This was definitely one of our best stays in Crete! :) We came with our 3 year old son and Hara (the mother in law of Daniela) and her husband welcomed us very friendly. The appartement is beautiful, big and has two balconies which make it possible to eat or sit outside at anytime (there is always shade on one of the balconies:)) and on both of them you have the view to the sea. Altough Hara is not speaking any English the communication went really well and eventhough Daniela was on holidays she always was there for us to help out and give recommandations via WhatsApp (phone) and later came in person to meet us and check on us again. They are really awesome hosts! Hara cleaned our appartment several times, brought us fresh towels, changed the sheets and gave us lots of great traditional food. She cooks amazing!!! :) The appartment was very clean, if you close the curtains everywhere it even stays cool without air condition, but of course you can also use the air condition.
From the appartment it´s just a few minutes walk to the sea, the house beach is small, but very nice (sand beach) and even offers some shade. If you have a car (there is no rental in the village, best to get a car rental from the airport) or like to walk you have wonderful beaches in Keratokampos (on the left side of Kastri) and Skouros Beach (after the church on the right side) or Listis Beach (about 2,5km from Kastri).
The village Kastri offers just a few restaurants, but all of them have great traditional food. I definetely recommand to try out the Morning Star taverna, they have fresh fish and also very good vegetable side dishes, which are almost big enough to eat as a main dish. In general the portions are huge and the prices are low. We probably gained some weight. ;) Also the cafe upon the house beach of Kastri is very nice to relax. All in all it´s a quite place good for family, there are no bars or discos - that´s exactly what we like! We had a car rental in Heraklion and enjoyed the peaceful beautiful time in Kastri, but also did some excursions to Knossos (archelogical side near Heraklion) and the dinosaur park in Heraklion, Matala (very busy, there is also a donkey sanctuary, which is lovely) and there is lots of villages and beaches you can see around there. We had 14 wonderful days at Hara´s appartment!! Thank you Daniela, Hara and Georges for you hospitality and making our stay so great! :) We definetely will come back. All the best to you and your families from Vienna! Raphaela, Pavel & Aleksej