RSD Travel
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Cultural tour of Crete
We have just returned from a 'cultural trip' to Crete. The flight from Gatwick was torture, we were not informed that it would be going via Manchester, adding another couple of hours to the length of the flight. The 1st hotel we stayed at Rhethymnon Mare was horrible, food, Gourmet Package????, cold, tasteless and overpriced. The room, halfway up a steep hill, was ghastly and the bathroom flooded on the first night. The second room not much better with intermittent hot water, no telephone, and a faulty bathroom door lock. The Manager was rude and unhelpful although the hotel staff were all very pleasant. The second hotel near Heraklion was marginally better ! The tour guide who I will not name was knowledgeable but was very pushy regarding purchasing extra tours, and became most upset when fellow passengers refused to buy them. Those that did not pay 44 euros each to go to Knossos were just left by a parade of tatty shops and scruffy restaurants for over 2 hours. We decided to walk to the entrance of Knossos and found that we could purchase tickets for 8 euros which also gave us entrance to the Museum. Quite a tidy profit for someone ???? The trips to the carpet/leather/jewellry warehouses are just torture, hard selling sales people who will not take no for an answer. The tour guide told me I had to sit through the 'fashion parade' given by individuals who looked as though they would have preferred to be on Mars rather than parading about in articles of clothing that looked as if they had been manufactured in the 70's. I retreated into the parking area as soon as I could. The guide was very 'passionate' when talking about how our trip was being subsidised by the Greek government to help local economies, emotional blackmail at its best. I could go on and on about the negatives aspects of this trip, its one saving grace were our fellow travellers who were a friendly group of people. I will NEVER, yes I am shouting, use Rsd Travel again !!!!