Re: Hersonissos
Now. He's asleep. I'll continue to reminisce.
There are, of course, the Irish bars. There's Doherty's which was just like a big student party in someone's house with sticky floors. I can just remember striking a Morissey pose against one of the trees outside. I've got the photo somewhere. There was another one on the main street that had karaoke. The name fails me. Probably Murphy's. We always started our nights out in a place called Baileys. Not Irish. Off the beaten track at one end of the town. That's where we met the
Killer Sniff. Boy did that set you up for the night. Cost nothing as well (at the time - 1995). Once they make the drink the bartender licks his hand and covers the glass. The flames go out and the glass is vacuumed to his hand. He can then shake it about a bit and then you inhale the fumes. Then drink it. Then he can light the residue of the glass, stick it to his hand and you inhale again. More entertaining than anything else. When we were there they also welcomed dancing on the bar. Great spot to kick it all off. Usually empty.
Club 69 and the Black Cactus. Looks like they're still on the go.
I had the best ever Chinese food in Hersonissos as well. On the right hand side of the main street as you go from the Heraklion end of the town. Chicken and cashew nut in a potato basket. Fantastic. Never had anything like it since.
What else what else ...
Octopus. Had some of that there as well. There is an amazing array of bistros and restaurants all along the seafront. Anything you want. So I opted for octopus. Guess what, tastes like chicken. But maybe since octopi were around before chickens, maybe chicken tastes just like octopus.
Went up to old Hersonissos. Really nice quaint little square. Had squid (kalamari) up there. Didn't think much of it. Only they plied us with raki beforehand so we couldn't taste anything after that. Ouzo is cheaper than water and the locals mix it with water and carry it around with them. Nice if you like aniseed. Not my cup of tea.
All in all, we loved Hersonissos. We stayed in the Belos apartments just outside the town. There was a German encampment which went by the name of the Nine Muses between us and the town. Fortunately, for us, it was a shortcut. But they didn't seem to share our fervor
There's a water park around there as well. We took a taxi. Save it till later on in the holiday when you've adjusted to prolonged periods of heat. No shelter at all out there.
My lasting memory will be going for a walk alone up by some mountains where they were building a road. There was a sheer cliff face where they'd cut into the mountain - about 150 feet of cliff and then a view into the Aegian Sea on the other side. Utter silence. Then BANG. 2 F14's flew overhead and where miles away before the sound registered. Fantastic stuff.
One concern we had about the apartments was that we had heard that the sewerage system couldn't handle, well, let's say used toilet paper. On our inaugural day there we were up in the apartments and we heard a huge cheer - we could indeed flush our bumwipes down the toilet!
Unlike Gumbet, Turkey the following year. Road-sweeper type trucks going around collecting sewerage from apartment complexes. Plus having to put second hand toilet paper in a bin beside the toilet. Not that it mattered in the long term. By the end of the second week, you'd been drinking so much you didn't wipe your bum - you mopped it
I'll end on that note. In conclusion, Hersonissos gets a BIG thumbs up.