Wine, Tsikoudia, music and dance plus treats. All promised for Vouves up in the lush hills, inland from Kolymbari in the Kissamos region.

Festival events take place on both days.
While attending it is well worth seeing the oldest oak tree at Ano Vouves (the higher and smaller of the two Vouves villages) where the Olympic olive branch was plucked for this year’s games.

If you fancy staying in the area http://www.crete-hotels-rooms.com have some wonderful places to stay nearby. as well as in Chania and the rest of Crete.

The villages can be reached off the “main” road for Paleochora or from Spilia.

For more information on magical villages in crete visit www.cretetravel.com

The updated Athens Mini Guide is updated and expanded.
More museum information with new museums, exhibits, galleries and links to the many cultural offerings for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Many NEW photographs and photo-galleries have been added; you can see Athens as it looks…ready for the Olympic Games.

More suggested hotels (including Athens airport hotels) have been added.
Information about the Metro, the new Tram system and special taxis for the Olympic Games.
More restaurant descriptions have been added and many useful links to help you enjoy rewarding days in Athens.

For many Athens is a stop on the way to Crete (the main subject of the Guide to Crete, recommending hotels in Crete and a bank of useful information to help discerning visitors find the hidden delights of the island – CreteTravel.com). The city has been much improved since many projects, including the pedestrian walkway between some of the major museums, the Acropolis, key archaeological and historic areas have been completed recently.
The city has several new cafes and an even greater varieties of cuisine, new hotels and more – all these and the numerous cultural shows and events, have bumped Athens up several pegs on the international visitors’ lists of must-visit world cities.

http://www.cretetravel.com/Athens

The Olympic flame is nearing the completion of its tour of Crete.
Today (Monday 12 July 2004) the flame, preceded and followed by a procession of Olympic people-carriers, sponsors’ specially liveried vans and floats, made its way from Rethymno, through the villages of Vrysses, Armenoi and Kalives towards its evening celebration appointment at Venizelos Graves on the hillside with a spectacular view over Chania.

Villagers, tourists and visitors enjoyed the palpable excitement in the air…smiles all round and flags waving from the tiniest hands of young children and the weathered grip of older folk.

Tuesday will see the last day of the flame’s tour in Crete before it continues around Greece to its eventual home for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

At 6.23 PM (1823 hours) local time the Olympic flame touched down at Heraklion’s Nikos Katzanzakis airport in Crete. Arriving back in Greece – the birthplace of the Olympic games.

Tonight (9 July) a concert featuring Harris Alexiou will take place at the main Eleftherias Venezelos Square where the torch will proceed after a boat trip across the harbour to the famous Heraklion landmark, the Koules Fortress.

The torch will be relayed by runners round much of the island. It will pass the CreteTravel.com monitoring room during Monday 12 July, on its way to Chania.

The fountain on Lion Square opposite Daedalos Street on 25th August in Heraklion, Crete – is once more spouting water from the lions’ mouths.

The whole fountain has been cleaned and this well known meeting place and cafe center, home of the essential Bougatsa pie, is now so much more pleasant.

We travelled on the Blue Star 2 ferry on Friday, July 2.

First impression: it is a new ship, with good, clean, air conditioned areas and nice cafe/restaurants.
BUSY! the Economy class was crowded, which meant that those “air-seats” (pullman seats) were all occupied very quickly. Very soon the rest of the seating areas (including cafes and restaurants) were all full.
The partly-covered deck on the top floor was unappealing and very hot (sailing was at 16:00).

We changed to a cabin (after a long wait at the reception desk – only 1 person serving the many poeple who had requests for cabins), which was of course much more comfortable.
Tip: If you are sailing at a non-busy time (outside July/August and weekends), you might be fine without a cabin – otherwise, it is strongly recommended.

If you can travel at a quieter time, do so; you will also be able to enjoy the sea voyage more. E.g. the cafes have wonderful floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the sea views and we would have enjoyed sitting and gazing at the view, or reading a book during the trip.
But on this trip, everything was full, a little too smoky and the TVs (as on all ships) in the corners were too loud.

The cabins are clean and comfortable, without being exceptional.

The food on the ferry offered a decent variety, an a la carte restaurant, as well as a self service restaurant and snack bars. Drinks and snacks tried were good.
[Note: the price for a small bottle of mineral water was 0.50 euros on the boat, equal to the indicated price on the bottle. There has been a government campaign to keep prices down and it appears to be working. The price is the same as in shops/kiosks in Syntagma and around the Acropolis]

The disembarkation process left something to be desired.
Tip: ignore the calls to surrender your cabin key early and don’t move from your seat too soon. There is a long queue as people start moving towards the reception and exits.
You\’d be better off waiting and be one of the last to disembark, if you don’t want to stand crammed in corridors for half and hour (or more).

Blue Star vs ANEK?
If the Venizelos ferry was still running this route, we would prefer it for style, atmosphere and service.
But the other ANEK ships are old… so we would opt for Blue Star but:
-take a cabin (with window preferably)
-board EARLY
-disembark LATE

On giant video walls in Heraklion’s Pan Cretan stadium, in Heraklion’s Eleftherias Square, in Chania, Ierapetra, Xerokambos, Loutro and all villages in Crete crowded cafes, bars and tavernas, the CreteTravel.com monitoring room – a massive cry of celebration as Greece, against all the odds wins the Euro 2004 football championship.

Every car seems to display the famous blue and white flag of Hellas, Greece.