Across 4 areas of the island. Newest first, each one carrying the date of its last check on the ground.
Assistance rights that genuinely work, a parking card that travels but changes meaning, beach ramps that are installed but not always running, and the EU card that is not here yet.
What the flags mean, when Greek law actually requires a lifeguard, why the afternoon sea turns on the north coast, and what a Blue Flag does and does not promise.
On a category 4 fire-risk day, named Cretan forests are legally closed to visitors. The map that decides it is published the evening before, and almost nobody tells you where to look.
Where EU roaming still applies and where it quietly stopped, what a UK phone now costs in Greece, the ID rule for buying a Greek SIM, and the settings worth changing before you land.
Greek ATM fees changed in 2025 and most guides have not noticed. What cards you can rely on, the conversion trap at the machine, and the taverna charges Greek market law actually forbids.
The duty-pharmacy rota, what an EHIC or GHIC covers in Greece and what it quietly does not, and which of Crete's hospitals or health centres to aim for.
Orthodox Easter is Crete at its most itself — candlelit processions, midnight fireworks, lamb over coals. What happens each day, what closes, and how to be a welcome guest.
Flight in at midnight? What actually works at HER after dark — taxis and the tariff, the transfer question, food that is still open.
Three ready-made shapes for a short stay based Hersonissos–Stalis–Malia: the classic, the family version, and the culture-and-villages loop.
The party-adjacent resort as a family base — which zones work, the beach and pool logic, water parks, rainy-wind days.