News

[mickydripping]

Just been researching TUI's plans to open a new "Robinson" resort on south coast of Crete. I immediately thought of Damnoni...but fortunately its somewhere near Ierapita, so no worries for now, although I feel someday all of Plakias bay and Damnoni will be urbanised...sad!

I read that the famous Plakias wind is sandblasting as usual...has anyone got any explanation for this , such as local topography, particular weather or wind directions?

[Arnaki]

My understanding is that when the Meltemi blows in summer, a wind from the north, it is funnelled down the two gorges which increases the wind strength. Some spots of Plakias seem windier than others, which may have to do with the alignment with the gorges perhaps? I'm disabled and nearly got blown off my feet a couple of times yesterday, but today the wind is lighter with the usual strong gusts here and there. None of the wind and weather forecasts seem accurate!

[teignkall]

The Plakias winds are part of the summer Greek meltimi winds which originate around the mountains of central and Eastern Europe, passes over the Black Sea then funnels through the bosphouros and down the Aegean Sea. When it reaches Crete along the north coast it is then concentrated through the various north to south gorges. Plakias is at the end of a short straight gorge ending very close to the the village so the wind unfoturnately does not have time to break up before reaching the sea.
The winds show up well on the ventusky or windytv apps or webpages as mentioned in April posts this year.
Hope I haven't bored you to much.

[Mike G]

The flights to Heraklion that Olympic is offering for 2018 from LGW are at pretty anti-social times, either for arriving in Crete or UK. Having spent a long night in October at the airport waiting for the trains to start, when Olympic changed the flights at the last minute, I am reluctant to volunteer for it.

[JackieatUrbanAgenda]

That's half the problem........you book something that fits your timetable (for example we have to travel up to Gatwick from Plymouth and back) and then Olympic go and change it...Gatwick's chairs aren't that comfortable and this year the two ladies sitting behind us wouldn't keep quiet so no-one got any sleep anyway. I am still prepared to tolerate it for the sake of my time in Plakias but it is really annoying !

[Mike G]

The flights to Heraklion that Olympic is offering for 2018 from LGW are at pretty anti-social times, either for arriving in Crete or UK. Having spent a long night in October at the airport waiting for the trains to start, when Olympic changed the flights at the last minute, I am reluctant to volunteer for it.

I asked Olympic why their flight times from LGW are at horrible times. For the non charter flights, easyJet offer 2 a day, one of which is at much better times IMHO. They said they would quote me for the other flight and did.

I also asked if I could buy just the accommodation from Olympic and arrange all transport myself. I was told "no" even though another member of the forum told me that Olympic have allowed this in the past.