Austria remains unfinished: for some reason any creative impulses remain silenced for Vienna and Saltzburg.  I have tried – promise – but I simply cannot bring myself to write about either.

This despite the hotels being nice, the food being good (in Vienna) and the bier ‘kellar’ experience in Saltzburg being …  well … an ‘experience’.

So I gave up.

But Crete beckons – and the writing bug has bitten again.

Why Crete?

It’s historically interesting, geographically impressive and the whole family are joining us in what looks to be a lovely villa on the outskirts of Chania.   Plus, when it came down to finding something that fulfilled the various requirments of the whole family, this villa (and therefore Crete) won.

Once we had chosen the villa (near Chania), we had to decide where to go with the time around the ‘family week’.  This proved tricky as Crete is actually larger than you think when looking at the map; and while there are quick roads on the northern side of the island, the rest of it is less well served.

We have restricted ourselves to the western end of the island (with some ‘middly’ bits), taking in a few sites (but not Knossos  – just so that everyone knows up front).

South-Western Crete will be up next:   wild, less touristy, windy… fewer ruins or remains.