Villa Ralfa Goes ‘On Tour’ Down Under - Part Two.....More Flights, and The Knotty Problem of Finding ‘Real’ LGBT Accommodation.

Having booked the main flights, and trains, for my gay travels down under, your intrepid traveller finds that there can be a problem booking exclusively LGBT accommodation, and that Greece is still a cheap place to stay!

A couple of my fans have mentioned that there are a couple more things which you should have to hand when doing this sort of thing, these are your passport as many airlines want your passport or ID card number when you book, and more importantly lots of ink and paper in your printer! The airlines must save a lot of money not having to provide you with an expensive multipart ticket these days, and do make sure that you actually print out your ‘e-ticket’ and not just the receipt for the booking!

Of course I am well aware how big Australia really is, as I lived there for a number of years, but having booked the train journey from Perth to Adelaide, and then on to Alice Springs where I pick up a two day bus tour to King’s Canyon and Ayer’s Rock, there is the problem of getting on to Melbourne to leave enough time there to see friends and my partner’s mother.

About the only airline that comes up on Google is Virgin Blue and at A$600 one way from Alice to Melbourne it is hardly cheap, (and takes forever because they fly via Sydney), as usual with these airlines everything seems to be an extra!

After a look at my favourite airline site Attitude Travel (http://www.attitudetravel.com/), I discover Tiger Airways. What starts out at A$47 for a one way flight soon turns into A$154 by the time I add my luggage, pay A$8 for a seat, and they add on a ‘Convenience Fee’ whatever that is!

And finally I have to get flights from Melbourne to Auckland, and from Wellington to Auckland to pick up my return flight to Singapore. Air New Zealand proved to be the cheapest choice for Melbourne to Auckland, Jetstar the cheapest and most convenient for Wellington to Auckland. It is amazing how trouble free things can be when you have a credit card that actually works!!

And then we come to accommodation....For much of my journey I am staying with friends and family which is the cheapest way!

But to be honest I also want to do a bit of a ‘consumer survey’ during my trip and see what other LGBT hotels have to offer and whether there is anything I can do better (or worse!). And there are a couple of places where I do not have friends (yet!), like Singapore, Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Auckland.

Now when I say LGBT, I mean LGBT owned and GLBT run, not one of the enormous international chains, or even a national chain, where you could actually be in any hotel in any city in the world and not know where, and where your money goes to head office wherever that is! Let’s face it we are gay and we want a proper gay establishment, not one where the staff have had special training as if we are people with ‘special needs’.

My priorities here are in this order,

1. LGBT owned and run
2. Location
3. Price.

As you know I can be a bit mean so it might seem odd to put price last, but many ‘gay’ hotels are very much boutique style which always tend to be more expensive, although I think some places still believe that there is a ‘pink’ dollar, or pound, or euro, so tend to be more pricey, (I don’t know why they think we have more money as recent surveys suggest that the 6% of the population that are ‘gay’ are responsible for 6% of spending, so they don’t spend any more or less than any other sector of the population).

As for location, there are some very nice GLBT places around but some of them are way out of town which is a bit inconvenient when the bars and local attractions are miles away, unless you have your own transport of course, which I don’t. And a couple of times I have to get up early to get to airports and railway stations!

Searching gay and lesbian directories, and the various sites dealing with ‘gay’ accommodation proved very disappointing for the locations where I wanted it most. For instance, Google produced only one result for Singapore, which on closer inspection looked like the rooms were for rent by the hour, and were sparsely furnished at that, although since then I have seen a review from somebody who stayed there and said it was fine......Fine if you like staying in a bathhouse that is, but when you get to a certain age you need somewhere with a few creature comforts!

Below are links to some of the sites that proved useful although I ended up in going to ‘gay friendly’ places which happened to be located just where I wanted them to be.

Australia proved to be the most difficult, and I don’t think anyone will be surprised when I say that Adelaide and Alice Springs proved to be the worst, New Zealand on the other hand proved very easy!

Trying to book LGBT accommodations in Adelaide did have it’s amusing side, as after the Qguide site proved fruitless (the one place listed came back and said ‘We do not have accommodation’), I tried the old favourite ploy of sending messages to people on line on Gaydar. Out of six messages sent, two didn’t reply, one said ‘I do not know of such things as I am not gay’, (I didn’t understand that one either), two came up with logical suggestions, and the last sent me the following message, and I quote verbatim...... “Hey Tim! Thanks for your message. God! You poor bugger! Adelaide is a complete gay desert! An inbred cesspool of cheating 'happily married' queers and mental retards! Not a normal gay bloke to be found!”. Which probably explains the ‘I’m not gay’ response! In the end I chose a hotel listed as gay friendly, but just happening to be in a convenient place.

I did make contact with someone in Alice Springs who proved very helpful with advice about tours, but as both nights that I would be spending in The Alice were late to bed and early to rise days, I didn’t worry too much and just booked something convenient.

For Melbourne there were a number of listings on various web sites, strangely these proved to be gay-friendly only, when in fact Melbourne has a couple of quite good gay owned/run places the names of which I got from a friend who lives there.

And what about prices?

I deliberately avoided ‘budget’ accommodation as in many cases this is going to be youth hostels or back-packers accommodation, not that I have anything against backpackers, I have met some very nice ones in my time, so I took the lower end of mid-price accommodation. Strangely accommodation in Australia and New Zealand seemed to be the same price in both dollar currencies which for us Europeans means that New Zealand was the cheapest place! Working on this basis a room for two costs around $120 per night in both A$ and NZ$, and in Singapore, S$175 per night for two. As a rough guide NZ$120 is £60 or €70, A$120 is £80 or £90, and S$175 is £90 or €100 respectively. Note that these prices are for two, no reduction for single travellers like we do at Villa Ralfa, (and quite common in Greece and Europe generally!)

For more about where I stayed and what I got up to you will have to wait until I write up all my notes and do some more blogs, but for now I will give you the web sites I found most useful.

http://www.topgayhotels.com/, http://www.qguide.com.au/, http://www.gaystay.co.nz/, proved most useful for accommodation, the Gaystay NZ web site lists a lot of gay accommodation, probably more than there is in the UK, especially useful for those touring around. The Qguide web site is very strange as sometimes it is there and another time not. I didn’t look to see where it is hosted but there seems to be problems with web sites in Australia generally. When I was planning my trip I took this problem to be at my end, only when I got there did I realise this was not the case.

http://www.utopia-asia.com/, is an excellent site for things to do in Singapore and Asia generally, there was a bit of a shortage of accommodation in Singapore so I used http://www.rainbowtourism.com/ , which also gave me useful accommodation in Adelaide.

http://www.galta.com.au, is a generally useful site, it has many listings around Adelaide too but as these were not central and I had a train to catch they were generally too far away!

http://www.starobserver.com.au/ and http://blaze.gaynewsnetwork.com.au/ are both news sites, they are also the home of some free gay newspapers and mags which have a lot of info in them, plus there are some classifieds on the web site. Good for looking at current affairs and events.

http://www.pinkboard.com.au also provides some accurate information and maps on various locations in Australia, while http://www.outinperth.com/ provides information specifically on Perth WA.

This sounds just like the Oscars doesn’t it!!??

And finally my thanks to a long time friend in Melbourne who suggested I stay at The Laird in Melbourne, an Australian pub in the true tradition, http://www.lairdhotel.com/, and also to the fellow members of the Gay Travellers Network, who came up trumps with things to do in Singapore http://www.gaytravellersnetwork.com !!

Greece 2010, Strikes & Economic Woes. To Go or Not To Go?

The lights are on, the doors are open, and Greece is open for business and awaiting your arrival!

Some more information and some hints and tips for getting here.....


Of course you do not have to be gay, or lesbian to be worried about this!


So just lately Greece has been getting some publicity and as we all know there is no such thing as bad publicity, (except your own obituary according to Brendan Behan), but in this case the publicity hasn't worked as well as we would hope !


According to my sources, Nexus, that runs gay cruises around the Aegean has cancelled one of its cruises because the passengers were concerned about 'the situation in Greece'.


Of course I do not know exactly what they mean by that, but then some people are very easily put off, so let's deal with the possible causes.


The economic 'situation' in Greece does not mean that Greece is closed for business, in fact internally everything is exactly the same as before! Yes we have had some increases in taxation with VAT (GST to some of you) rising by a massive 1%, yes ONE percent! Most places haven't bothered to even change the price lists as for, say, a long drink, (G & T, V & O, Metaxa & Coke), to put the price up by 4 to 6 cents is not really practical. And remember that spirit measures in Greece are unmeasured so for between €4-6 you are getting the equivalent of a treble in the UK! Good beer (Mythos 4.1% ABV) is still only around €3.50 - €4 for a large one too! And yes we have a 12.5% tax on mobile phone calls, but this hardly affects you as a visitor to Greece. For those that still smoke good, cigarettes are now €3.80 for a packet. For drivers, fuel prices are similar to those on mainland Europe, especially if you fuel up outside the main tourist areas!


Food prices and eating out are competitively priced compared to many other European countries, and unlike some you will have no unpleasant surprises when you come to pay your bill! Here on Crete you will almost always be given or offered raki and fruit at the end of your meal. In how many other European countries will you be given a free drink at the end of your meal, quite often after you have asked for, or even paid, your bill?


To put some more detail on the economic situation, the Greek Govt is running a large deficit, some of this is due to current international conditions, much is due to the poor record they have in collecting taxation, and some is probably still due to the Olympics (which are always wildly expensive to stage and do not really produce any additional foreign revenue to pay for themselves!). In fact the deficit it really no worse than in some other European countries, including the UK. What is making matters worse in Greece is the Government's apparant inability to collect taxes, and bearing in mind that things like water and electricity are still in the public sector, so even non-payment by consumers makes a difference to Government cash flow. (As an example here, when I bought Villa Ralfa in 2004, I discovered that the previous owner owed €1200 to the water company, a simple calculation showed that he had never paid a water bill since the house was built in 1991!)



The Government's response to the deficit has been to raise some taxes, cut wages in the public sector and increase pension age to 65, this has led to strikes and demonstrations. Some of these do lead to problems for travellers, for instance, air traffic controllers or immigration officials striking stops flights! But let's be honest what real effect does a strike by tax collectors or bank staff really have on visitors? The answer is none!!


Strikes by Customs also have little effect as we are part of the EU and visitors from other EU countries do not go through Customs as such.


Demonstrations have received much airtime internationally, but nothing has been made of the fact that these have taken place in Athens, in front of the Parliament building. But even so Athens is still open for business as the demonstrations are planned and announced in advance and any visitors need only check with their hotel front desk to find out where and when they are, and then plan to be somewhere else that day.


On the islands, parades and protests are virtually non-existent and here on Crete are only likely to take place in the capital Heraklion, which is hardly a Mecca for tourists except for visiting the museums.



Greece is still one of the safest countries in the world and is rarely a target for terrorism and has a low crime rate.



Generally strikes etc. take place on Thursdays, ergo, travel on a different day!


A small and slightly odd web site that has surprisingly accurate information on strikes, not just in Greece, (we are not alone!), can be found here Easy Travel Report


Many of the large travel companies seem to be limiting their exposure to Greece, I have even heard of one well known travel company advising visitors not to come to Greece, so for those who are 'hooked' on the 'package holiday' there may be only limited availability, but never fear, there are many opportunities for independent travellers to Greece and with accommodation available direct through the web it should not be difficult for prospective visitors to find readily available accommodation, as well as Villa Ralfa, of course!!


Remember too that travelling independently is better for the Greek economy as all of the money you spend on accommodation ends up in Greece, as most tour companies have their profit centres outside of Greece, but do ensure that you are booking with a locally owned and family run hotel or apartment business. Even better avoiding the large resort and all-inclusiv means you get to experience true Greek and especially Cretan hospitality.


So travelwise what have we got? Well forget about airfares for next to nothing! These days the price of aviation fuel is high and governments around the world have increased passenger duties and taxes in their greed for ever increasing revenue. Also bear in mind that Greece is a long way and is serviced by fewer airlines so you cannot compare the price of a flight from northern Europe to Spain for example because one is two hours flying time and Crete, Greece, for example is four hours!!


For travellers from the UK, expect to pay around 150GBP return including taxes, from Italy expect to pay around €160, both of these are for flights in July with Easyjet Easyjet also have flights in June from Berlin to Heraklion from €160



BOOK WISELY...BOOK EARLY is the slogan here, these budget flights fill up quickly and the prices rise the nearer you get to the departure date!!!


Aegean Airlines also have some very reasonable flights from various destinations around Europe in September and October bearing in mind that with Aegean you have to travel via Athens to get to Heraklion Crete, they have flights from Paris - CDG for €187 plus taxes. Aegean flights are of course scheduled flights and many of them run every day of the week!


Viking which used to only deal through agents and act as carriers for many package holiday companies, now take booking direct for flights from the UK and around Europe in general.


For a Europe-wide resource for budget flights to an from virtually everywhere then Attitude Travel still remains one of the best places to look first!


There are also some flight search engines on my web site at http://www.villaralfa.com/


If you want a round up of current news and possible strikes in Greece, the Athens News web site has much up to date information in English. For those looking for more news from Greece there is an English edition of Kathimerini here, or you can read the Greek version using the 'Google translate' toolbar, if you have it installed, here


Or you can read a local Cretan newspaper, Patris, here. This is only in Greek so you will need to have Google Translate, or something similar installed in your browser.

For those of you who have been to Greece and especially, Crete, before, remember all that sunshine, that crystal clear turquoise sea, the amazing scenery, the many thousands of years of history, the hospitality, the many small bars and restaurants serving traditional Cretan dishes from fresh produce? Isn't it time you came back?

For those who have never been before, well you do not know what you are missing! All of the things in the last paragraph for a start!

So You Want to Buy A Property on Crete? Part 2 - Your Dream Property And Its Location

Let's face it, wherever you are, dream properties can sometimes turn out to be a nightmare, and whether you are gay or straight, property on Crete, Greece, can turn out to be the same.


I think it does no harm to be flexible in your approach, but when buying property abroad you will find that you have to change your ideals to suit the type of property much of which is built to suit local conditions and styles.


So what type of property are we looking for? Well again we can break this down into sub headings as follows....


- A block of land


- A ruin for the DIY enthusiast


- A finished house


- A new build finished house


I know the last two look the same but I will explain the difference as we go along. We are really talking order of difficulty here, starting with the hardest and working through to the easiest.



Blocks of land are quite readily available on Crete. You will see signs by the side of the road advertising them, the various agents have them for sale, or if you have visited an area several times (and I hope you have done so as part of your research), then you can ask around among the people you have got to know. In fact you wouldn't be the first person to stand on a chair in a local kafenio and ask the assembled company if anyone knows of land for sale.


Pieces of land can be bought as an investment (but note my comments about your resale market in Part 1), or to build on. If you are just going to sit on the land and do nothing then fine, but if you intend to build then you will need to make sure that you will be able to build i.e. get the necessary permission and licences. There are rules about how much land you must have before you can build, and how many square metres you can build, these are designed to keep housing density down and preserve the character of the area. But naturally you must check these details before you buy as you might find that you can actually only build a very small house, or even worse not build at all!


You must make it clear that you intend to build when speaking with your lawyer so that he can investigate with the local town hall whether development is possible and what form this must take. Gaining the necessary permissions and licences can take time, and you will almost certainly need to have a local site agent to deal with the paperwork, hire and fire workers, liaise with your architect (many of whom will act as your site agent as well!), and ensure that taxes and 'IKA' payments are made. If you are any distance from 'services' you will also have to pay the costs for getting the services to your property and it is not unusual to have to wait weeks or even months to get, for instance, electricity, connected.


In the case of electricity the power company will often provide what is called 'builder's electricity' which is charged at a different, higher, rate. Your final (or any) connection will not be made until you produce the paperwork to prove that all the 'IKA' (social security) payments have been made for all the workers involved!

Building costs can vary according to the type of construction you intend to use and the overall 'quality and standard' of finish. E.g. Ceramic tiles on the floors or marble! Expect to pay around €1500 per square metre to build!



Ruined buildings are a common form of purchase and appeal to those who want a genuinely old traditional property and prepared to put in some work themselves as well as employing others to restore it. It helps here if you already know a builder that can view the property with you as sometimes these ruins are best left as they are, ruins, because there is nothing left to save and you may as well knock it down and start again.

Some features are considered very desirable in old properties so if there are one or more arches still existing, or there is the remains of an old olive or wine press, or an old fireplace you will have to pay more. Even the existence of an established vine or two can increase the price.


There are some advantages to purchasing a ruin, as you will have plenty of opportunity to stamp your own personality on it (provided again that you can get permission to enlarge the building, although if it is within a village boundary you can do almost what you like), but you will not have to worry about getting electricity and water to the property as it will probably be there already. The presence of water and electricity meters is a good sign here!

If you intend to renovate the property yourself please be aware that we don't have B and Q, or Wickes in Greece.....This means that you cannot do a one stop shop for everything you need so you need to be really organised and not forget anything when you visit your nearest large town to go shopping for materials. For timber you must go to one place, for cement another, for tiles another and so on! You will also find that at times it is difficult to get things delivered, make sure that you have an adequate map to guide delivery drivers and that you also know a suitable meeting point such as the nearest kiosk or church so that the driver can follow you from there. Some places will actually insist that meet the driver at the depot so he can follow you all the way!


Finished houses are available in most areas. These are usually older properties, many of which are habitable immediately and are family properties belonging to Greeks, that they no longer need. They will of course be Greek designed and as such are often completely different in concept from what you would expect in your own country. This type of property is very often the best to buy as they usually come complete with all the necessary permissions and paperwork and often only requires a bit of updating and refurbishment to produce either a home or a place to rent out. If you are thinking about future resale values as an investment then note that this type of property is often saleable to Greek buyers!


New Build finished houses are usually those built by developers or local builders 'on spec' with no specific buyers in mind. They do have advantages in that they will require very little extra work on your part beyond perhaps a bit of extra landscaping in the garden and if you buy them at the right stage you will be able to choose your own tiles, floors, and kitchen/bathroom fittings but do bear in mind that if you choose 'luxury' fittings then you may well have to pay more! You can also buy this type of property 'off plan'.

Of course choosing this course will mean that you will probably be buying in a development and will have close neighbours and that all of the houses will be virtually the same design, it is a good idea to tie the developer down to what he is planning to do with the rest of the vacant land if you are one of the first buyers in a development. Locally to me the first buyers in a development had a seaview, this was blocked out a few months later when the developer built another row of houses in front of them!

Again here you must consider the future of the property as most of these are designed by foreigners for foreigners which does limit your resale market.


Location, location, location.......You can buy land, build or buy a house anywhere you like, it is up to you! BUT if you intend to live in it, then you need to be aware of what the local services are like!

I have had several people staying with me, looking at property, and find their dream in a small resort on the south coast overlooking the Libyan Sea, a delightful spot during the summer, with one or two shops and a local taverna. What they do not understand is that during the winter these resorts are 'closed'! OK there may be one or two people resident all year round, but the shops are not open and neither is the taverna, and more often than not all you will have for company are a few goats and the goatherd, fine for those independent and self-sufficient folk, but you can find conversation a little limited! And do you really want to drive for two hours to the nearest large town to go shopping, particularly when it is pouring with rain or snowing in February?

We do get rain on Crete, and lots of it during the winter, so do pick your property carefully, that empty river bed beside you could well be a raging torrent during the winter!

And the more remote a property the less likely you are to be able to sell it at a later date. On the other hand Cretan villages can be very crowded places and within minutes of your moving in everyone will know your business!

A Short Slideshow From Villa Ralfa the Original Gay and Lesbian Gueshouse on Crete, Greece

An Example of Driving on Crete, The Road to Samaria from Villa Ralfa Crete Greece

Crete, Greece - Gem of The Mediterranean

Not noramlly considered a gay or lesbian destination, in fact most gay travel agents and web sites would have difficulty sending you there, Crete has much to offer the gay tourist who is looking for Greek and Cretan culture, history, and food.

The Greeks will tell you that when the gods created the world, they apportioned all the dry land out to each race, at the end there was a pile of rocks left, and these they threw into the Mediterranean Sea, and this became Greece. Whether the story is true or not, Greece remains a rocky country, which probably explains why the Greeks are so good at moving rocks about, but one particular pile of rocks, the island of Crete is a gem amongst rocks.

From fertile coastal plains to rugged barren mountains, from mellow stone houses to stark concrete modernity, from bustling capital to sleepy hill villages, Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands, is an island of contrasts.
Home to around 500,000 people and several million olive trees, the island remains ever popular with visitors from northern Europe, other parts of Greece, and indeed, visitors from all over the World.

Many visitors never venture further than the beach, pool, or the nearest taverna, and remain (blissfully?) unaware of just how large the island is! Unlike the other Greek islands you cannot drive (or in some cases walk) around the island in one day, but having said that, four or five days is sufficient to give time to sample some of the islands’ delights and attractions, and 3 weeks will give you time for a full blown tour. Driving around the island is an experience in itself, road signs appear in both Greek and Roman characters, the spelling however has a certain eccentricity which gives map reading a whole new angle. And the, sometimes, tortuous hairpin bends on the mountain roads could be a challenge to any rally driver. Add to this the occasional appearance of a goat from out of nowhere, and the odd large truck which can appear at any time, and you will soon find your driving skills much improved and your speed much reduced in line with the pace of life we experience here!

To many Crete means the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, and many visiting cruise ships stop only for the day to give their passengers time to see Knossos and its Minoan Palace and the Museum in the capital, Heraklion. To the uncomplicated farming people of many thousands of years ago, the ‘city’ of Knossos would, indeed, have seemed like a Labyrinth! But outside the city there lie more ruins of interest, and greater simplicity, leading to greater understanding and more insight into the history behind the ruins.

The interior of the island holds many surprises, with spectacular scenery such as the Samaria Gorge, the longest in Europe, and traditional hill villages, churches and monasteries, where little has changed for many years, and where you are just as likely to see someone in traditional Cretan dress riding a donkey as you are a tourist riding a scooter. Even in the tourist resorts development has taken place around agriculture, and the olive trees and field of potatoes behind your apartment block will still be an active part of the life of Crete. Waking to the sound of cocks crowing and goat bells can still be a fact of life even when surrounded by concrete and glass.

Throughout the island the remnants of occupation by invaders from the Romans, through to the Turks, can still be seen, with aqueducts and architecture still plainly visible. But throughout these invasions the Cretan people have remained relatively unscathed and retain their justifiable pride in their island and their culture. With English spoken widely throughout the island to ask a Cretan a question is to invite them to sit with you, and with time measured differently here you are likely to be sitting for while! Long conversations will naturally require food and drink, and eating or taking coffee here are as much an art form as a necessity, with long leisurely meals often prepared from the café owner’s home grown produce accompanied by his own ‘village’ wine. Larger restaurants in the tourist resorts serve ‘international’ menus, but you came here to sample Crete didn’t you?

Of course, we have some wonderful beaches, pick the right place and you can have a cove nearly all to yourself even in August, and our crystal clear, turquoise sea is ideal for swimming, diving, and other water sports. (I often have the sneaking suspicion, still after all this time, that someone puts dye in the water to make it that blue!). Add to this pony trekking, rock climbing, para-gliding, and a round of gold on the 18 hole ‘desert’ golf course and your stay here can be as active or inactive as you like.

Many prospective visitors ask me about nightlife for gay people on Crete. The Greeks, of course, do not admit that they may have gay Greeks at all, for much of the time, although this is changing slowly (like everything in Greece). It is not that they ignore it as a way of life, they just seem to take no notice of it! In the busy tourist resorts little notice is likely to be taken of a noticeably gay couple, but it is advisable to be like the Greeks and be discrete, but then this applies most places, in the quieter villages you may well raise an eyebrow or two! We do have one bar which is now openly marketing itself as ‘gay’, and we do have a busy nudist beach, which is usually of interest, and yes, there are gay Greeks, believe me, I live here!

Having said that, there are excellent bars and clubs, which serve the ‘mixed population’ during the summer months and if your idea of a holiday is clubbing each night from 10pm until 5am, with your days spent recovering, then that is up to you, but I always suggest you try and get to visit Crete one day!

During the summer months transport links with northern Europe are excellent, with many flights each weeks coming direct to the island. Ferries to the mainland and other islands are frequent and make Crete an excellent choice for island hopping or as a long side trip on a general European itinerary. Many of my guests arrive on Crete via Santorini (which can be expensive!) and Mykonos (which they tell me is no longer the almost exclusively gay resort it used to be. I personally haven’t been there since the late 70’s!), and leave again by ferry for Athens. In the winter, ferries still sail as they are the supply chain to the islands. Flights can be a little more complicated as in most cases you will have to come via Athens. An out of season trip to Crete reveals the Cretan community as it really is, as there will be few tourists around and many attractions will be closed. On the other hand you will get to see the island clothed in a mantle of green, and the olive groves carpeted with wild flowers, particularly in March and November, rather than barren hills and red soil that summer visitors will see. The result of temperatures up to the mid 40’s Celsius and rarely any rain from May to September!

Trying to describe Crete, the birthplace of Zeus, the seat of Minoan civilisation, and home of olive tree culture, in 1500 words, is like trying to put a ship in a bottle, but much harder, but I hope this short article has given you some ideas and I look forward to seeing you on Crete, the island gem of the Mediterranean!
Some notes about me, the author. I was born in England and have travelled extensively in Europe including Eastern Europe and Russia when the ‘Iron Curtain’ still existed. In 1981 I went to Australia where I lived and worked in Perth and Kalgoorlie until I was deported, because they have no taste! Returning to Brighton, England, I worked in the electrical industry until I started my own catering business. In 2002 after many happy times on Crete on holiday, I decided the time was right to move here. With goods and chattels packed, and after a long drive across Europe and three ferry trips later, I arrived on Crete in February 2004, and bought ‘Villa Ralfa’ a few weeks later, opening it as a gay orientated guest house in September 2004. Since then I have had visitors from Australia, USA, New Caledonia (!), France, Italy, Holland, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, and of course the UK. You can find my website at http://www.villaralfa.com/and if you need any suggestions for travel to Crete then you are welcome to contact me by email through the web site.