Manolis’ place is located at the end of a dead-end street, so definitely no traffic passing by. It is however quite a challenge to get there. We drove a Fiat Doblo rental and were not able to get enough traction to get up the steep street. Luckily with a small detour one can approach the street from uphill and get enough speed to get over the hard part. We drove a lot in the Cretian mountains without any issues whatsoever, so I thought it was worthwhile mentioning that Manolis’ place could be challenging to reach..
We arrived a little early, but Manolis was already there to welcome us with some water melon and some cold drinks. We were immediately allowed to unload our luggage and enter the apartment. It was on a national holiday and Manolis quickly checked which sights in Heraklion were open so that we could make it a nice first day in the city.
The place itself looks nice, though not always user friendly. The kitchen was very ill equipped missing a number of things such as a good knife or a pair of scissors. Making a decent dinner for 6 is challenging because of it. During our stay, I stumbled over a side table and it broke and though the table had clearly been repaired before Manolis made us pay the full price to replace it (joking that we were lucky because it was on sale). That did not feel fair at all as the table had been glued before and it shouldn’t have broken so easily.
The views from the apartment are nice, it is bright and spacious and looks exactly like in the pictures. There are two air conditioners, which is more than enough to keep the place cool. Manolis’ advised us to sleep with the windows open so that the place can cool down at night, saving energy. Unfortunately there are dogs barking all over the neighborhood all night long. We weren’t able to sleep well even with the windows closed.
Manolis place looks nice and is located well. It is close to Knossos, close to Heraklion. Manolis seems to be a friendly and concerned host. When you need something, you can always contact him and he is ready to help. And yet, for the first time with AirB&B I have very mixed feelings about our stay. For the first time, I am not sure I would want to stay here again.