30 days / 29 nights
Price per person / double occupancy
$15.020 (For One Person, Single Occupancy based on 1person)
$11.120 (For One Person, Double Occupancy based on 2 people)
Availability: Year Round Based on Your Availability
SPECIAL DEAL FOR COUPLES, FAMILIES, GROUP OF FRIENDS
Buy 1 Get Trip and get your second trip for 50%!
INCLUSIONS
- 20 Vegetarian Cretan cookery lessons on days 2 - 5, 7 - 10, 12 - 14, 16, 18 - 20, 22 and 24 - 27
- A gastronomic tour of Chania
- A gastronomic tour of Ierapetra
- A gastronomic tour of Rethymnon
- A gastronomic walking tour of Heraklion
- A soft mountain walk with Markos at Asteroussia mountains
- A visit to a cheese factory
- A visit to a farmers vineyard and having lunch with them
- A visit to a local house and spend the day with locals
- A visit to a producers work shop
- A visit to an olive oil factory
- A visit to archaeological sites of Gortys, Phaestos and Knossos (guiding/entrance fees are extra)
- A visit to Argyroupolis natural springs and Matala caves and Zaros lake
- A visit to local bee-keeping honey producers and tasting of produce
- A visit to local wineries and tasting of wine and raki
- A visit to the archeological museum of Heraklion
- A visit to the historical museum of Heraklion
- A visit to the Matala caves
- A visit to the monasteries of Arkadi and Odigitrias
- A visit to the womens co-operative of Marathos work shop
- A welcome drink and snack on arrival at the airport
- Accommodation at the Arhontiko Arhanes traditional villa in a twin/double room house for 10 nights
- Accommodation at the Kouriton historical manor in a twin/double room house for 10 nights
- Accommodation at the Thalori Traditional Complex in a twin/double room house for 10 nights
- Agiofarago southern central Crete walk and swim experience
- All cooking materials and ingredients
- All transport to and from the excursions
- Breakfast each morning
- Cheese and home made bread hands on class
- Cretan folklore live music and dancing class
- Cycling day
- Dinner accompanied by water, local wine and raki every night
- Icon painting class
- Lunch on days 2-29
- Organic farming class
- Return transfers to/from Heraklion airport day of arrival and day of departure
- Samaria gorge day tour (escorted)
SCHEDULE
Day 1
- Arrival. Reception at the airport. Transportation to the Kouriton house manor.
- Dinner at the manor.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 2
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Arkadi monastery.
- Pottery workshop and class.
- Lunch at Margarites village and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 3
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Mountain tour, Anogia, Iakinthos mountain stoned church.
- Lunch at Drossia village, Halepa monastery and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 4
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Gastronomic tour of Rethymnon city
- Lunch at the springs of Georgioupolis and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 5
- Region of Chania: Georgioupolis
- Gastronomic tour of Chania
- Lunch at the old port of Chania and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 6
- Region of Chania: Samaria Gorge (full day escorted walking tour)
- Light lunch (sandwiches during the walk)
- Dinner at Kouriton house.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 7
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- After a long walk spend the day at the beach.
- Lunch on spot and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 8
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Cycling tour the country side.
- Lunch on our way and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 9
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Icon painting or wood curving day.
- Experience the icon painting!
- Lunch at the near area and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 10
- Region of Rethymnon, western Crete
- Soft walking experience the Kouriton path at Margarites, ancient Eleftherna
- Lunch at Margarites and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Kouriton house.
Day 11
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Today we pack and leave Kouriton house and drive east and south direction the mountain village of Kapetaniana and the Thalori Mountain resort.
- On our way we visit the women cooperatives work shop at Marathos village and having break at Doxa to taste honey combs and pancakes with pure honey accompanied by Greek coffee or mountain herbal tea and drive south direction Kapetaniana village and accommodation at Thalori resort.
- Dinner at Thalori restaurant with variety of local vegetarian delicacies.
Day 12
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Visits to the Roman capital city of Gortys the Minoan city of Phaestos.
- Lunch at the sea front restaurant at Kokkinos Pyrgos.
- Hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 13
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Breakfast and drive south to the caves and beach of Matala.
- Visit the caves, join the clear waters at Matala beach and lunch at local restaurant.
- Back to Thalori later in the afternoon and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 14
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Breakfast and drive south for a soft walk to the small unspoiled beach of Agiofarago.
- Join the clear waters of the Libyan sea.
- Picnic lunch on spot.
- Back to Thalori later in the afternoon and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 15
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- We spend the day at the resort.
- Well known Cretan artist music player and dancer will come with his group to drive us to the secrets of Cretan music and dancing.
- Lunch and dinner at Thalori
Day 16
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Wine tasting, farmer visit, vineyard picnic
- Breakfast and drive north.
- Visits of 2 small family wineries the one producing Organic wines, wine tasting, visit a friends vineyard where we spend the rest of the day picking fresh veggies and fruits from the garden and having them for lunch accompanied by home made wine.
- Back to the resort later in the afternoon.
- Hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 17
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Gastronomic tour of Heraklion, free time for shopping.
- Dinner at Thalori restaurant with variety of local vegetarian delicacies.
Day 18
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Home made cheese and bread making and day to spend at the swimming pool.
- Back to Thalori later in the afternoon and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 19
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Breakfast and drive north to visit the lake of Zaros.
- Short break for a cup of coffee and drive north to visit a house and spend the day with the house lady. We go with her on the fields and harvest wild greens that we will have them for lunch later on accompanied by few more home made delicacies.
- Back to Thalori later in the afternoon and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Thalori mountain resort.
Day 20
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Today we spend the day on Organic farming.
- Harvest the organic vegetables and turn them to our meals for the day.
- Lunch and dinner at Thalori.
Day 21
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- After breakfast we pack and leave Thalori. Drive north direction Heraklion.
- First break at Peza cooperatives wine and olive oil tasting.
- Ending the visit we drive to the palace of Knossos. The tour takes one and a half hour.
- Ending the visit we drive to Arhanes village where we spend the rest of the days.
- Lunch at Archanes with local specialties.
Day 22
- Region of Lassithi, eastern Crete
- Lassithi plateau. Psichro cave, the cave where Zeus as per Mythology born.
- Lunch at Lassithi.
- Back to the lodge Archontiko Arhanes and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Archanes.
Day 23
- Region of Lassithi, eastern Crete
- The 4000 years old ancient olive tree, the sea front village of Mochlos, the Monastery of Toplou and the city of Sitia.
- Lunch at Sitia and dinner at the small village of Latsida.
- Accommodation Arhanes.
Day 24
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Spend the day at the beach.
- Lunch at a sea front restaurant with vegetarian delicacies.
- Back to the lodge Archontiko Arhanes and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Archanes.
Day 25
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Agios Nikolaos, Elounda and the sea front village of Plaka.
- Lunch at Plaka.
- Later in the afternoon back to the lodge Archontiko Arhanes and hands on cooking class. Accommodation at Archanes.
Day 26
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and walking tour of the city.
- Lunch at local mezedopolion.
- Later in the afternoon back to the lodge Archontiko Arhanes and hands on cooking class. Accommodation at Archanes.
Day 27
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Visit an open farmers market, visit the historical museum of Heraklion, the St Catherines old icons gallery.
- Lunch with street food and later in the afternoon back to the lodge Archontiko Arhanes and hands on cooking class.
- Accommodation at Archanes.
Day 28
- Santorini day tour. Escorted day tour to the island of Santorini.
- Dinner at Archanes village.
- Accommodation Archanes.
Day 29
- Region of Heraklion, southern central Crete
- Drive you to Heraklion for shopping on your own.
- Meet you at lunch time for lunch and back to the lodge for packing and get ready for the tomorrows departure.
- Accommodation Archanes.
Day 30
- Breakfast and transportation to the airport for the flight back home
Our Hosts
A few words for our Hosts
ANASTASIA KOURITON HOUSE LADY
A fine stone-built country manor of 1750, the Kouriton House classified as historical. It has been preserved for its traditional architectural structure, typical of the Cretan design stemming from prehistoric Minoan mansions.
Run by the owner and her sons. The owner is a retired University ptofessor of Music, a very nice and warm lady. Breakfasts prepared by the house lady with fresh ingredients from the area but most important with love and care.
HOST GEORGE
George Portokalakis is passionate about Cretan food and culture and loves to share this passion with his friends and guests.
After spending over 40 years in the travel industry and cooking business, he would tell anyone willing to listen about the wonders of Cretan cuisine, the family warmth of the Cretan people, share the delights of Cretan cuisine and culture with few people who appreciate good, fresh, natural and healthy cooking and love slow food!
You will taste the best Cretan traditional food that Crete has to offer and you will experience a way of life that very few foreigners will have the chance to experience
CRETAN MEDITERRANEAN NUTRITION
THE MIRACLE OF THE CRETAN MEDITERRANEAN DIET
The instigator and creator was the famous American professor Ancel Keys, the Mr. Cholesterol in the way Americans called him as he was the first to connect “nutrition-heart” and started the research in the late 1940s and specifically in 1947.
In the research he included Greece after the initiative and the inducement of the Greek professor Mr Aravanis in 1954 when it was agreed to include Greece as it had some special nutritional characteristics.
In the research it was also included Italy, Holland, the Former Yugoslavia and now Serbia, Finland and Japan.
For Greece Crete and Corfu were chosen.
In Crete it was chosen a group of 620 residents in the rural area of Kastelli Pediados 50km away from Heraklion where their nutrition followed a typical diet of rural people with a big consumption of oil together with hard agricultural work that is body exercise on a daily basis and a year later a second group of other 620 residents in Corfu in a similar region 45km away from the Corfu city with almost the same diet habits.
These 1240 people had since then a continuous annual observation regarding the recording of whatever illnesses appeared.
From this extended research regarding the sample from Crete, it was proved that the way Cretan lived was a major factor of longevity as in the beginning of 2000 (46 years after the beginning of the research) 150 from the 620 under research were still alive and comparatively to all the other participating countries the population of Crete had the least morbidity and mortality from heart diseases.
The differences were so big that the scientific community talked about the phenomenon of the Cretan diet and way of life.
The 7 countries research offered to the scientific and non-scientific community a famous term, that of the MEDITERRANEAN DIET the most beloved term that has been used concerning nutrition.
The level of health and death rate from chronic diseases were better in the Cretan population even compared to the population of Corfu and the other Mediterranean populations like Italy and Dalmatia.
This was attributed to the way of life and diet of the Cretans and was since then an international model of nutrition and it was created the intense interest and now a way of life the well known Mediterranean diet.
According to the professor of Preventive Medicine and Nutrition at the Medical School of Crete Prof. Antonis Kafatos, it was a discovery of great importance as this study introduced the term of risk factor concerning heart attack of myocardium and other chronic diseases and it's really significant for the prevention of chronic diseases.
This knowledge was used from countries like Finland (which had 10 times more deaths compared to Greece) that founded a national policy for prevention and nutrition.
The result was the 70% death rate reduction the last 30 years.
