Travel: Crete, an island of history, myth and magical beauty

“It feels a bit like Squid Game, but a holiday version” says fellow guest Nick from Sheffield over breakfast. I know why. A few days ago finding a seat for breakfast outside on the terrace was Mission: Impossible. As soon as one became available it was snapped up. That is, until people started, well, disappearing.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact it was expected. I had headed with the family to Crete to explore what it’s like to experience a tourist hotspot in the very last week of a season. In a few days time the Tui resort of Elounda Breeze would be closed for the winter.

Being among the last guests in a resort could feel perturbing, it conjured up images of being stuck in deserted towns with closed attractions or abandoned beaches. However, Crete’s relatively balmy 23C felt like a final goodbye to the summer.

Arriving late in the season came with other advantages. The heat wasn’t stifling, towns and cities such as Heraklion weren’t squeezed full of fellow tourists and over the course of the week we began to strike up conversations with fellow guests. The entertainment staff began to know your name and remember your score from grass darts, or the pub quiz the night before. Finding a sun lounger is a breeze, queues for slides in the hotel’s small waterpark are non-existent.

Elounda, and the nearby town of Agios Nicholaus were among the first areas of Crete to welcome tourists on package holidays in the 1960s.

As a four-star hotel, Tui’s Elounda Breeze offers an all-inclusive offering for a reasonable price.

Although Crete is known for its reliable beaches, another big draw is the culture, which helps make it more of a year-round destination than other Greek islands.

“This is the place where myth meets history!” says our guide Maria Beteinaki as we tour round Knossos.

“Icarus was so young, only 14 years old, he was just a little too enthusiastic and went too close to the greatest star of all, the sun.”

Although Icarus belongs in the mythology category, when it comes to Crete’s history very little is known about the island’s ancient race of people. The Minonian’s own language is yet to be deciphered, the society may or may not have been a matriarchy and the story of Theseus and the Minotaur would be instantly rejected by any modern-day children’s publisher.

The land is part of the myths and legends of the Mediterranean. Taking advantage of the lower end-of-season temperatures to enjoy a leisurely stroll around ancient Knossos palace, Maria can’t help but ooze enthusiasm, her voice rises as she details the palace’s plumbing.

“The oldest indoor drainage system was here! Europe’s oldest flushing toilet is here!” she shouts. “What they achieved has affected our lives ever since!”

According to Maria, the sprawling palace is older than Troy, Rome or Athens and was built on the ruins of another settlement in 2,200 BC. In all, the hilltop close to the modern city of Heraklion has been occupied for around 9,000 years.

It makes you ponder what’s beneath your feet, how much of the rock I am standing on is hill, or simply older versions of the palace? Knossos is believed to have been destroyed and rebuilt over 70 times, which is either incredibly careless custodianship, or a relic of its rich, violent past. History mixes with mythology until the two are intertwined.

“The King had a very sweet death… trying to get to the bottom of a giant jar of honey,” I hear her cackle as we make our way out of a throne room, unsure if the anecdote is fact or fable.

As I listen into a historical lesson, the children are playing with a bull, on an iPad at least. The archaeological museum has cleverly uploaded a virtual tour of the palace on to a tablet that kids can take around and immerse themselves in the Minoan way.

Not all of Crete’s best spots are so tech savvy.

When it comes to facilities Kolokitha beach, near Elounda, could best be described as basic. There’s no shop, cafe, toilets or even a road for that matter. One solitary chair standing among the Greek scrub is all visitors can expect to find.

It’s perfect. But it isn’t always a tranquil idyll. In the summer months, flurries of boats anchor up, unload for their allotted hour, and let day-trippers “discover” the remote beach. So much so that there’s barely space for a towel.

I ponder this as we unpack a picnic, kick back and enjoy the small waves rolling into the secluded shore. A single other family play in the wash further up the beach. Nearby is a sunken Minoan town of Olous, which can be reached on a snorkelling excursion and is marked by a trio of old windmills on the shore.

A few miles north is the island of Spinalonga, an ancient trading post and leper colony with tight, densely-packed ruins where you can walk between its walls in quiet contemplation, away from the mid-summer crowds.

It is, like many parts of Crete, worth a visit. You just have to pick the right week.

Factfile

TUI offers seven-night stay at the 4T TUI BLUE Elounda Breeze, Crete on an all-inclusive basis. Prices from £845pp. Price is based on two adults and two children sharing a bedroom family room with flights departing from Edinburgh on 6th May 2025.