Author Archives: Jean

The Covid-19 Lockdown blog

Posted on 27/04/2020 by Jean

History of the Greek lockdown Greece started extremely early with prevention measures against Covid-19 The country had its first case on 26 February, a tourist returning from Italy and the authorities acted almost immediately: They banned all the carnivals that … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Cramming Crete (aka the fear of missing out on Crete’s attractions)

Posted on 01/04/2019 by Jean

For some a holiday means plonking yourself on a sunbed and roasting for a week or two, with the occasional visit to a bar, a nearby restaurant  or your hotel room. At the other end of the holidaymaking spectrum you … Continue reading →

Posted in Tourism | 15 Comments

A long wet winter

Posted on 24/03/2019 by Jean

My neck of the woods in West Crete has just had one of its wettest winters in memory. This was crowned by a record breaking February. There was already a lot of damage to roads from previous rains in December … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, In the news, Weather in Crete | 3 Comments

My personal shopping recommendations for a Crete visit

Posted on 09/07/2018 by Jean

Best guide books Probably the best two guide books in English are The Rough Guide to Crete and the Blue Guide Crete. This last one is getting a little old (8th edition came out in 2010) but as its strong … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Shopping, Walks | 6 Comments

Samaria 2018 opening

Posted on 20/04/2018 by Jean

As of today (20th of April) the official position of the Samaria National Park governing body is that they will open the gorge of Samaria on the 1st May. Things might change but please don’t ask me. I’ll post a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Finally Chania airport has a website

Posted on 12/04/2017 by Jean

Good news, the airport of Chania finally has a website! It’s very new and still a little rough around the edges (some information is still sparse, photos of Chania are much too contrasty and a 176 words sentence in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A look back at the tourist season 2016

Posted on 21/10/2016 by Jean

The tourist season 2016 is winding down and by early November most charter flights to Crete will have taken the last tourists away. It seems that most Cretans who have businesses in tourism have had a satisfying season. Crete and … Continue reading →

Posted in The Greek crisis, Tourism | 2 Comments

Discover Rethymnon… on Foot

Posted on 17/05/2016 by Jean

The seventh book in the series Discover…on Foot has recently been published. It covers short walks in and around Rethymnon and follows the successful formula of former publications, with good maps, plenty of illustrations and informative text. I think that … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Leave a comment

Samaria gorge 2016

Posted on 09/04/2016 by Jean

Because of the mild and very dry winter there has been little damage to the path that runs through the gorge of Samaria and not much water in the river. As the good weather looks set to continue it seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Tourism, Walks | 2 Comments

The Cretan Way – A 28-day walk by Luca Gianotti

Posted on 01/04/2016 by Jean

A long awaited book finally got published last week: “The Cretan Way – A 28-day walk” is the brainchild of Luca Gianotti, an Italian walking guide. Rather than trying to paraphrase what the book is about here is an excerpt … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Tourism, Walks | Leave a comment