Ritch
LE

Souda Bay is pretty quiet these days in my experience (civi name Chania).
I was in Crete this summer and the barman’s brother is an F16 jock. It was when tensions with Turkey were ramping up over sub sea mineral rights around Rhodes and they were essentially on a war footing. I hadn’t realised that just down the road from Heraklion is a military base not marked on any chart I’ve seen.
He rang his brother after our chat and 20 mins later a pair of F16s (under licence from the escalating tensions) gave us a fly past worthy of Tom Cruise. I was loving it but fat Brits were ticking about the noise.
I rented a quad for a week when I was last there and took myself off down the coast past Hersonissos and then onto Heraklion itself. It got a bit dicey on the dual carriageway when one of my wing mirrors decided enough was enough and buggered off when I was doing 50mph.
Didn't get to Souda Bay, decided to turn round.
The area I stay in, Stalida is pretty good for anyone interested in planes as they head pretty much straight for you before making the final turn close to the coast at about 4,000ft.
At night, the tourists think the landing lights are Chinese lanterns until a rumbling fills the air.