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Agia Marina Chapel name day
Analipsi’s tiny blue-trimmed chapel celebrates its name day every year. Locals come to the chapel on Lyttos Beach to attend a ceremony and light candles. Later, the village’s tavernas throw open their doors for traditional Greek festivities. You can expect lots of home-cooked food, wine, live music, and traditional dancing.Analipsi sits beside Lyttos Beach. It’s a Blue Flag winner, and comes with all the kit you’ll need to relax. The long ribbon of sand gently shelves in to the sea, so it’s safe for little ones, while the roster of watersports includes jet-skis, kayaks, water-skiing, and paragliding for more grown-up kicks. The addition of sunbeds, shades, and a row of cafés makes this one of the region’s star turns.
Read MoreCutesy shops riddle the lanes radiating from Analipsi’s village square. For keepsakes, they mainly deal in ceramics and traditional crafts like hand-embroidered linen, and you’d do well to pick up bottles of Cretan olive oil. Otherwise, Hersonissos, only 5 kilometres away, is a good place to burn the shoe leather while tracking down leather bags and jewellery. The hardware stores here make a great hunting ground for tax-free bargains, too.
Read MoreWhen it comes to dining out, the welcome is always warm at Analipsi’s restaurant-cafés, which clump along the seafront and around the main square. Because the village is so small, it’s common to be on first name terms with the chefs after a day or 2. They’ll give you the lowdown on the catch of the day – so fresh you’ll almost taste the sea on it – and tempt you with souvlaki and classic Greek gyro sandwiches, washed down by tumblers of on-the-house raki.
Read MoreAnalipsi’s laid-back tavernas are as casual by night as they are by day. Clubs and loud beats are a no-no. Here, the fashion is to nurse a cocktail or a glass of ouzo while chewing the fat with the locals in the village centre, or to watch the sun set from an open-fronted bar by the sea. For more oomph, Hersonissos is less than a 10-minute cab ride away, where you can have your fill of pubs, bars and clubs, with DJs and dancing.
Read MoreHigh up in the wild mountains of Dikti, the Plateau of Lassithi is a 30-minute drive inland from Analipsi and showcases Crete at its most rural. It’s ringed by a 23-kilometre road that joins the dots between 18 mountain villages. Krassi and Mohos – 2 of the most traditional – warrant a pit stop. The area is also famous for its windmills with their ragged white cloths, and Dikteon Cave, believed to be the birthplace of Zeus.
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