点评:We booked 2 day-long tours with Lefteris through Taxiservices-Crete tours. One day he gave us a tour along with our transfer from Heraklion to Chania. Another day we had a tour from Chania to Elfonsi Beach. He also picked us up from the Heraklion airport, provided transport to Knossos (by his lovely daughter), and arranged a taxi to the Chania airport when we left Crete. We had great communication with Leftaris prior to our trip and the entire time we were with him. We learned so much about the history, people, and customs of Crete from Leftaris – we loved our time with him! He also recommended fabulous places for dinner. I was traveling with my 16 year old grandson who now quotes Lefty and says Crete is his favorite place and he intends to go back.
On our transfer from Heraklion to Chania: Lefteris drove us around part of Heraklion to see the huge defensive wall built by the Venetians who were afraid of invasions by the Turks. As we drove to a viewpoint to look over all of Heraklion where we saw the mountain that is supposed to look like the head of sleeping Zeus (Mount Juktas ) just beyond Heraklion.
Lefty stopped a couple of times and picked herbs and asked us to identify them - wild oregano, orange blossom, thyme, etc. He talked about how they eat fresh food here and have a long life expectancy. We stopped at a roadside cafe and had coffee, OJ, and the local pastry made just for Easter (it was sort of a sweet cheese in a pastry shell and very good).
As he drove, Lefteris told us about all the invasions of Crete, including the 300 year Ottoman occupation and World War II with the German invasion and occupation. He told us about the city of Rethymno, located between Heraklion and Chania. From a hill overlooking the city we could see the Venetian-era citadel, the Fortezza of Rethymno, one of the best-preserved castles in Crete. The area is full of beautiful beaches, archaeological sites, Byzantine churches, quaint villages and cosmopolitan resorts. Today's old town was almost entirely built by the Republic of Venice and has an elegant Venetian style of architecture. It is one of the best-preserved old towns in Crete. It has a very long beach bordered by hotels/condos. We had an hour of free time in Rethymno and enjoyed walking around the old town.
We continued on the coastal road to Georgioupoll to see the very long beach (6 miles long – locals claim it is the longest beach in Crete) and the small Agios Nikolaos Church built on a tiny islet in the sea.
We stopped at the Kanakis olive mill that has an ancient olive tree, one thousand years old. We had a tour of the machines they use to produce olive oil and then olive oil and raki tastings – delicious!!
We made one last stop before reaching Chania. - At a small producer of sheep milk products - we had yogurt with honey, delicious cheese, and also some ice cream, all made with sheep's milk and also very good. We really enjoyed our time on this transfer/tour.
To Elfonsi Beach: We spent the entire day with Lefty who drove from Chania on the north of Crete to Elfonsi Beach on the drier and warmer south side of. The road across the mountains was quite rugged in places. We stopped to see the famous 3,000 year old olive tree of Vouves, then and headed up into the rugged mountains towards Topolia Gorge. We stopped at Tavern Spiliaraki topolia in a tiny village where we had a wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice. Shortly after that we came to the Topolia Gorge and the single lane unlit tunnel known as Topolia Tunnel. The road across the mountains and through the gorge had many. many curves. We passed several flocks of goats and sheep.
As we arrived at Elafonisi Beach, Leteris parked close to the beach and let us enjoy time there. The water was intensely turquoise blue and the bay was sheltered by a small island that created an area with no waves where you could walk to the island when the tide is out. It is famous for having pink sand, but it didn’t look pink at the time we were there but it was a special place – just stunning!!
Lefteris then drove us to the Monastery of Chryssoskalitissa, built on rocks over 100 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. We climbed up the 90 steps to the Monestary and went to the museum with holy icons then through a low doorway into the Folklore museum. From the Monastery, there was an incredible view of the intensely blue/turquoise bay below. Lefty then took us to have a late lunch at his favorite beach - Sfinari Beach, out-of-the way for tourists and where only locals go. We passed by several flocks of sheep on the narrow road on the side of steep mountains that jutted into the intensely turquoise sea. We had a fabulous seafood lunch at the Thalami Fish Tavern restaurant with tables shaded by trees right on the beach. We continued through the rugged mountains on our way back to Chania. SW Crete is made up of rugged mountains and cliffs and an intensely turquoise blue sea – gorgeous!!! Review on Trust Pilot, Title; Fabulous transfers and tours on Crete with a local!
翻译:我们通过 Taxiservices-Cretetours 与 Lefteris 预订了 2 天的旅行。有一天,他带我们参观了我们从伊拉克利翁到干尼亚的交通。另一天,我们从干尼亚游览了艾尔方西海滩。他还从伊拉克利翁机场接我们,(由他可爱的女儿)提供前往克诺索斯的交通,并在我们离开克里特岛时安排了一辆出租车前往哈尼亚机场。在我们旅行之前以及我们和他在一起的整个过程中,我们与 Leftaris 进行了良好的沟通。我们从 Leftaris 那里学到了很多关于克里特岛的历史、人民和习俗——我们喜欢和他在一起的时光!他还推荐了很棒的晚餐地点。我和我 16 岁的孙子一起旅行,他现在引用左撇子的话,说克里特岛是他最喜欢的地方,他打算回去。
在我们从伊拉克利翁前往干尼亚的途中:莱夫特里斯开车带我们绕过伊拉克利翁的部分地区,参观威尼斯人因害怕土耳其人入侵而建造的巨大防御墙。当我们开车前往一个俯瞰整个伊拉克利翁的观景台时,我们看到了伊拉克利翁远处一座看起来像沉睡的宙斯头的山(尤克塔斯山)。
左撇子停下来几次,采摘草药并让我们辨认它们——野生牛至、橙花、百里香等。他讲述了他们在这里如何吃新鲜的食物,并且寿命很长。我们在路边的一家咖啡馆停下来,喝了咖啡、橙汁和专为复活节制作的当地糕点(有点像糕点壳里的甜奶酪,非常好吃)。
开车时,Lefteris 向我们讲述了克里特岛的所有入侵事件,包括奥斯曼帝国长达 300 年的占领以及第二次世界大战中德国的入侵和占领。他向我们介绍了位于伊拉克利翁和干尼亚之间的雷斯蒙市。从一座俯瞰整座城市的小山上,我们可以看到威尼斯时代的城堡——雷斯蒙福尔泰扎 (Fortezza of Rethymno),它是克里特岛保存最完好的城堡之一。该地区遍布美丽的海滩、考古遗址、拜占庭教堂、古雅的村庄和国际化的度假村。如今的老城区几乎全部由威尼斯共和国修建,具有优雅的威尼斯建筑风格。它是克里特岛保存最完好的老城区之一。它有一个很长的海滩,毗邻酒店/公寓。我们在雷斯蒙有一个小时的空闲时间,很喜欢在老城区散步。
我们继续沿着沿海公路前往乔治乌波尔,参观了非常长的海滩(6英里长——当地人称这是克里特岛最长的海滩)和建在海上小岛上的小圣尼古拉斯教堂。
我们在卡纳基斯橄榄磨坊停下来,那里有一棵已有一千多年历史的古老橄榄树。我们参观了他们用来生产橄榄油的机器,然后品尝了橄榄油和拉克酒——美味!!
我们在到达干尼亚之前做了最后一站。 - 在一家羊奶制品小生产商——我们吃了蜂蜜酸奶、美味的奶酪,还有一些冰淇淋,都是用羊奶做的,也很好吃。我们真的很享受这次接送/旅行的时光。
前往 Elfonsi 海滩:我们和左撇子一起度过了一整天,他从克里特岛北部的干尼亚开车前往更干燥、更温暖的南侧的 Elfonsi 海滩。翻山越岭的路有些地方崎岖不平。我们停下来参观了著名的拥有 3000 年历史的 Vouves 橄榄树,然后前往崎岖的山脉前往托波利亚峡谷 (Topolia Gorge)。我们在一个小村庄的 Spiliaraki topolia 酒馆停下来,在那里我们喝了美味的鲜榨橙汁。不久之后,我们来到了托波利亚峡谷和被称为托波利亚隧道的单车道无灯隧道。翻山越岭、穿越峡谷的道路有很多。许多曲线。我们经过了几群山羊和绵羊。
当我们到达 Elafonisi 海滩时,Leteris 将车停在海滩附近,让我们在那里享受时光。海水呈强烈的绿松石蓝色,海湾被一座小岛遮蔽,形成了一个没有波浪的区域,退潮时您可以步行到岛上。它以粉红色的沙子而闻名,但我们在那里的时候看起来并不是粉红色的,但它是一个特别的地方——真是太棒了!
随后,Lefteris 带我们前往 Chryssoskalitissa 修道院,该修道院建在距地中海 100 多英尺的岩石上。我们爬上 90 级台阶到达修道院,然后来到有圣像的博物馆,然后穿过一个低矮的门进入民俗博物馆。从修道院里可以看到下面深蓝色/绿松石色海湾的令人难以置信的景色。然后左撇子带我们去他最喜欢的海滩 - 斯菲纳里海滩 (Sfinari Beach) 吃午餐,这里对游客来说很偏僻,只有当地人才会去。我们在陡峭的山脉一侧的狭窄道路上经过了几群羊,这些山脉伸入了碧绿的大海中。我们在塔拉米鱼酒馆餐厅享用了美味的海鲜午餐,餐桌就在海滩上,树荫下。我们继续穿过崎岖的山脉返回干尼亚。 克里特岛西南部由崎岖的山脉和悬崖以及蔚蓝的大海组成——太美了!信托试点审查,头衔;与当地人一起在克里特岛享受美妙的接送和游览!