Regarding the "Escape from America" article about affordable vacation places, I was happy to see that Crete is considered one of them! The family of my mother stems from Crete and my grandma and aunts and cousins still live there, so I think I can tell you more about this beautiful island. 

First of all it is a very big place combining both steep mountain sides and a huge coast line from north to south.

It is divided into four counties, which have four major cities as capitals, each one with a character of its own.

In the south the enviroment is more tropical, since the Libyan Sea is much hotter than the other waters that surround the island. The area is less populated but there are some interesting villages and towns you can go to such as Sitia, Ierapetra and Sfakia Coast.

Crete has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The visitor can discover primitive remains along with the very impressive up-to-date Minoan civilization (do you remember the mythical Minotaur that was said to live in the palace of King Minoas in Knossos?) which was affected by the eruption of the volcano in the Aegean Sea that is said to have destroyed Atlantis. 

Then it was colonized by mainland Greeks and was a significant trading post from mainland Greece to Eygpt.

You can see influences of each era all around the island both in the architecture and in the names of places. You will be impressed by the numerous small churches that have been built across the island in the name sake of several saints Cretans are very religious people, the majority of them Orthodox Christians. 

Some mosques left from the Ottoman era can also be found in Heraclion, Rethymnon and the city of Chania and are now part of the cultural heritage of Crete.

They often grow mustaches as a sign of manhood and are competent in improvising verses when they want to dedicate a song to those around them (which is called mandinada in Greek and can only be heard in the villages of Crete).

They used to carry guns as a self protective means, but now this habit is much restricted to marriages or up in the mountains for the shepperds. The Cretans have developed over the centuries a characteristic pronunciation of the Greek language in which some consonants are more stressed than usual.

The local cuisine is based on olive oil and it includes special dried breads made of seeds like oats or barley. The cretan cheeses and wines are also very distinct and tasteful. There's is a famous bi-product of wine (not vinegar) which is called Raki in Crete.

Now, staying in Crete won't be a problem since it offers up-to-date facilities for everyone. 

From the 5 star exclusive resorts by the sea to rooms to rent and organized camping sites. The choice is yours depending on your finances and the service is mostly good especially for foreigners.

The majority of the locals can communicate in foreign languages such as English, German, French or Italian. There are a lot of rent-a-bike or rent-a-car agencies with reasonable prices.