Royal Belvedere

Just got back from the royal on Friday 13th, we spent 2 weeks there on all inclusive booked via Hellenic. Hotel was great value for money and geared towards families in a big way, so if you have children its a big plus. We went with my 9month old baby and found the staff in the restaurant very helpfull when I needed hot water etc. The rooms were very clean along with the rest of the hotel, we were all v impressed with the cleanliness. The maids are v freindly and as we had our baby with us our room was somtimes a little busy to say the least, we felt we had to give her a tip when we left. The food was very good but did feel that breakfast did finish a little early at 9.30am.On the whole the food does get a bit boring when AI, but the food was of v good quality. If you fancy a change dont head to hersonisiss, the restaurants are over priced compared to the little villages at the back of the hotel. You can get an excellant meal with wine at half the cost of the town and its much nicer. try the Pegasus restaurant in the 1st village, it was lovely. Back to the hotel. Even though the hotel is situated on a hill, they have tried to make it pleasurable when walking up and down the hill by having donkeys and goats which are well looked after by the hotel, which again is great for the kids. The entertainment is CRAP!!!. like other reviews. Its geared towards Germans and not the English, although they do have a slot for the children and all the kids looked to be having fun. The sun bed rule, no towels, was endeared by hotel guests other than the odd 1 or 2, so plenty of beds to go round. My only complaint was the small childrens pool on the main level, It was far too cold compared to the other childrens pools on the lower level and the main pool.Didnt stay at the lower pools due to the noise as my baby could not sleep with the music which can be quiet loud. My other complaint is the lifts, they are far to small and there are only 2 in the main lobby. They never both worked at the same time for the duration of our stay, which was v annoying due to having to wait as I had my pram for my little boy. I also couldnt get down from the 4th floor on 2 occasions as both lifts were broken. Hellenic did cancel our flight and we were put onto another flight with same airline same time, so had to collect tickets at the airport, but when we got there she was not there and tickets not ready, so we couldnt check in This also happened to other guests in the hotel. Overall great value for families would recommend, but not for people with walking issues. Hope this helps.

Just returned from a two week trip and absoulutly loved it! After reading some of the reports we were a bit worried but when thinking about it there is always people that are not happy unless they are complaining!! Anyway, hotel was very clean could not fault the maids, the rooms were cleaned everyday with clean towels and bedding the maid was brill very friendly and loved teaching you new words everyday. Food was of a good standard and yes does get a bit repetative during the second week but what people expect when they are catering for a hotel full of people i do not know! There was enough there for everybody and a variety for everyone to enjoy. I read further down about somebody complaining about not sticking to the dress code in the dinning area but again they either like moaning or didn't go to there welcome meeting.... all that they asked was that men wore long or cropt pants in an evening rather than shorts which i think is fair enough especially when thats what most men wear of an evening the rest of the time you could wear shorts. Pools are lovely very clean with plenty of sun loungers which may i add that the Germans are not allowed to reserve at 5am as this is hotel policy and it does appear to work although we never struggled to get a bed at any time of the day. All the Hotel staff were very friendly and helpful no matter what the problem, another couple we travelled with had a broken toilet seat on arrival this was fixed within 2 hours. One of the girls also needed a nail repairing which they sorted with the local salon and booked an appointment for the next day. the only complaint i had about the holiday was the hill you had to walk up and down of if you wanted to leave the hotel, i wouldn't recommend you went here if you had walking difficultiesas it is difficult at times. overall we loved the holiday and would reccommennd the hotel.

First the bad points: the hotel is on a bit of a hill, the entertainment is all in German, and the fruit juice in the dining room is realy horrible stuff. We had a faulty aircon unit in our room (1147) which was never fixed in spite of repeated requests. Would not have minded the drip so much but it was placed right over the bed and was a true chinese water torture. if you are given this room check they have fixed it or demand another! Good points: very friendly staff, right through the cleaners, reception, restaurant-poolside-bar-entertainment (all the same lot). Food was excellent and plentiful. Could not relate to some of the previous reviews on this. By the way, the coffee in the dining room is also pretty horrid - try the free stuff in the bar in the lobby for a proper cup. Hygiene standards in the complex were excellent - any place the Germans go they demand high standards and you get them here. Try going out the rear of the hotel for a walk, the villages there are far nicer than Hersonissos. Went on the boat trip to Dia island for 25 Euro per head (think the Sisi trip is a little cheaper) and was well worth the money if you can stretch to it. They have a barbeque on the trip but you will go hungry waiting for it. So long as you show your ticket for a trip before noon the day before at reception the hotel is happy to make you a packed lunch (free for all inclusive guests). Will definitely be going back, and if you fancy a week or two lying around in the sun beside a swimming pool I cannot think of better value for money. Top tip: for the travelling Brit who needs a cup of tea transfusion at regular intervals bring a travel kettle and your favourite teabags(and transplug) as there are no facilities for this in the regular rooms.

We have just returned from the Royal Belevedere, and it was great with acapital G. we booked with Hellenic and having heard bad reports about them was a bit worried, but we had been to cyprus with them before so thought we would be okay, the resort was on a bit of a hill which after walking for miles around the town was a bit hard going but got used to it, the food was great, we had no problems find food to eat, the rooms were nice spacious and clean the maid was fab, at first they put us in the block at the back of the hotel, but I strongly complained as they were 2star not 4 star so watch out where you are put, after they changed us it was all great going from them on.The entertainment or should I say lack of it was a joke, no english spoken at all, it was all very amature that bad it was funny, when it was meant to be serious, having said all this the place was great would go again, by the way, we had a blue band and asked why we did not have gold band, andwas told they are now all the same, we were allowed all the drinks, I was on Bacardi and lemon, and baileys and tia maria and no payment, anyway have great time at the resort we did.

Hi.. Booked our holiday through Hellenic Voyages with Teletext on the net, got a very good price for a family of four, all inclusive gold level. Hotel is fantastic do not believe the latest review on this site!! Yes there was no lifeguard and yes it is very hilly (which can be quite hard work on a hot day) most staff we encountered were lovely, i do believe if you are nice to people they are generally nice back.. food was excellent i really cant believe that there was not enough variety to make everyone happy, there was something for everyones taste (we did go out a couple of times to the little village out of the back of the hotel too, some lovely little tavernas to eat at) Pools were brilliant my two boys loved them!! yes the olympic one was very deep, but hello its olympic.. there are more than enough pools to cater for children, mine are 11 and 8 and we didnt have a problem. Snack bars served toasties, chips, pizza, pasta, salad, ice creams, slushes and so on.. great for the kids. Only one thing i would say is if you are English the entertainment WAS very geared towards the Germans and the Dutch, my boys didnt seem to mind, they loved the nighttime entertainment which i must say was so bad at times it was hilarious!! then again we do have a sense of humour.. they didnt want to go to the childrens clubs so it wasnt a problem, they made lots of friends of different nationalities but maybe if we had smaller children It could have been a problem!! Slight disaster on returning home, coach was due to pick us up at 6.45am, flight at 9.00am.. the time is now 7.55 and no sign of a coach, we tried several times to ring the rep but no one available, we managed to get through to the airport and found out our flight was on time at 9.00am, all started to panic a bit by now and decided to ring taxis, just then the coach pulled up, the driver was so relaxed he was practically going backwards, he is saying its ok no probs no worries you people.. anyway, got there in time and thats when we encountered the Hellenic Voyages rep,OH MY GOD!!! i have never met any one so rude in my life that is working in a customer environment, we asked why no rep was available to answer our calls and were basically given a load of abuse.. at the end of the day though that is not the fault of the hotel belvedere, we had a fantastic holiday, have some lovely memories and would certainly return.. if you decide to go i hope you have as good a time as we did

I have just returned (literally this morning!) from a two week holiday at the Royal Belvedere in Hersonissos and have been planning what I wanted to say about it since day 2 of the holiday! There was a large group of us travelling (40+), with a variety of couples and families with young children aged from 2.5 years. We booked the holiday through Hellenic Voyages over a year prior to our trip, but then read some dodgy comments about the way they do business, so made sure we contacted the hotel before travelling to check that they had our reservation details. They did, but we met some people at the hotel who had not been so lucky and had been shipped off to various other hotels for the first few nights of their holiday. The Hellenic Voyages Rep is also very difficult to track down if you do not attend the welcome meeting, so I would recommend that you do that, even if only to get the chance to speak to them once - my husband and I wanted to book one of the organised excursions, but could never get in touch with 'Patrick', as his sheet in the reps area which detailed his alleged whereabouts was a week out of date! Aside from the Hellenic Voyages side of things - who also failed to book two of our party vegetarian inflight meals, despite several requests, the holiday was a good one, but that was definitely the company, rather than the accommodation. It's true what they say - you can make your own fun and entertainment if you have to, and you definitely have to at the Belvedere! When we arrived, having travelled all night, we went up to our rooms in the smallest and most claustrophobic lifts I have ever been in, to find that several of us had not had our cards activated, so could not get in the rooms without trekking back down to reception again. This would not have been too much of an issue, had the staff been able to crack a smile between them, which we soon realised was an ongoing theme throughout the whole complex - with the exception of the maid who was lovely and made up for all the miserable people! Having arrived early, we went into breakfast on the first morning, and got a taste of things to come. There is a selection of fruit and a continental breakfast, but if you want anything fried, then be prepared for it to be swimming in oil. They also only serve until 09:30am, which was a little bit early for the majority of our party, and to be honest, it did not seem worth getting out of bed for any more than a couple of times. The snack bar is open from 10am - 6pm, so you knew that you would not have to wait long for other food, even though it did mean you ended up having chips and hotdogs for breakfast! (Could also get pizza, toasties, spaghetti bolognaise, ice cream, salad etc). The other meals were disappointing, and became extremely samey if you were there for two weeks. As a vegetarian, I found it incredibly difficult to piece together any meals that 'made sense', as they seemed to hide meat or seafood in nearly everything!! They would label things as being 'noodles', which one night would just be pasta in a tomato sauce, and then the next night would have tiny bits of octopus in it!! Other things were not labelled at all, and you just had to guess or poke through things to see if they had any meat in. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND TO VEGGIES. The room was ok - relatively clean, and the maid changed the towels daily, and the bedding regularly. The air-con is a bit of a let down however. It is not very strong, so it may be an idea to get a second key card (think they're about 3 euros) as you need one of those to activate it - then you can leave it on to cool your room down whilst you are out. The all-inclusive system is variable - there is a banding system which means that some people get more included than others. With a gold band, you are supposed to get some cocktails (all five of them!), local spirits, beer etc included, which you do, but there are plenty of things that you have to pay for, including tonic water, frappe's etc. The bar staff also seem very unfriendly, and it can take some time to get their attention if there are some attractive girls at the bar for them to chat to! Health and safety was a big concern whilst we were there - all the floor area around the pool and snack bar area is incredibly slippy, and several people were nearly falling over. There are also large metal hooks on the floor for shutters to attach to, but these also caused a hazzard which people, including young children tripped over. The olympic pool is very deep - 4 metres at one end, and we only saw one lifeguard walking around once, on one day. There are several lights in the pool - all of which seemed to be in a state of disrepair. One of them had a sharp piece of metal sticking out from it, where the guard had broken off, and another guest told me that his daughter cut her leg on it, whilst another light was placed on the pool side, whist still being attached by its cable - this remained like this for the duration of our stay. They do have some nice children's pools, but you have to navigate some steep slopes to get to them - as you did around the whole of the complex as it is on a steep hill. We had several buggies with us, due to the age of the children, and it was not an easy task! The Belvedere appears to have several rules when you arrive - e.g. there are two dinner sittings, men have to wear long trousers for dinner, you cannot reserve sun loungers, cannot go in the pool before 10am or after 7pm etc, etc. I did not see one of these rules being enforced by staff, so needless to say, they all got ignored, to the detriment of guests. The sun lounger situation is a nightmare - there are plenty of them, but they are all reserved with towels from early in the morning, and sometimes appear to never be used. They are also quite uncomfortable, but to get a cushion, you have to pay 1.5 euros a day - it's worth it if you fancy a day by the pool, though. The entertainment was terrible - it is very geared up for the German and Dutch guests, sometimes to the extent that they do not say anything in English! It often involved miming to songs from shows like Grease and Sister Act, but then doing some kind of sketch with no microphones so you couldn't hear them even if they were talking in English!! There was a kid's disco for about 1/2 an hour a night, but that was about it - we made our way up the hill to Koutouloufari village (which is lovely) for several nights, choosing rather to spend more money than sit around the pool where you had already been all day, listening to the same dull music over and over again. I would recommend eating out in some of the local restaurants in Koutouloufari or Piskapiano (up the hill) - but make sure you are back at the top gate by 1am, or it'll by shut and it's a hell of a walk round to the front entrance - get a taxi if you're going to be later than that. My last moan is about the last day - we were being picked up at 5pm, so paid 30 euros (£20) to keep our room on from 12pm. When we came up from the pool at approx 2.30pm to pack, guess what? Yep, they had deactivated our card, so we were locked out again! This had happened to everyone else in our party who had kept their rooms on, so we had to trekk down to reception again to the unhelpful and unhappy staff, who then looked at their watches like we were late leaving. I would definitely not stay in the Belvedere again, and would not recommend it to anyone else. For a 4-star resort, I would expect a lot more for my money, and was disappointed overall. Hersonissos and the other nearby villages however, are lovely, and Crete is fabulous for a suntan at this time of year!! Hope this information helps anyone who reads it.

This was the second trip all inclusive and the RB comapred well in some areas and not in others, as from previous trips we were expecting 4* treatment, then we realised that we were in greece, so it wasnt long till we were totally relaxed and taking it easy, the hotel was clean and the drinks were seved on the large size we would get a soft drink to save our livers, bar staff are friendly when your friendly, they don't like being hurried or talked at rather than too, our european cousins could lighten up abit especially in the sunbed department, this was a constant battle of which we decided that we would either get up early or go after lunch either time we found that there were sunbeds, the entertainment was top notch with a group from belgium called the jet animators having us in ruptures most night as well as keeping the kiddy winkies interested and tiring them out with the two mini discos, the bingo they have on a sunday i more fun if you watch the confusion than actually playing, bingo in six languages was hilarious. accomodation was clean and fresh, we had a problem with our AC when we were there, done and fixed within an hour, buy water from the market bottom left of the drive 2 euro for 9 litres and they also have a brilliant array of food also, star beach was a big letdown as this was more of a club 18-30 than a water park and you'll have to try pretty hard to find the sand . Fodd was top notch did get a bit boring after a week and a bit, that was mainly due to tasting everything they had to ffer everyday, the desserts are brilliant and thier are plenty of vegetarian choices if you have the time to choose, fully recommend it, suggest that you get to the main bar and grab a seat no later than 8.45 otherwise you'll be standing as the entrtainment is 1st class

What a great hotel for the money we paid all inclusive and we also had gold bands. We did not know for the first few days but we were super guests and could have baileys, cocktails, malibu not the real thing but still very nice and until 1am. All the others had only raki, ouzo or brandy till 12am so make sure if you go you go premium. Food was very nice put on about half a stone in 2 weeks. Our room was lovely did not pay for a sea view but got one anyway if you go it is worth paying for one fantastic views and you can watch the bungee jumpers. You get a hairdryer, good airconditioning and a fridge in your room and you dont have to pay for it. Very clean and the maids came in every day and did a fantastic job. All the staff are friendly and very helpfull. The down side not many English so you can imagine loads of sunbeds with towels on all day and no people. We had great fun removing towels every day and seeing peoples reaction when they came for their half an hour swim at 3pm. Would I go again yes great value good food and lovely views if you can stand not many Brits being there then this is a holiday for you.

The grounds of the hotel are excellent. Very clean and well cared for. Rooms were basic but clean, not as shown on the hotel website for the Royal Belverdere. Entertainment was nil, apart from half an hour for the kids each evening and a "show" from the kiddies entertainment staff, held at the beach bar. If you don't like Greek or German food, (the hotel catered for the majority of its clientelle, 90% of whom were German), I'm afraid you need to eat out. With regards to All inclusive. I was under the impression that all local drinks, including cocktails would be included. This was not the case. Local drinks consisted of Raki, Brandy, Ouso and Beer, not your'e local vodka or whisky. Check this out before you go as there are different levels of all Inclusive, I was platinum, but the gold got the cocktails etc. This is not a 4 star hotel, but a 'highish' 3 star hotel. I was very disappointed in the atmosphere of the place, its built into the rock face and on different levels, so walking back up the hill, (or maybe mini mountain!!!) is very tiring. Stopping of at the donkeys and goats help though!! If you have a late flight, check out is 12 o'clock, so be prepared to save up to 40 euros if you want a room for a few hours. Everything is money, matresses for the sun loungers are 1.50euro per day, if there a few in your family that's quite a bit of money. You can't get coffee in the restaurant at lunch time or with your evening meal. You need to get it from the bar. Lovely staff, but sorry won't be back.

The Royal and Imperial Belvedere Hotels in Hersonnisos, Crete, form part of one large resort complex. They share the same elevated, steeply sloping hillside site and some facilities (bars & pools, but not dining facilities). The Imperial Belvedere, although smaller, certainly appears to be the more up market of the two hotels. Because of the steepness of the site, the number and types of steps, and the fact that many of the guest rooms are not located in the main buildings, these hotels are not really suitable for persons with breathing or mobility problems, nor, I would suggest, would they be suitable for visually impaired people (unless thay were accompanied). Many brochures state that the hotels are a ten minute walk from the town. Well, maybe..... If you are an Olympic speedwalker in your spare time! For most humans it would be 15-20 minutes into the centre of town, and 25 minutes to the pretty harbour side tavernas. Don't forget, it'll take longer coming back as the hotel is a steep(ish) up hill climb. (You can get a taxi from town for 5 Euros). Most of the guests at this resort complex appear to be staying on an 'all inclusive' basis......... However, it is not as all inclusive as that term might suggest! Furthermore, some guests are more inclusive than others! We returned on June 20th 2006, from a two week stay at the Royal Belvedere. Our conclusions are, that this hotel does not rate it's published 4 star (some brochures even say it's 5 star) rating. The hotel complex has tennis courts, a small gym, and 5 swimming pools (which appeared to be clean and well maintained), plenty of sun loungers, and a childrens play area, all of which probably contribute to the star ratings. My friend and I, had booked and paid for a sea view room, we were not given one. We were told none were available and we should take it up with out tour operator (which we will do). The day we were complaining, we met another guest who had booked and paid for a family room for 4, but had not been allocated one. She was told that she would have to pay for an upgrade if a larger room became available. In the mean time, one of her teenage children had to sleep on a sofa bed, and another on a camp bed. The customer comments book at the reception desk had several recent entries from unhappy customers who were being required to pay for upgrades in order to get what they'd already booked and paid for. Our room itself was fine but a little basic, and on the small side. This mainly because lots of the space was taken up with a sofa which would convert to a bed, to accomodate a 3rd person if needed. The rooms are clean, and the bed linen is changed daily. Each room has a balcony, or a terrace. There are fold down clothes lines so you can hang swimwear and towels out to dry. Bathrooms are a reasonable size with OK facilities. There are hairdryers and towels are changed daily. There is a TV. (Mainly Greek and German channels - the only channels in English were a continuous news, and a travel channel..... who cares? you don't go on holiday to watch TV!) There is air conditioning and a refrigerator in each room. WHAT WE REALLY DIDN'T LIKE: *The hotel and its grounds are full of steps - some of rough stone, some of highly polished marble. Some are dangerously steep. Many have risers of different heights, so that one step is shallow, the next deep. Only two or three sets of steps in the entire hotel have hand rails. * The ramps around the hotel which should allow access for persons in wheel chairs or customers pushing baby buggies etc, are, in 90% of cases incredibly / impossibly steep. They could not be used by anyone propelling themselves in a wheelchair. Even if you were being pushed, it may well prove to be impossible. We have seen people struggling to get even a baby buggy up those (often slippery polished marble) ramps. *The Royal Belvederes lifts (elevators) are tiny, and completely inadequate for their purpose. Their poor design (you have to be able to open a heavy steel door to gain access - they don't open automatically), and the lifts themselves, are far too small to be manouvered into and be usable by an unaccompanied wheelchair user. *The beds and pillows are hard and uncomfortable. *Although all marketed as all inclusive, it isn't! As with most all Inclusive hotels in Greece, this hotel holds a weekly BBQ followed by Greek dancing and music. The difference here, is the Royal Belvedere charges you 15 Euros to attend! On arrival, guests from different tour companies get different coloured wrist bands to wear. Those with silver bands had access to only a very limited range of drinks at the bar. They had to pay for anything else. My friend and I had gold wrist bands. These seemed to entitle us to a much more varied selection, including a selection of local spirits.... but even this advantage did not entitle me to tonic water for my gin! I had to pay extra for that. We've never come across this division of 'who's entitled to what' at other all inclusive hotels. We thought it was a cheap and tacky practice. All inclusive should mean all inclusive. *You will not be looking forward to meal times here! The restaurant is not nice. It is the worst aspect of the hotel. It has the feel of a factory or work canteen! There is no head waiter or maître d' to seat you. There are no table cloths on the tables. You have to get your own drinks (and refills) and bring them to your table. Dining room staff don't seem to offer help to parents with babies and toddlers when it comes to fetching baby chairs. Customers have to do all of that stuff for themselves. All food is of the self sevice hot and cold buffet type. At all meal times, tables are only cleared when the desultory staff (I won't call them waiters because they aren't), can stop chatting amongst themselves, and summon up the strength to commence work. Large trollies are wheeled around the restaurant, plates are noisily scraped of food debris and stacked. All of this is done amongst the customers as they eat. These trollies, piled high with dirty crockery and food waste, are left in the dining room thoughout the meal, perhaps behind your chair if you're unlucky! It's unbelievably awful. The hotel states that it has two stittings for it's evening meal, but this is not the case. If you arrive at the correct time for the second sitting (Or indeed any time after the first 40 minutes of the start of dinner service), it is likely you will struggle to find a seat, as tables will have already been used, and no new place settings are laid. The alternative scenario is, that the tables will still be piled with used crockery which has yet to be cleared. Twice we cleared a table for ourselves, wiped it as best we could with a clean napkin and soda water (!) and went to the 'waiters station' and helped ourselves to cutlery and napkins so that we could eat. We were not the only ones to do so. We saw others having to do likewise. If you come to the restaurant later during the sitting, you are also likely to find a limited range of food left to choose from.....If you want choice get there early! The food itself is just OK, not horrible, but not great either. It's fairly standard all inclusive type stuff; bland and generally served warm rather than hot. They're catering for people from all over Europe (and the former eastern block), so bearing in mind varying tastes, unless you are very picky, you should always be able to find some combinations of things you'd fancy eating. Vegetarians will have real problems here. Pasta dished may be labelled as having a tomatoe and vegetable sauce, but watch out! you're likely to find meat or shellfish in there too. Even salads seem to routninely contain chopped up meat or fish. Desserts were always virtually tasteless, and ice cream had a curiously glue like texture. *It is impossible to get a drink (even of tea or coffee) in the hotel (apart from meal times) until 7pm. If you want anything drink you have to tackle the steps and ramps to use the snack bars by the pools. * There is no peace and quiet by the pool - piped music (at times very loud) is played all day. The childrens pool area has two different types of music blaring deafeningly out, as the pool bar staff prefer to play their own preferences over the top of the 'piped' music. Arrgghh!! it's like some kind of hideous brain washing nightmare! *The hotel has the cheek to charge you 1.50 euros a day for the use of a foam sun lounger cushion aound the pool. (On a two week holiday thats 21 euros or approximately £15.00 each....enough to pay for the cushion outright!) So, why does the hotel charge for their use? It isn't because they launder them daily. We could see they were liberally stained with the sweat and sun lotion of previous users, and they were never washed whilst we were there..... If a hotel buys sun longers which it then realises, are seriously uncomfortable for it's guests, don't you think they should provide cushions, not charge guests for their use? *The entertainment and animators (this is what they call entertainment staff in European hotels) are useless. They do provide some activities and entertainment for children. (Hardly anything is in in English though - they seem to concentrate on German speaking customers). However, the entertainment offered for the evenings is dire. How often do you want to watch people miming to records? Other all inclusive resorts we have stayed at, have included Ethnic/Folklore type nights, Guest musicians and singers and speciality acts such as magicians. Not to mention karaoke & dancing. Nothing like this here though! *Last but by no means least. The hotel has two donkeys and a couple of goats which are kept in tiny and inadequate enclosures along the main driveway to the hotel. For the first week of our stay, the poor donkeys stood on layer upon layer of packed down faeces in both the yard and their stable. In temperatures of 30c, the stench and the flies were terrible. It was heartbreaking. Their tiny yard and little stable/shed had obviously not been mucked out for many weeks. During our second week, (probably because of complaints from hotel guests), It was cleaned up somewhat. However, as of yesterday, the poor old donkeys remained ungroomed, scabby looking and covered with flies, (as they are still very dirty from the time they had to spend living in the filth). They have hardly any space, no room to exercise (the yard is only about 16ft x 12ft). They have no shade from the extreme heat (other than what must be a stiflingly hot shed). Their water looks dirty and is in a metal trough which is in full sunshine all day (so must be very hot to drink). They have no straw at all to lay on. It's most distressing. The goats look to be in better condition. However, their out door space is also very tiny, and their water supply does not seem to be topped up or changed daily. It too is in full sun, and is often so low down in the bucket, that it must be very hard for the goats to get at. Would we go to Crete again? - Sure Would we go to Hersonnisos again? - Probably not. No beach to speak of, not an attractive town. A bit tatty and tacky, with no real feeling of history or atmosphere. Would we go the the Royal Belvedere Hotel - No we wouldn't. RECOMMENDATION: If you want all inclusive in Greece, try the MITSIS hotel goup - We've been to 3 of their hotels. We've had no problems with any of them, no complaints, and they've been great value for money.