By complete chance we booked a villa* just twelve feet away from the tiny church in Mochlos, a small village at the coastal end of a vertiginous Cretan road, over Easter. We were warned that the weather wasn’t perfect, rain was expected and there would be disruption over the Easter week but found, to our surprise, that none of these things spoiled our holiday in any way at all. In fact, late in the evening of Easter Saturday, after finishing our meal in one of six excellent restaurants within 200yds of our door, we returned to find what appeared to be the whole population of Mochlos converging at our door to listen to the priest and receive the traditional Easter blessing before starting a candlelit procession through the town. The incantations of the priest were mesmerising and the atmosphere among the crowd was of carnival or jubilee. The candlelit procession led to a (somewhat dangerous, I thought, but then I do suffer from an anxiety disorder) firework display.
We stayed in the very well appointed and stylish Waterfront Villa (partially misnamed- Waterfront was accurate but perhaps Studio would be a more appropriate title?*)with the most lovely terrace right on the rocky sea front. Flights from Manchester with Jet2 were efficient and trouble free; Jet2 offer twilight check in before morning flights which meant that, having disposed of our bags the prior evening we were able to sail straight through to security. Terminal 2 suffered from none of the chaos we’d seen on the news, another advantage of booking during the Orthodox, rather than the Western, Easter.
* credit to Simpson Travel; since completing my post holiday review they have changed the description. Yet another small example of the many reasons we travel with Simpsons. https://simpsontravel.com/greece/crete/the-gulf-of-mirabello-south-east-crete/mochlos-waterside
