Together with TUI in Crete – My “Discover Your Smile” Moments

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Discovering Crete together with TUI – Dinner at the cave of Eremit Johannes.

I love Greece, thats why i was happy to visit Crete again for few days and meet some cool travel blogger on this trip and never thought to have some very special moments – that make me discover my smile 🙂

Meeting point was the Hannover Airport where we had even a separate Check In Counter for the TUI Presstrip.

The Blogger Group

Thats the cool & funny group which i had the chance to know better the next days and learn some new interesting facts too.

We all arrived  after around 30 minutes at the Alder Royal Mare Village where a buffet with fresh food and delicious fruits was already waiting for us.  The Hotel is in the east of crete and very close to the Heraklion Airport.

Of course i was exciting to see my room, as the view from the main terrace was impressive. It seems to be a very huge area, which looked a bit like a small cosy city with many pools around.

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To get a better view of the area i took the drone to see the hotel from above and find out how far the beach is.  Ok – lets check in – change the clothes and prepare for the welcome speech and the Dinner.

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At the restaurant close to the beach everything was well prepared for a great evening. Each table had a very elegant decoration with the TUI Sign and the menu written down.

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After the speech of the CEO and Greek Tourism & Hotel representatives we started getting nervous. Guess why ? It was nearly 9 pm and the sun was just popping into the restaurant with magical colors.

What are Instagramers & Bloggers do when the see the sun setting ? Escaping and running to the beach as fast as we can of course. No way to miss that spectacular view here 🙂 It was more then worth it to escape for few minutes to catch that view. The big waves and the reflection of the colors in the water made me speechless.

This was a big  #DiscoverYourSmile Moment.

It was a short stay at the Hotel, but thats how Press trips work. You are getting the chance to discover many beautiful places at the destination.

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The next day we arrived at the Avra Imperial Beach Resort & Spa, which was close to the City called Chania at the west coast of crete.  It was a 3 hours drive with the bus from the first Hotel, crossing scenic Landcape of Crete.

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Ok here we are with the next big speechless moment. Wait: thats not the one i am talking about. This Hotel was even bigger than the other one and more clean in the style. The Main area has a big pool with a transparent wall which was a good spot to take some photos.  Many apartments with private pools too.

My suitcase and me were taken outside, where we had to cross a bridge which leads away from the Hotel to the other side of the street. Ok – where are we going ? I want to stay at the main area 🙁

Coming closer to the other side i saw another side of the Hotel which was even better 🙂  One big pool surrounded by small apartments with private pool. Holy Crap – is this going to be my room ? Yeeees, as i opened the door – the view made a big #DiscoverYourSmile moment on my face.

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In the evening we drove up to the hills to the caves for the Dinner.

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Isn’t this a gorgeous view for a dinner ? The sun was setting and created a very romantic mood.11219723_10152992057923603_8304265378283002525_n

We had a special permission for this dinner, as this was the place of the Eremit Johannes. If you ever visit crete, just try to visit the place called Marathokefala – where the caves of the Eremit Johannes are (He used to live here) 11224880_10152992058183603_3788917972541065138_n

Back at the Hotel around 23h we had the chance to get a drink at the beach bar and enjoy the night. The next morning i couldn’t wait to see the sunrise, thats why i get up 5h in the morning and waited at the terrace and watched the sky.

Its already the fourth time that i am visiting Crete, thats why i know what to expect – special colors created by the sun in the morning. It is worth it to wake up and see this simple “sunrise” which is always impressive to me.

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After the breakfast we went to explore the city of Chania. It is the second largest City in Crete. The Venetian harbor was build around 14th century by Venetian. It looks very similar to Venice with the colorful houses.
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Beautiful small streets with restaurants and small shops. Many waterfront restaurants close to the harbor.11692497_10152992059933603_5865496144579660827_n

The City has a touch of Venice when you see the  buildings, museums, churches and crafts shops.
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There is also a big market place where you can buy typical greek souvenirs like oil, soap and other nice things. To see how olive oil is produced in the natural way – we visited the BIOLEA family factory.

The factory is producing organic olive oil in a very natural way – stone milled and cold pressed and with a huge own olive tree farm. Everyone is invited anytime to get a tour through the factory and learn very interesting fact about olive oil. Now i know that its important just to watch out for virgin olive oil.

 

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The last evening in Crete was a very special dinner as we were allowed to visit the Agida Triada Monastery – its about 15 km from Chania and close to the airport. As this is a holy place with a church, museum and library there are certain rules you need to follow. It is now one of the most important monasteries in Crete, with huge influence on education in the island.

We had the honor that three of the monks joined the dinner and were very thankful for the event at all. As i mention certain rules, one of them was :It’s not allowed to take pics of the monks. 11071304_10152992059658603_4006110676021020732_n

11540842_10152992059423603_6264085608145765972_nEnjoying the dinner without taking pics of the monks was only possible as the food was delicious and the impressions of the place almost magical. Its a very special feeling which is hard to describe to sit next to one of the monks which represent a very import part of history.

Just another special moment on my journey, which i will keep in my mind and not just as picture. 10156027_10152985828603603_2797862624963947726_n
Of course i couldn’t resist to relax the last few hours before leaving crete to enjoy the sun with athe refreshing coctail and thinking about the wonderful short trip with special moments.

Thanks to :

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for the special invitation to the presentation in Crete and many special moments that made me discover my smile 🙂

 

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