Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Away
B for Matala (€7.80, two hours). There's free roadside parking and a beach parking lot
that charges €2.
WORTH A TRIP
MUSEUM OF CRETAN ETHNOLOGY
€3; 11am-5pm Apr-Oct, by appointment in winter)
is the best of its kind in Crete and worth
a quick detour to Vori for fascinating insight into traditional Cretan culture. The
English-labelled exhibits are organised around such themes as rural life, food pro-
duction, war, customs, architecture and music. Although most of the items are
rather ordinary - hoes, olive presses, baskets, clothing, instruments etc - they're
all engagingly displayed in darkened rooms accented with spotlights. It's well sign-
posted from the main Mires-Tymbaki road.
TOP OF CHAPTER
RethymnoΡέθυμνο
POP 54,900
Basking between the commanding bastions of its 15th-century fortress and the glittering
Med, Rethymno (
reth
-im-no) is one of Crete's most delightful towns. Its Venetian-Otto-
man quarter is a lyrical maze of lanes draped in flowers and punctuated by wood-bal-
conied houses; minarets add an exotic flourish. While architectural similarities invite
comparison to Hania, Rethymno has a character all of its own, thanks in large part to a
sizeable student population. Crete's third-largest town has lively nightlife, some excellent
restaurants and even a decent beach right in town. The busier beaches, with their requis-
ite resorts, stretch almost without interruption all the way to Panormo, some 22km east.
