Plaka.

Today here in Borth while it hasn't been exactly sunny it was still warm. The sea was a tasteful shade of duck egg blue and the sky a light greyish blue.

The last bit of holiday washing (handwashing my large silk shirt) has been done and my bags completely unpacked. I've done some gardening, stewed apples for breakfast porridge and gone through the rest of my holiday photos. All this was after a much needed long sleep, a leisurely breakfast and two episodes of The Archers Omnibus. (We did listen to Radio 4 a lot on our Kindles but didn't bother with The Archers.)

Today's post is a general introduction to the village of Plaka where we stayed. We like it so much we hope to go back for longer next year.

The hillside behind Plaka is covered with more holiday complexes many still a work in progress. For the first two weeks there was the sound of heavy machinery carving through the rocks to make an access road for yet more housing higher up. Though constant it was far enough away not to be too intrusive. Plus there was a steady stream of enormous trucks transporting the resulting boulders to .... somewhere else. Again it was just part of daily life and preferable to nightclubs and party goers that you would get in the very popular resorts.

This was our 'home' with our apartment on the right with the open shutters. Next time we will be in the left hand apartment. A mirror image of the one we were in but with a much larger wrap around terrace with enough room for our sun loungers, that catches the afternoon sun. This year we had a small terrace at the front and a second one from the bedroom. That one catches the sun but a tree in the garden was covered with pungent blossom that attracted flies and other insects. 

It was cloudier at the start of the holiday but there were plenty of blue skies later. From our front terrace we watched everything going on up and down the road and even had a tiny view of the sea.

The road - looking towards the mountain and the beach at the far end, just five minutes walk away.

There was a big change at the beach this year, no sun beds for hire. Because most beaches in Crete had their natural beauty spoiled by rows and rows of sun beds and umbrellas on the prime spaces leaving nowhere for people to bring their own towels and/or chairs/beds a law has been passed restricting the sun beds for hire to 30% of the beach. Also they had to be 4m away from the water's edge. That obviously made it unprofitable for the old chap who hired out the beds sitting at his table with radio and three packets of cigarettes. At one end of the beach is an expensive bistro which has beds etc for customers and at the other end there are fancy sun beds for the guests of a complex on the hillside. They had some of the basic sun beds for hire there but E25 for two was a massive hike from last year's E10. 

The beach looked much better but it wasn't so good for us as with his bad knees Peter can't get up from the ground. Through a tip on line I found a shop near Lidl that sold garden furniture and bought two sun beds (with carrying handles) for E70. They were E40 each but when I asked the man if he would do a deal he knocked off E10. Manolis, our host is happy to keep them for us for next year so it was a worthwhile investment and we can use them on the terrace as well. 

Between us and the sea was an area of expensive craft/gift shops, boutiques and restaurants. Everything was open until very late so that people could enjoy the warm evenings and the Cretan custom of eating at 9.00 or later. 

Almost every evening we would have a stroll around and then sit on the bench (below) to watch the Spinalonga lights turning on. We would also watch the lights of the fishing boats sailing around the bay. Sometime there would be yachts moored in the bay and occasionally a cruise boat out at sea. On a couple of evenings there were live musicians playing traditional music at one of the restaurants and one time a group of dancers in traditional costume.

When the Spinalonga lights turn on they are an eerie green gradually turning orange as they warm up.