Minos Village - September 2019
Arriving late in the dark, it wasn't difficult to find, having already plotted it on the herewego app. There are not many parking bays outside, so we had to park opposite, not so bad being a one-way road, if you don't drive past all the spaces.
Reception was closed when we arrived, so they'd left us a printout stuck to the door guiding us to our room. The room itself was nice, modern, open plan and laid out as you can see in the pictures below. Unfortunately, our balcony was roadside, so our vies was not great and we could see straight across to someone else’s.
Reception was closed when we arrived, so they'd left us a printout stuck to the door guiding us to our room. The room itself was nice, modern, open plan and laid out as you can see in the pictures below. Unfortunately, our balcony was roadside, so our vies was not great and we could see straight across to someone else’s.
The bathroom was only small, again it was modern, surprisingly light with only a small window and had a large shower cubicle. The shower head looked a bit like an old telephone handle and the water didn't spread out like normal shower heads would, so it was a bit like getting showered with a hosepipe, but it was very powerful, and the temperature was great.
If you were luckier than us, you might have got a room overlooking the pool, a much nicer view. The pool is only small, with a section fenced off for the toddlers and there's about 24 sunbeds surrounding the pool.
Asterias Village Resort - September 2019
Arriving at Asterias, there is an archway at the top, but to head to the car park, you must drive past and take your next left, which is a very steep road. Having safely made it to the bottom, you then must go back to the bottom of the steep hill and walk part way back up, where you'll find the pool and reception is over to the left.
Reception is a large area with sofas, and we were greeted by the gentleman at reception, whom whilst checking us in had phoned through and to get another gentleman to show us to our room. Closely following his arrival, another gentleman appeared with some free drinks (still lemonade), which I thought was a very nice welcome.
Reception is a large area with sofas, and we were greeted by the gentleman at reception, whom whilst checking us in had phoned through and to get another gentleman to show us to our room. Closely following his arrival, another gentleman appeared with some free drinks (still lemonade), which I thought was a very nice welcome.
We'd originally booked a maisonette, as we were hoping that would mean top floor, with potentially an open balcony and nice views. However, the offered us the choice of a maisonette, which was level with the pool area or an apartment close to the top of the hill. We first looked at the maisonette and it was extremely disappointing, dark, smaller than I was expecting and there was no balcony, it was more an area outside your front door, sadly nothing like the ones in the photos we'd see online.
The gentleman took us to see the apartment, it was so much better, as you can see in the photos, beautiful and light, with fantastic views from a separate private balcony off the bedroom. The location also meant we didn't have to drive the car up and down the hill to the car park everyday we went out, they told us we can park in Olivia restaurant car park across the road.
I didn't have chance to take photos of the maisonette, but in the slideshow below there's a photo of the back of it from our balcony, you can see how small the bedroom window is.
The gentleman took us to see the apartment, it was so much better, as you can see in the photos, beautiful and light, with fantastic views from a separate private balcony off the bedroom. The location also meant we didn't have to drive the car up and down the hill to the car park everyday we went out, they told us we can park in Olivia restaurant car park across the road.
I didn't have chance to take photos of the maisonette, but in the slideshow below there's a photo of the back of it from our balcony, you can see how small the bedroom window is.
The shower was not a cubicle, it was a corner of the bathroom, where they put a raised section around to stop the water running all over the bathroom floor. However, the shower curtain was too short, so when the shower curtain moved, it let the water run off onto the bathroom floor anyway. The shower itself was powerful, but unfortunately the jets went off in different directions and it was a little challenging to get it at the right temperature.
Having stayed at Minos Village prior, where the apartment was nice and modern, I felt like we'd taken a step down at Asterias, the only exception being the balcony view at Asterias. Conveniently just across the road from Asterias/Oliva restaurant, there's a small supermarket, where we could get bottled water and a few other items we wanted. |
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We often had moments of several dogs barking, we knew the two properties at the back of our apartment block (we were in 125), both had dogs, the one closest to the driveway down to Asterias barked, causing the other to start barking as well and as is with most of the places we visited in Crete, there are loads of cats in Koutouloufari.