CRETE: Lyttos Beach Hotel The Place To Stay, Wine And Dine In Crete

The Lyttos Beach Hotel, located in the area of Hersonissos near Heraklio, Crete recently completed extensive renovation works in its rooms, sports facilities and public spaces.

Works began in December 2016 and were completed in the end of March 2017, just in time for the hotel to welcome its guests for the summer season.

The complex now includes 48 new suites with a private or a shared pool, six new artificial clay tennis courts and two additional pools, one of which is heart shaped (photo).

The hotel revealed a new tavern, which is organizing theme nights for each day of the week and a brand new snack bar offering Wok and BBQ lunch and dinner.

Lyttos’ sports facilities also include a basketball and a beach volleyball court, a golf training area and a professional bike center.

The Lyttos Beach Hotel is situated in a 150-acre area, with lush gardens and 500 palm trees.

Its “Blue Flag” awarded beach stretches in 350 meters. The rooms and suites overlook the Aegean sea and the hotel’s gardens.

On one of the most beautiful islands in Greece, Crete and within a 20 kilometer distance from the airport of Iraklion (code: HER), a heavenly garden awaits for you in Hersonissos.

In the famous holiday destination of Hersonissos, the hotel can easily be compared to a heavenly scenery.

Just 5 km from the town, hidden amongst vast, colorful gardens, in an area of 150 acres (15 Hectares) of more than 500 palm trees and flowers leading to a 350 meter fully-organized, Blue Flag awarded sandy beach, Lyttos Beach is unlike any other hotel in the island.

Its rooms feature sea or garden view (double rooms, quadruple rooms, family rooms and suites some with private or sharing pool).

Also, six swimming pools (one with fantastic waterslides, one of Olympic size and one heart shaped pool), 3 different restaurants and 3 bars decorate this large area, leaving enough space for 22 tennis courts, a mini football pitch and a basketball court, a beach volleyball court, an archery range, a golf training range (Par 3) and a professional bike center.

Just 5 km away from the hotel, golfers can enjoy the most exciting 18-hole golf courts in the island, with magnificent views to the multi-colored Cretan mountains.

Lyttos Beach is a unique mosaic created by sun, sea, sand, mountains, athleticism, fun and games, relaxation, fine International & Greek cuisine with live show-cooking and friendly atmosphere.

Accommodation at Lyttos Beach Hotel

Enjoy and smell the essence of the flowers and the light breeze from the sea right from your room. Lose yourself in the endless deep blue, get pleasure from the sea views and the harmony of the nature that surrounds your suite, double or family room. All types of accommodation include:

Balcony Balcony or terrace
FridgeFridge
TV TV-set
Telephone Direct telephone
Shower Bath or shower
Save Box Safe (free of charge)
Air Condition Air-condition (free of charge)
Tea and Coffee Tea and coffee facility (free of charge)

Dining

The two restaurants of the Hotel open their doors and invite you to taste traditional and international delicacies and dishes. Indulge in the gastronomical pleasures combined with fine decoration and sea views.

The world known island of Crete is famous for its history, ancient monuments and heavenly beaches.

In the same way, Lyttos Beach will impress you with its unforgettable decorated buffets and gastronomical delights.

Taste local, traditional and international delicacies, be spoilt by the choices of the rich buffets offered in the Main Restaurant.

Breakfast is served in this restaurant from 07:30 to 10:30 and late breakfast from 10:30 to 11:00.

Lunch and dinner is also served in the Main Restaurant. Delicacies are varied daily.

A children’s buffet is also offered. The Main Restaurant accommodates a different theme night, every night!

In a lovely surrounding close to the sea and the sandy beach, guests can enjoy buffets and set menus in “Zorbas”. Although no reservation is required for lunch, a booking is essential for dinner.

Spend romantic evenings in the tavern Zorbas, looking at the colors of the sunset, listening to the whisper of the waves and feeling the cool breeze of the sea.

Wine & Relaxing

Under the clear sky, the moon and the star light, the two bars of the hotel are there to welcome you and serve drinks of your choice.

In a friendly and cheerful atmosphere, the Main Bar ( opening hours: 18:00-01:00 during low season) and the Pool Bar (opening hours: 10:00-00:00) are on guests disposal.

Dance to the music of the Pool Bar, relive moments travelled by songs of past-times and carve new ones in your memory listening to modern tunes.

GREECE: Retreat To Lemnos Island In Greece

When people visit Greece, they always have a choice. They can spend their days lounging at the beach, visiting seaside lounges and restaurants, and shopping in all the tourist shops available to them.

While fun, this isn’t the real Greece – it’s the one put in place by the tourism industry to accommodate those who wish to relax and unplug from their normal lives.

However, there’s another side of Greece that’s also worth exploring. Traditional Greek life is very different than the life most tourists tend to experience – and if you want to experience life away from all the tourist traps, there’s no better place to do that than the isolated island of Lemnos, which is located on the Aegean Sea. Here are some things you can do while here:

The capital of the island, Myrina, more closely resembles a traditional fishing harbor than it does a modern city. Fishing boats hug the coastline, either displaying their fresh hauls or waiting for the next excursion out into the seas.

The city has a relaxed feel that has enough going on to enchant guests and locals alike.

It’s also a gentle city and the homes and businesses dotted across the landscape, giving it a gentle atmosphere. While here, try eating in one of the city’s fish tavernas, or purchase some fresh seafood to cook yourself if your guest room has a kitchen.

However, there is still evidence of a small tourist culture here – you can easily shop for souvenirs or enjoy some of the city’s nightlife.

Do you avoid some of the hectic beach resorts in some of the other parts of Greece? If you prefer a quiet beach, where the beauty of the island and of the Aegean is at the center of the experience, this island is the place for you! Beaches such as Thanos Beach, Plati Beach, and Keros Beach are known for their natural beauty and offer a relaxing way to spend your time on the island.

While they do have services nearby and even lounge chairs to rent, they seem to attract a gentler, more relaxed crowd than some of the other beaches in Greece.

You also don’t necessarily need to lounge on the beach in order to have fun with the Aegean. Lemnos is actually known as being a top spot for diving enthusiasts.

If you would like to dive while on this island, be sure to contact places such as the Black Rock Dive Centre, which specialize in diving services for people of all skill levels.

Diving gives you a chance to see a part of the island that you otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to experience.

Lemnos offers visitors the ideal opportunity to experience the more traditional side of Greek life. Because the island is fairly isolated, that means that western influence isn’t as prevalent here.

While it does get a healthy crowd of visitors each year, it has still maintained its relaxed atmosphere.

TURKEY: Turkey Sinks Airbus Jet To Attract Dive Tourism

Turkish authorities have sunk an A300 Airbus jet off a resort on the Aegean Sea with the aim of boosting diving tourism in the region, reports said on Sunday.

The giant plane was put to the bottom of the sea on Saturday afternoon off the popular resort of Kusadasi in Aydin province. The sinking of the giant plane -- with a wingspan of 44 metres and a length of 54 metres is aimed at promoting artificial reef diving which is hugely popular with experienced divers.

Once sunken, the plane acts like a reef, becoming a magnet for underwater flora and fauna. The 36-year-old aircraft had been bought by Aydin municipality from a private aviation firm for 270,000 Turkish lira (US $93,000).

Turkey is looking for new ways to promote its key tourism industry, which is expected to suffer a battering this year due to the security situation after a string of deadly attacks. Hundreds of people watched the two-and-a-half hour sinking on nearby boats, cheering and blasting their foghorns as the nose of the plane finally went down, video images showed.

"Our goal is to make Kusadasi a centre of diving tourism," said Aydin's mayor Ozlem Cercioglu. "Our goal is to protect the underwater life. And with these goals in mind, we have witnessed one of the biggest wrecks in the world."

She added: "Our main target to diversify tourism in Kusadasi and have a 12 month season." Three small planes have been sunk off Turkish resorts of recent years in the hope of promoting dive tourism but this is the first time Turkey has sent such a large aircraft to the bottom of the sea.

GREECE: Santorini Is The Crown Jewel Of Greece

Majestic Santorini is one of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea. The island is known for its whitewashed, cubist houses of its two principal towns, Fira and Oia, clinging to cliffs above an underwater caldera. The principals overlook the clear Aegean and beaches made up of black, red and white lava pebbles.

Santorini is a collection of five islands floating on the Aegean Sea like an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. Once they were a single landmass, a walnut-shaped island known as Strongyli (the round one). When Strongyli’s volcano erupted catastrophically around 1650 BC, the island split initially into three separate parts. Together, they now form the walls of a massive, fragmented crater enclosing a central lagoon that was created when the middle of the original landmass collapsed into the sea.

A mythical ancient island that endured one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history, Santorini feels like no other place on earth. Here, everything is brighter: the whitewashed cube-shaped houses, the lapis lazuli sea, and the sunsets that light up the caldera.

In summer the weather is always perfect in Santorini, or so the locals say. But come rain or shine, prepare to be dazzled by charming towns and a volcanic landscape steeped in Greek mythology.

Donkeys and Santorini go together like pigeons and the Piazza San Marco in Venice. They’re an integral part of the local tourism scene, providing tourists much loved rides up and down the traditional steps. There are hundreds of donkeys lined up along the island ready to take tourists around. Donkey droppings are everywhere, so tourists may want to watch their steps.

The small town of Fira is located on the west of the island on the caldera cliffs opposite the volcano. It is Santorini’s capital and, as a popular destination for day-trippers from cruise ships, one of the busiest spots on the island. Fira offers various sightseeing activities such as museums, galleries and cultural events, it has the island’s largest shopping center and the biggest choice of dining out and entertainment. Fira’s sunset is magical; many say that that this island is usually busy and loud.

Fira tourists love walking around the shopping district searching for designer clothing, leather goods, jewelry and souvenirs. Travelers should be cautious of the tourist trap and as prices may be high, bargaining should be ideal.

Agiou Mina Street is a street that goes through Fira part-way down the cliff, from the south part of the town all the way to the cable car. It provides the stunning views of Fira that you came to see. You can walk either north or south, but walking north has the advantage that the main part of Fira is in front of you. You will find a donkey parade where people use them for transportation purposes.

The old port is an interesting place to explore; you must take a couple of photos from sea level. You can take a ride up and down again using the cable car or a donkey ride. Going there is only half the fun. On the port, you will see many fishermen selling their catch of the day, especially octopuses that you will see hanging from a rope for display. Try having lunch there, have some Greek seafood.

The village of Oia in the north (pronounced Ee-a) is formerly a major maritime trading center, it’s entirely picturesque and is rightly celebrated as the jewel in Santorini’s crown. Oia is a dazzling mixture of cave houses, originally built for sailors and fishermen and painted in traditional whites, blues and orange, packed cheerfully alongside the magnificent neo-classical style castles of former sea commanders. The other smaller houses surrounding them have domed roofs, which is another distinctive feature of Santorini’s architecture.

The Marble walkway is a must see in the evening, it will be filled with people waiting to see street performances. From here, Santorini’s sunsets are even more dramatic than those seen from the designated viewing terrace at the tip of the village.
Even the chaotic wiring and loose cables that criss-cross the square becomes part of the experience.

Catamaran tour of the volcano
Sunset Oia Catamaran tours is a first rate adventure. You can swim in the hot springs and get a close up view of churches, the volcano, and the famous three beaches in Santorini. The view of Fira from the sea is breathtaking. Captain Argiris and the crew are gracious hosts and will tell you things about the island others may not take the time to tell you.

You must watch a sunset over dinner, it is what the island is known for. People gather around the sunset time at the cafes and restaurants lined up next to the seaside. Dinner is served at this time, it is recommended to try the authentic Greek food.

Kamari Beach is a black pebble beach framed by the jagged cliffs of Mesa Vouno and Profitis Ilias Mountains and the crystalline waters of the Aegean. The beach itself is covered with small black volcanic stones, not sand, so it is difficult to walk on, but boards have been laid especially where there are many umbrellas.

Most of the restaurants and cafes are on the beach side of the promenade with some on the other side along with shops and hotels.

You should also visit the Akrotiri, it is a Minoan Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic Greek island of Santorini. The settlement was destroyed in the Theran eruption about 1627 BC and buried in volcanic ash, which preserved the remains of fine Forescoes and many objects and artworks.

The settlement has been suggested as a possible inspiration for Plato’s story of Atlantic. The site has been excavated since 1967. Today it is partially excavated and is protected from the sun inside a large shed.

People love visiting Santorini bakeries, they sell a variety of baked sweet and savory goodies. You will love the baklava, this sweet was originally made in Greece but is now made and sold all over the Arab world. The Pita is bread filled with cheese, olives or spinach and minced meat.

The Tiropita or tyropita is a Greek layered pastry pie with feta cheese filling. For dessert, try the pastry consisting of either vanilla custard or (salty) cheese filling between layers of phyllo. Fanouropita is a kind of spice bread with ground cloves and cinnamon, resembling a sweet bread rather than a cake.

Similar to donuts, Loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon and (sometimes) crushed walnuts. Finally, the Melitinia cookies are a must try, these sweet cheese pastries originated in the Cyclades. Soft Myzithra goat’s milk cheese is typically used as a filling, but ricotta can also be used as a substitute.

No visit to Santorini is complete without a boat trip, and there are loads of boats for hire from the old port. One can enjoy an adventure trip to the sea filled with water activities.

FRANCE: French Officials Believe 20 Plus Plotters Were Involved In Paris Attacks

European authorities staged an international manhunt on Sunday for a 26-year-old “dangerous individual,” one of three brothers involved in the deadly attacks on Paris, even as an image took shape of a larger network of terrorists that could involve as many as 20 plotters.

At least eight assailants in three death squads are thought to have directly carried out Friday’s assault, which is being dubbed France’s 9/11. Six detonated their suicide belts. Police shot and killed one. French police on Sunday issued an urgent alert and released a photo of an eighth suspect: the 5-foot-7-inch Salah Abdeslam, a Belgian-born French national.

The manhunt came as France detained seven people for questioning and Belgian officials detained seven more in connection with the siege that killed at least 132 people. The international dragnet and investigation now stretch from the Aegean Sea to the teeming Paris suburbs. At the same time, France responded to an act of terrorism it blamed on the Islamic State with airstrikes on the group’s Syrian stronghold, the city of Raqqa.

Yet Europeans and their governments were confronting a chilling reality at home. A rogues’ gallery of homegrown terrorists with links to Islamist groups has become large enough – and is acting stealthily enough – to make tracking them increasingly difficult for the region’s intelligence agencies.

A senior official familiar with the investigation said authorities suspected that as many as 20 people in Europe had been involved in planning, supporting and executing the attack. Just as in January, when two brothers, Said and Chérif Kouachi, staged a bloody siege in Paris, some of the attackers this time were also related. Brahim Abdeslam, 31, blew himself up Friday night inside a busy cafe. His 26-year-old brother, Salah, who allegedly rented a car that was used in one of the attacks, is on the run. A third unnamed brother was apprehended in Belgium.

It became evident, in fact, that Brussels was a major base of operations for the Paris attacks, after French police seized a car rented in Belgium and then uncovered a fortuitous clue: a discarded parking ticket from the Brussels suburb of Molenbeek, a district known as a breeding ground for jihadists.

At least two of the eight known attackers had spent time in Syria, according to two European intelligence officials, who like many interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. One of them, Bilal Hadfi, a 20-year-old French national, was known to have returned from the Middle East to Belgium. He then disappeared from the radar of the Belgian security services.

One senior European intelligence official offered a mea culpa: “That so many people, some of whom had been known to police, had been able to plot such a large attack, using suicide explosive belts, weapons, without the intelligence services knowing – that’s a major failure of the intelligence services.”

This secular city, consecrated to personal liberties, found itself plunged into a new normal of tension. Police found a car with Kalashnikovs inside in the eastern suburb of Montreuil. On Wednesday, President François Hollande will present a bill to the National Assembly calling for a three-month state of emergency – a move granting exceptional police powers to restrict freedom of movement and gatherings at public places.

On Sunday night, the sound of what may have been a firecracker, or a light fixture blowing a circuit breaker at a restaurant near the Place de la Republique, where a vigil was taking place, ignited an extraordinary panic. People stampeded out of restaurants, bars and stores across a two-mile-wide sector of the city as false warnings of gunshots erupted on Twitter. Some dived into news vans. Hotels turned off their lights as employees huddled behind chairs. One woman flung herself into the Canal St. Martin.

“Suddenly people were running and screaming everywhere, going in every direction,” said Omar Zahiri, a 50-year-old lawyer attending the vigil. “I said, ‘Stop running like a crazy person, calm down.’ But they didn’t. They kept running.”

An incomplete picture of the perpetrators began to emerge. A Syrian passport was found at the stadium where three suicide bombers blew themselves up; it may have belonged to one of them. A senior European security official said the name in the passport was Ahmad Almohammad. According to the passport, he was 25 and was born in Idlib, Syria.

Officials have not conclusively connected the document to any of the bombers. But Greek authorities, following through on a request from the French, traced the Syrian passport to a refugee who arrived on the Aegean island of Leros on Oct. 3 with 198 other people on a migrant boat. The possible link was enough to ignite fresh calls by some to end the huge flow of refugees pouring into Europe.

At a Group of 20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged world leaders not to treat asylum seekers as terrorists in the wake of the Paris attacks. The people who organized and carried out the attacks “are exactly those who the refugees are fleeing,” he told reporters, adding that “there is no need to revise the European Union’s entire refugee policy.”

Other assailants, however, appeared to fit an emerging pattern among Europe’s homegrown extremists – petty criminals who were radicalized and became far more religious than their parents.

A case in point is Ismael Omar Mostefai, a 29-year-old French national who blew himself up after gunning down victims alongside two other suicide bombers at a Paris music hall. He had a criminal record, French officials said, and was picked up for eight minor offenses between 2004 and 2010, including driving without a license.

In 2010, however, Mostefai came on the radar screen of French intelligence because of his association with radical Islamists at a mosque in Lucé, near Chartres, a city southwest of Paris. The mosque is a modest, wooden-shuttered building surrounded by wrought-iron railings. Its leaders were bewildered to find themselves in the limelight Sunday. They called a news conference to deny any connection to extremism. The current administration, they said, took over in 2013 – after Mostefai had left the area – and they said no one recalled ever seeing him there.

Mostefai is thought to have traveled to Syria in the winter of 2013, a French police official familiar with the case said. “That is when we lost track of him,” the official said.

During his youth, Mostefai lived in a middle-class, predominantly Arab neighborhood in the Paris suburb of Courcouronne. Kamel Ousti, 53, a neighbor and family friend, said Mostefai grew up in a modest apartment on Rue Pont Amar, with three brothers; two sisters; a father, who was a deliveryman of Algerian descent; and a mother who was a Portuguese convert to Islam.

When Mostefai was 13, the family received an eviction notice because of his criminal tendencies. “Ismael was kind of a troublemaker, he used to steal things, like mobile phones,” Ousti said. Ousti recalled one traumatic event in the family’s history. During a trip to Algeria, in 2000, Ousti said they went to the beach, where Mostefai’s brother-in-law and two nephews drowned in the surf.

The family eventually moved to Chartres, where residents today recall his family as religious but not extremely so. Mostefai’s mother wore a headscarf, but his sisters did not.

Ousti last saw Mostefai four years ago. “He was the kind of kid who wouldn’t talk that much. If you ask me, the little lamb turned into a monster.”

Mostefai’s brother, who surrendered for questioning in a southeastern suburb of Paris, told the Agence France-Presse news service that he had broken off all ties with his brother years ago. The 34-year-old man, who was not identified, said Mostefai had moved back to Algeria with his young daughter. He said he was shocked to learn that his brother was involved in the attacks.

French SWAT teams searched the brother’s home and that of Mostefai’s father, outside Paris, for three hours Saturday night, according to RTL radio.

“What does this have to do with us?” the brother’s wife asked in tears. “We haven’t spoken to him in years. I hope we'll be left alone. We have a quiet little life, and this is starting to worry me.”