THE LOCATION
Real Crete: an authentic journey
Leaving the big city of Heraklion and heading to the inner part of the island gives you a feeling of wilderness. Olive trees and vineyards surround you as you pass through the winding roads towards the village of Krousonas. Just a twenty minute drive through the hills will lead you to our hidden paradise.
At the foothills of the mountain is the area known to the locals as “Metochi Papayiani Skoula”. A few local families have been living in the area for years now -among them our family as well!
For at least three generations we have been climbing up the hills and exploring the fields: we know this land like the back of our hand.
OUR FARMHOUSE
is a great place to begin your journey and explore the rural life.
The family farmhouse was built here, back in the beginning of the 20th century and has always been a buzzing place with people visiting, cooking and celebrating the feasts with joy and laughter.
We have a large vegetable patch where we cultivate our own plants and vegetables: you can find everything from tomatoes to cucumbers and aubergines, from beets to potatoes and onions! We also have a few animals to keep us company but also to offer us their milk, eggs and meat, such as rabbits, chickens and goats.
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GALLERY
ACTIVITIES
We organize a range of activities for all the family, throughout the year. All activities can be customized according to your own needs and preferences.
Depending on the time that you would like to visit us, there are plenty of activities you could participate in. A farmhouse is always alive and the jobs don’t have an end! Grape and olive picking, raki making, caring for the animals, wine tasting and more…
A beautiful walk in the countryside
After enjoying our morning coffee in the beautiful garden, we will begin our walk through the hills where you will enjoy the beautiful nature, the feeling of serenity and calmness is overwhelming.
It takes a 15-minute walk to arrive at the small stone-built 18th Century church of Saint George Methistis (The ‘drunken’ St. George).
Here, we can enjoy the thick shade of the pine trees where we can take a rest and have a small traditional picnic with some cucumbers from our garden, cheese, olives and paximadi (a kind of a rusk bread) and of course some raki!
Back to the road, we will pass by the river which traverses our farm and greet the turtles and insects that gather there!
Back to the house, we will head to the veg garden and pick the veg for our fresh salad. We will sit in the courtyard for a delicious traditional meal cooked by the family’s mother.
Traditional Cretan Cooking Classes
We will use fresh, seasonal ingredients from our veg garden, to create some delicious, traditional dishes. Get an idea of what we will prepare!
Cretan cuisine is best known, worldwide, for its nutritional value and exquisite tastes! Get to know in practice the beauty of our local diet and take back home with you some valuable, traditional recipes which have been passed from one generation to the next! We organize traditional cooking classes and, of course, we enjoy a meal all together to try what we have made!
Traditional Bread and Cheese Making
We invite you to find out the secrets of traditional bread making in our wood fired oven! Our lovely cook will take you back in time showing you techniques which have been passed from one generation to the next!
Crete is also well known for its great variety of cheese, with recipes that date back to ancient times.
During the milking period, our sheep and goats offer plenty of milk to try out some recipes. Join us in milking the animals and experimenting with some cheese making with our guidance.
DISHES
- Snails with herbs, served with handcut chips
- ‘Pilafi’ (pilaf rice) with local chicken
- ‘Ntakos’: rusk bread with freshly grated tomato and cheese, spread with olive oil and oregano
- Stuffed tomatoes with rice and veg
- Stuffed vine leaves and courgette flowers from our veg patch
- Rabbit stew with oregano and herbs
- Meat and potatoes in the wood oven
- Salad with boiled seasonal weeds from our veg garden
DESERTS
- Rice pudding
- ‘Gliko tou koutaliou’: homemade marmalade with yoghurt
- Little, traditional, homemade cheese pies served with honey
OFFICIAL PARTNERS
