Plakias is not the ideal place to tour from, but Crete is an island of many parts and it would be a shame not to fit some of it in on all but the briefest holidays. It is best to plan on some overnights if you are going further than Rethymno, but thankfully there are plenty of places one can find a nice clean comfortable room (with a view) for around 5,000 Drax per night. There is a very good east-west highway which attracts a lot of traffic, but it is best to avoid the minor roads - what looks like a short cut will probably take much longer and may turn into a rough track (see my attempts to get to Amari). Public toilets are in the main pretty appalling, so it is worth budgeting for the odd cup of coffee so that you can use the toilets attached to the shop!

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Sitia well worth the trip
My recommendation would be to go to Sitia at the east end of the island - a pretty place with a large harbour full of fishing boats. But it is worth it for the journey along the north coast road alone - utterly fantastic and with breathtaking views. And you don't have to drive - you can do it all by bus.

A word of warning for drivers
But first a word of warning for the first timer. The Greeks are crazy drivers, and the taxis are probably the worst, so give them a wide berth. Most major roads have a white line down the side, but this is not a hard shoulder - this is the lane you move over into when anyone wants to overtake. And overtake they will, regardless of speed limits, overtaking bans, blind bends or oncoming traffic - so keep an eye constantly in your rear view mirror and spot that vehicle which is closing in fast. Anyone who has driven in Eire will have met this overtaking system and know what I mean. Be extra careful after even a light shower of rain - this is a really dangerous time - when the road surface of oil and tyre rubber turns into an instant a skid pan and everyone (even buses and taxis) crawls along at 15 mph and no one, but no one, overtakes.

Plakias to Rethymno
Going via the Kourtaliotiko gorge is a really easy drive with good views back over the bay. The Kotsifos gorge (via Mirthios) has more spectacular views (and interesting bends) and makes a pleasant diversion; you may even see eagles circling on the thermals. Rethymno is well worth exploring (allow at least a day), and there is plenty of parking on the east side, round the harbour. The centre has a charming Venetian air, with a maze of narrow streets, and cafes overlooking the main harbour where you just cross the road and swim off a lovely sandy beach in crystal clear water. There is an open air market beside the public park and this is an amazing spectacle, with every imaginable kind of vegetable, fruit, meat and fish - even day old chicks - together with limbless beggars. A real taste of Crete.

Rethymno to Iraklio
The main road from Rethymno to Iraklio is excellent and has an amazing variety of scenery and superb coast views - but you will have to wait for the return trip to be able to stop. Panormo is a nice little village built round an enticingly swimmable harbour with sandy beach. Iraklio is a driver's nightmare and probably best avoided first time through. However, despite being a bustling commercial centre it is well worth exploring, with its massive city walls, large squares and museums of icons and Minoan art (a real must). And if you must go to Marks and Spencer, remember it closes for lunch!

Iraklio to Agios Nikolaos (Ag Nik)
If you love Plakias, you will probably hate this stretch - the first half (as far as Malia) is a ribbon of concrete. Hersonissos is the Blackpool of Crete and Malia comes a close second, but between them is Stalida - a rather quieter place with a nice sandy beach. On the east side of Malia there is a Minoan palace. From Stalida there is a spectacular hill climb up to the Lasithi plateau (about which, more later). Well worth the trip, and coffee in the square at Mochos is a must, but the return route to Ag Nik is twisty, slow, tiresome and best avoided. Ag Nik is definitely a tourist place, and you can see why when the evening sun turns the mountains across the Gulf of Mirabello a heavenly rose pink. However it is possible to park at the edge, just off the roads to Sitia and pop down the hill to the sandy municipal beach by the bus station. If you have never swum in shoals of fish, this is the place to do it!

Ag Nik to Sitia
This is a truly breathtaking journey, and one not to be hurried as the road clings to the edge of the mountains and runs past scores of tantalisingly inaccessible coves. The Minoan settlement at Gournia is well worth the stop - even if you only look at it from the lay-by on the main road - the layout is so clear. There are several pretty villages on the way, but you must stop at Platanos where there is a panoramic view over the Gulf of Mirabello. The maps don't seem to show it, but you will see the signs. Further east you may drive round a blind bend to find an old peasant woman struggling with a mule shedding its load in the middle of the road and goats making a break for freedom. I felt it was this sort of incident which helped explain why the Greeks seem to have such bad road sense - cars have only recently taken over from mules! Approaching Sitia the road deteriorates and there are massive wind farms on the hillside - I counted more than 50 windmills on one.

Sitia
Sitia is very much a provincial town, hardly touched by tourism - it is a place where the locals come to buy their daily needs from food to clothes and ironmongery. Most of Crete's wine is from this area and there are some good tastings and bargains to be had. The old town is a maze of narrow streets on the side of a steep hill, crossed by wide steep staircases of pavements. But there is plenty of parking to the south of the harbour. Sitia is also famed for its tame pelican, but we were more attracted by the team of kingfishers working hard skimming low back and forth across the harbour in the late afternoon. We had only ever seen one before and imagined it was a shy freshwater bird, but we were utterly captivated by these.

Sitia to Ierapetra
We would have loved to explore further east, where there are some marvellous beaches, but time was short. We did however cross over to the south coast and stopped at Makrigialos, an odd little place but with a beautiful south facing beach. Rather stony, but very shallow and sandy at the harbour end where there is a marvellous fish taverna. There are more fine beaches approaching the busy town Ierapetra, but we ran out of time and had to strike back to the east-west highway via Kato Chorio - an easy drive up a broad valley.

Where next?
There is so much to see, and Liz and I must admit to being beachaholics! Travelling west from Rethymno, just before you reach Georgioupoli there is an excellent wide sandy beach (the best sand on Crete?) which slopes gently into the sea. After that you pass through such verdant countryside that it is hard to imagine you are still in Crete! Hania does not look appealing from a distance, and the navy ships in the bay bring you suddenly down to earth, but we are determined to explore it one day. But where we really want to go is the extreme west - to the beaches at Falasarna and Elafonisi. Has anyone been there?

10 December 1999