Minoa Palace Resort Hotel in Chania, Greece

On the island of Crete, we stayed at the Minoa Palace Resort Hotel (73014 Plantanias, Chania, Crete, GREECE; phone 011-30-28210-36500 or visit www.minoapalace-chania.gr) in September ’05. Our third-floor room with a king bed overlooked the garden and pool and (if we stood on tiptoe) the ocean. €170 ($210) included a fantastic buffet breakfast.

The dinner buffet surpassed any buffet we’ve been to in recent memory. It cost €48 ($59) including wine.

While somewhat out of town, the Minoa is located near many restaurants in the €28 range and is only a 25-minute bus ride from Chania.

• Across the street from the Minoa, we had a very nice dinner at the Italian restaurant Zafferano (phone 011-30-28210-55600) — €49 ($60) including wine.

• On Rhodes, we stayed at the Mediterranean Hotel (35, Cos St., 85100 Rhodes, Greece; phone 011-30-22410-24661 or visit www. mediterranean.gr). The rate for our ocean-facing junior suite with a king-sized bed was €160 ($196), with breakfast.

• The Mediterranean Hotel is located within walking distance of the port and the Old Town and within three blocks of over a dozen restaurants, all with practically the same menu. Two of our favorites were Restaurant Dania, where dinner with wine cost €30 ($37), and the Red Restaurant, which offered dinner with wine for €44 ($59).

We found the local wine to be excellent. However, we did not care for retsina, which is made with pine resin.

• The night before flying out of Greece, we stayed at the Sofitel Athens Airport (19019 Spata, Greece; phone 011-30-210-354-4000, fax 4444 or visit www.sofitel.com), located adjacent to the airport. We paid €153 ($180) for a room with a king bed. As members of the Sofitel Privilege program, we were upgraded to a deluxe room. (September ’05).

JOE GOLDEN

Ormond Beach, FL