Patrick Comerford
I am back in Crete this evening, planning to mark the end of Holy Week and Good Friday and to celebrate Easter in Rethymnon, following the daily rhythm of prayer and liturgies in the Cathedral and the Church of the Four Martyrs.
I am staying for the next five days in the centre of Rethymnon in the Hotel Brascos, overlooking the Municipal Gardens and just a few steps from the Church of the Four Martyrs and a few steps more from the cathedral.
Easter is the most important and moving festival in Greek life, and the commemoration of Good Friday and the celebration of Easter this year coincide for both the Western Church and the Greek Orthodox Church.
This my third time to stay in the Hotel Brascos: I was there in April last year, and stayed there too for a week 11 years ago (2014). The hotel is on the corner of Moatsou Street and Daskalaki Street (Μοάτσου και Δασκαλάκη), close to the Porto Guora or old gate leading into the old Venetian town, with its labyrinthine network of narrow cobbled streets and squares. The old Venetian port is only 350 metres from the hotel, and the beach – the longest sandy beach on the island – is a mere five-minute walk away.
The roof garden and bar in the Brascos Hotel were closed last year, but I hope when I arrive they have reopened this month. They offer panoramic and dramatic views over the old town with its Turkish minarets, Byzantine towers and Venetian fortezza, and out across the harbour. The small swimming pool was being drained and refurbished last year, so I hope it too is open and I can have a swim on some of the coming days.
I have visited Crete most years since the mid-1980s, and I have probably lost count of the numbers of times I have stayed in Rethymnon over these 40 years or so, in the town itself or in the suburban villages of Platanias and Tsesmes out to the east. By now, Rethymnon feels like my home town in Greece. In addition, in the past, I have stayed in Crete in the hilltop villages of Piskopiano and Koutouloufari above Hersonissos, in Iraklion, in Chania, in Georgioupoli half-way between Rethymon and Chania, in Kolymvari west of Chania, and in Paleochora on the south coast.
I have flown into Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport in Iraklion tonight and now face a long journey to Rethymnon. A recent survey named the airport as Europe’s worst airport, with reviewers describing it as overcrowded, dirty and ‘like an apocalypse’. Reports described nightmare airport experiences and survival challenges, with people spending hours standing in a crowded, sweltering terminal, wading through seas of passengers, and dealing with poor amenities.
The airport received the lowest rating among Europe’s 85 busiest airports according to a Holidu ranking, with frequent complaints about the lack of seating, poor cleanliness, and inadequate facilities. In a recent article, the Telegraph travel writer Heidi Fuller-Love said: ‘Approaching Heraklion’s airport, cars were abandoned along either side of the road – it was like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film.’
That feature described scenes of chaos, overcrowded terminals, and inadequate air conditioning. Queues for different airlines merged into a single chaotic crowd, and the airside facilities are equally dismal with limited seating, bad coffee, and poor amenities.
Holidu, a booking portal for holiday homes, ranked the worst airports by looking at millions of Google reviews, and showed that Iraklion airport scored just 2.6 out of 5. Frequent complaints included a lack of seating, dirty toilets, and poor cleanliness, all of which appeared often in its 21,000 reviews.
One of the reviews said: ‘The Heraklion airport has not been updated since the 1950s’.
Iraklion is the main airport on Crete and the second busiest airport in Greece after Athens International Airport. However, a new airport is expected to open in 2027, with promises of better amenities, more boarding gates, and a significantly improved travel experience. When it opens in 2027, Kastelli International Airport will replace Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport in Iraklion.
Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport opened 1937. Today it is stretched sorely to cope with the 8-9 million passengers who travel through it each year. When Kastelli International Airport opens, it will become the second-largest airport in Greece, with the ability to handle around 18 million passengers a year.
The first tourists of this year’s season Crete arrived last month [8 March] with the arrival of travellers at Heraklion Airport from Germany, the Netherlands and France, followed the next day by arrivals from Switzerland. By early this month, the tourist season was in full bloom, and it seems Crete is promised a vibrant summer ahead.
But I have quieter plans for the next few days. After my late arrival in Iraklion this evening, there may be no time for dinner in the old town In Rethymnon. But I am looking forward to walks through the old town or around the harbour, swimming in the sea at Pavlos Beach in Platanias, watching the sunsets from my balcony or sipping a drink near the Fortezza, enjoying the view of the domes, bell towers and minarets.
There may even be time too to visit a monastery I know in the hills above Rethymnon, or perhaps to visit Chania or Iraklion, and perhaps lunch or dinner with some old friends in Platanias and Tsesmes, or in Panormos, Iraklion or Hersonissos, before I catch a return flight from Chania to Luton on Monday evening.
