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Leaving the palace at Malia, the highway cuts inland towards NEAPOLI , soon beginning a spectacular climb into the mountains. Set in a high valley, Neapoli is a market town little touched by tourism. There is one excellent hotel ( Neapolis ; tel 08410/33 966; ?24-33), some rooms, a modern church and a folk museum. Beyond the town, it's about twenty minutes before the bus suddenly emerges high above the Gulf of Mirabello and Ayios Nikolaos, the island's biggest resort. If you're stopping, Neapoli also marks the second point of access to the Lasithi Plateau . Scores of bus tours drive up here daily to view the "thousands of white-cloth-sailed windmills" which irrigate the high plain ringed by mountains, and most groups will be disappointed. There are very few working windmills left, and these operate only for limited periods (mainly in June), although most roadside tavernas seem to have adopted many of those made redundant as marketing features. This is not to say the trip is not justified, as it would be for the drive alone, and there are many other compensations. The plain is a fine example of rural Crete at work, every inch devoted to the cultivation of potatoes, apples, pears, figs, olives and a host of other crops; stay in one of the villages for a night or two and you'll see real life return as the tourists leave. There are plenty of easy rambles around the villages as well, through orchards and past the rusting remains of derelict windmills. You'll find rooms in the main village of TZERMIADHO , where the Hotel Kourites (tel 08440/22 194; ?24-33) is to be found on the eastern edge, AYIOS YEORYIOS - where there's a folk museum , and the economical and friendly Hotel Dias (tel 08440/31 207; up to ?24) - and PSYKHRO , where the Hotel Zeu s (tel 08440/31 284; ?24-33) lies close to the Dhiktean cave.
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