The tour begins Saturday morning, May 3, 2008 at the airport in Iraklion, Crete and ends after dinner in Hania, Crete on Monday, May 12, 2008.
For five nights, you’ll be the guest of a small inn in our home village of Kritsa. Breakfasts include the innkeepers’ home-made yogurt and breads, fresh fruit from their orchards, strong Greek coffee or aromatic herbal teas served in a courtyard lush with lemon trees and flowers. With the village of Kritsa as our base, each day we’ll travel by jeep or on foot into the surrounding mountains to see wildflowers, collect herbs and learn about medicinal plants of the Mediterranean. Throughout the tour you’ll savor deliciously slow meals featuring local traditional Cretan cuisine, lively conversations and informative seminars.
On the sixth day, we’ll leave Kritsa and travel west to a historic inn at Arhanes, a beautifully preserved 4,000 year old town in central Crete designated by the European Union as a Model Sustainable Village because of its progressive agricultural and land-use practices. We’ll spend two nights in Arhanes, enjoying a guided tour of one of the most significant archaeological sites in the world: the Bronze Age temple complex of Knossos. Our guide, Yiorgos Spiridakis, will also take us through the Archaeological Museum of Iraklion, where artifacts from Crete’s 9,000 year old history are displayed.
After two nights in Arhanes, we’ll drive to western Crete and the eco-retreat of Milia - the center of a solar-powered, organic farm surrounded by a nature preserve. Far from the sounds of civilization, encircled by mountains lush with herbs and wildflowers, we’ll spend two magical nights with plenty of time for hiking, herb-gathering, enjoying traditional organic cuisine in Milia’s candlelit dining room, or doing nothing at all.
From Milia we’ll go to Hania, Europe’s oldest urban center. This charming seaside city offers a chance to explore narrow winding streets lined with Turkish architecture, browse shops featuring hand-made local art, buy herbs and spices at the bustling farmer’s market, and enjoy a drink in one of the open air cafes along the gracious Venetian harbor. Our tour ends with a sumptuous farewell dinner in Hania. The following morning, you’ll depart Crete from the Hania airport to begin your trip home.
