From ± 8:30 Until 17:00

Off-Road Daily Tour

During our tour, you will explore Crete’s archaeological sites, where you will savour your coffee under a 2,000-year-old plane tree; you will visit a traditional village with a Byzantine Church and a traditional café with local products, like Cretan herbs, raki, honey, oregano, etc.

Then, you will climb to an altitude of 1,200 metres, where, hopefully, vultures will take your breath away with their imposing appearance. You will, however, experience the quietness in the isolation of the White Mountains and dance Cretan dances in a fascinating landscape.

You will then find a very old castle with a mystery myth, swim in the pristine waters of the South Cretan Sea and taste delicious traditional dishes from a family tavern.

Lastly, you will learn how wine, raki, ouzo, raki with honey and olive oil are made in Crete, including ways to distinguish grades of olive oil.

The tour includes:

Pick up - Drop off
Morning coffee
Lunch with drink
Visit secluded beach
Traditional wine testing
Visit an old olive oil factory

Olive oil

Olive oil is a main source of nutrients in the much-discussed Mediterranean Diet. Many experts agree that following the Mediterranean Diet is one of the best ways to stay healthy and to enjoy a long life. The flesh of olives is 20-30% oil and the way that oil is extracted has remained almost unchanged for hundreds of years. The olives are harvested, washed and then crushed in oil mills to produce virgin olive oil. As well as being used in cooking, olive oil is also used for lamps, for scents (aromatic oils), for body care products, tanning and soaps etc.

Wine

Wine, and other drinks such as raki and rakomelo which are made from grapes, play an important role in Cretan life. They are mainly enjoyed as relaxing drinks, but they can also be used medicinally. For instance, raki can be used in poultices as it has a very high alcohol content, and rakomelo can be given for sore throats. Wine is produced in a similar way to olive oil. The grapes are harvested, cleaned and then crushed to produce juice. This juice is stored in barrels where it is fermented and turns into wine. The crushed grapes are also kept and fermented in other barrels and used to make raki and rakomelo.

Cretan Dances

Cretan dances express the islanders’ rich inner lives. Cretans use song and dance to express their feelings – enthusiasm, disappointment, love and war. The dances which are known all over the island have their roots in the ancient Minoan ceremonies and every dance is different.

Cretan Cuisine

Cretan cuisine has all the elements which make up the famous “Mediterranean Diet”. The island’s geological diversity means we have access to a wide range of locally-grown raw ingredients which are all high in nutritional value. Even today, the mainstays of our diet are vegetables, greens and a small amount of meat. Stuffed vegetables with rice and herbs, wild greens with olive oil and lemon, briam (an oven baked dish with aubergines, potatoes, tomatoes and courgettes) and baked aubergines stuffed with tomatoes, onions and cheese are just some of our traditional recipes that are full of flavour and nutrients, and don’t contain a trace of meat. Of course, we also have delicious meat dishes with little fat which we eat with vegetables for a balanced meal.