When Ben and Polina went to Crete

I think it’s about time I started blogging again and what is a better topic than telling you guys all about the amazing holiday I’ve just came back from??!

Ben and I went to Crete – a beautiful Greek island. We found an amazing deal on Thomas Cook that was definitely more than worth it.

The town we stayed at was Hersonissos – just 20 minutes drive from Heraklion airport – ideal. Whether you want to rent a car or get a transfer, it just couldn’t be better located.

We were just 30 km away from Malia  – the holiday resort for teenagers who want to get smashed and get laid – but the emphasis is on away – it was a chilled, no crazy-party-holiday, when we got to recover  from a difficult year at work and finally get some sun (I really don’t need to insert a joke about English weather here, do I?)

Most importantly, we went for an all inclusive holiday – at The Grand Hotel – and I don’t think I would ever want a non all-inclusive holiday ever again,

Our hotel was AMAZING. Where do I start?

Grand Hotel Facilities

I’m a complainer, but I really can’t fault the facilities.

The rooms were basic – twin beds, air-con, TV, fridge, mirror and a proper bathroom (with a bath – although I didn’t use it – because – pools, duh – I will get to them shortly 🙂 )But who cares about the room? We only used it for sleep or to change and get ready for breakfast/lunch/dinner. Naturally, we stayed caught up with all the news and politics throughout the holiday – the only two TV channels that we had in English were BBC International and Sky News.Most of my mornings started with a feature on why Boris is a coward and why Theresa May thinks she would be an amazing PM. Ha.

The facilities were outstanding.The hotel starts just across the road from the sea and goes up the hill along the mountain slope. Right at the bottom there is the main building with the reception, bar, buffet restaurant, a la carte restaurant (all-inclusive guests get an automatic reservation), spa, gym, conference room (where they hosted all Euro games – apparently I’m a football fan now), jewellery shop, mini market (with all the snacks, booze and other items you would suddenly need (I got a pair of Prada sunglasses for 9 Euro. Totally not fake, ha!) The problem is – you will not be able to find any unbranded sunglasses anywhere on the entire island! All of them are fake, and all of them would have a massive fake branding and logos all over them.  Ben got two pairs of Raybans for 10 Euro and couldn’t be happier. Fakes, yay! Lol.

The Grand Hotel has three pools – the big one right next to the main building – with entertainment, music, games, aerobatics classes, etc.; a relaxation pool (16+ only, no games allowed) with peace and quiet and WiFi (yes, the WiFi was through the entire hotel area – hence my Instagram was updated very regularly) and children’s pool for all the toddlers.

Ben and I spent the most of the time by the relaxation pool – sipping on the beer and studying. In the sun. #mylifewascomplete

Oh, did I tell you that the hotel had their own mini water-park?

The food

Oh, the food! We’ve been to all-inclusive hotels before and I was preparing myself to accept average boring food and repeating meals. I cannot describe how happy I was when we saw the buffet!

What do you fancy for breakfast? Full fry up? Cereal? Yogurts? Pancakes? Pastries? French toasts? Continental breakfast? Maybe you would fancy a dessert? They had it all. On top of that we were greeted with a glass of sparking wine. What an amazing start to a day, huh?

Lunches and dinners offered anything you could wish for as well – soups (they were amazing!), huge salad bar, at least five main dishes, a roast joint (different meat every day), and something grilled – from kebab and burgers to fish and steak.

The dessert section was huge – and it included ice-cream (four choices, sauces and all kind of sprinkles:) ) – I literally had ice-cream every day.

Overall impression of Grand Hotel?

We would definitely come back. All members of staff were amazing, our experience just couldn’t be better!

 

 

The only regret? Not going for two weeks.