the downside of not having laundry facilities, but the upsides in individuality and service make up for it. Most of our clothes can be hand-washed in a bathroom sink; anything else we can pay to have laundered.
Pepi Boutique Hotel is adults only and has just 17 rooms: 13 standard rooms, 2 Maisonettes and 2 Suites, all surrounding a beautiful garden and a small outdoor swimming pool. That makes it a bit larger than either Campbell House or Kipos Suites, which only had 12 rooms each, but still very personal. Like Campbell House, it has a restaurant – although not a Michelin selected one.
The hotel is in a vibrant modern neighbourhood filled with shops, restaurants, and museums, and felt inviting the moment we saw it.
To get to our second floor room we had to walk past the pool and the patio, which also doubles as an al fresco breakfast room. Breakfast is served in the restaurant accessed through the archway on the right.
Our room overlooks the patio, huge perfectly trimmed palm trees, and clay-tiled rooftops.
The room itself continues that serene vibe, featuring lots of stone and wood. It is bigger than my photos make it look – it has a large closet, a computer desk, and a table for two if we want to sip coffees before heading down to the included breakfast.
I think it’s going to prove to be a good choice for our week here.
We don’t, however, have even the most minimal cooking facilities, which means we’ll try to have a good breakfast, find a bakery (not hard to do on Crete) for lunch, and go out for dinner each evening.
We learned pretty quickly in Heraklion that Cretans eat late. Most restaurants didn’t even open for their dinner seating until 7:00 p.m. Rethymno seems to cater to wider expectations, with restaurants en all day.
Tonight we ate at Akri Garden Restaurant, where the cook brought us our menus and her daughter waited tables.
In addition to half a litre of the Greek white house wine, we had cheese-stiffed pastries, pork belly with potatoes and salad, and th3 best moussaka I’ve had in decades.
Of course there was complimentary ice-cold raki to finish. Raki is basically moonshine, and every restaurant has their own version, tonight’s was particularly strong. That last face says it all.
Total meal €41.50/$66.50CAD.
After dinner we walked around a bit, discovering that Rethymno is much more commercial – but also much more charming and picturesque – than Heraklion. Ted is hoping for some really great photo opportunities here.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 