Authentic Crete: 2 days/1 night

2 days food tour, wine tasting, milks the goats,  cheese pies and home bread making:

Authentic Crete Start Days

April – July 31, 2016: - All tours are every day and ‘on request’

please contact us and we’ll check availability for your preferred

day of arrival as quickly as possible

Cretan cooking holidays are for 1 nights / 2 days

Holiday overview

The packages we propose offer the opportunity to enjoy the first daysome of the finest of Cretan Organic wines, spend some time in avineyard with a local farmer and join a picnic lunch with just pickedveggies and grilled meats accommodate at a beautiful mountainresort at the southern part of Heraklion region called Thalori http://www.thalori.com/en.aspx having dinner at Thalori with a variety of local specialties accompanied with local wine and the comingmorning drive and walk with  Markos Thalori owner to go and milkthe goats. Returning to the resort join Angela to make fresh homemade bread and when is ready eat it. Having lunch with localspecialties and return back to Heraklion / hotel / airport / port latein the afternoon

Pricing:

€545 (For One Person, Double Occupancy based on 2people)

Based on minimum 2 persons

SOLO: Can book the tour on PRIVATE – TAILOR MADE by payingthe cost of 1 and a half persons

Included in the price

• Accommodation at the Thalori Traditional Complex in a twin/double room house for 1 night
• Return transfers to / from Heraklion airport, port, hotel
• Cretan cookery lessons on day 1
• A visit to archaeological sites of Gortys and  Phaestos (guiding/entrance fees are extra)
• A lunch at Kokkinos Pyrgos sea front restaurant with sea specialties
• A visit to producers vineyard with picnic lunch
• A visit to local winery and tasting of wine and raki
• All transport to and from the excursions
• All cooking materials and ingredients
• Breakfast  
• Lunch on days 1 and 2
• Dinner the food prepared during the cooking class accompanied by water, local wine and raki
• Prices are based on two sharing a house, a single supplement applies for those travelling solo
• Note: Shared houses may be available subject to availability

About the host 

- Your Greek host and cook for the holiday is George

- George has been working in the travel industry for over 40 years but has alwayshad a love and interest in food and the food industry

- George has had two experiences running his own restaurants and has cateredfor Cretan weddings as well as running cookery holidays on the island

- He began offering cooking holidays in response to guest’s request whilst workingin travel and has run the holidays for a number of years

- George’s interest and expertise in vegetarian and vegan cuisine as well came inresponse to some guest’s comments that Cretan and Greek food is heavilymeat focussed

- He took it upon himself to prove to his guests that Crete and Greece is the perfectdestination for vegetarians and vegans, and over the years he has worked extensivelywith the Vegetarian Society, and Vegan Society

- George is well rehearsed in vegetarian and vegan diets and hopes to show visitorsthe richness of Cretan food that he believes can be accessible and enjoyedby all, whatever your dietary requirements

- George’s style is friendly, informal, and relaxed and cooking is oftenaccompanied by a glass of wine or raki

- He thinks cooking should be a fun activity to be shared with friends and there areno strict rules to his cooking

- He believes the freshness of the ingredients make the dishes and uses onlylocal ingredients

- George is passionate about the island of Crete and so as well as taking you on aculinary journey to discover the island’s cuisine, it will also be a cultural one

Holiday Itinerary

Suitability

§     Cretan cookery holidays are suitable for all levels from complete beginners to experienced cooks

§       Minimum age 8 (under 13’s must be accompanied by an adult)

§       Your host is Greek but speaks excellent English so all cooking classes are taught in English

Schedule:

The itinerary is for guidance only and is subject tochange depending on the group’s needs and wishesbut is typically as follows:

Day1.Wine tasting, producers visit at vineyard and casserolecooking class

Pick up from your hotel / airport / port at 9.00 AM. The day start and drive to the village of Sivas where we visit one of the best smallfamily wineries providing organic wines. Spend some time there tasting a variety of wines.

Ending the visit we drive to a vineyard at the near region.Michalis the farmer will take us to his small gardens and harvestfresh veggies tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, parsleyetc for our salad. In the mean time Michalis will start a fire tocook the meats we bought on our way. In a slow way we prepareour salad and few more appetizers drinking some wine andhaving fun. When the meats are ready we having our lunch incompany with local wines.

Ending the lunch we drive south direction the range of mountains ofAsteroussia and the village of Kapetaniana where our accommodationis. Late afternoon arrive -aprox. 6 pm- at Thalori resort.Take the house and later in the evening we meet again.

Start the cooking class at 7, 30 pm and spend the night as long asyou like at the restaurant of the resort having for dinner the foods wecooked accompanied with wine and ending the night with lots of Raki the Cretan snap.

Day 2.Goats milking, cheese, cheese pies and home bread making,visit to archaeological sites of Gortys, and Phaestos,Kokkinos Pyrgos village

Day starts at 6.30 AM.Do a short drive with Markos to the place where the goats are to milksome of them and having fresh milk for your breakfast.

Drive back to the resort and we join Angela or Anna one of the twoladies to prepare fresh soft white goat/sheep’s cheese

 Cheese pies

and home fresh bread.

A little later have the fresh milk and the just cooked bread with fewmore local specialties for breakfast.

Ending the breakfast we leave the resort and drive down hill for avisit to the Roman capital city of Gortys the city that Apostle Paulfound the first Christian church in Crete.Keep drive west to the next ancient Minoan period city of Phaestosand ending the visits we drive to the village of Kokkinos Pyrgos wherewe lunch at a sea front restaurant with just caught fish and localspecialties. After lunch we drive back to Heraklion where our trip ends.Thank you for join us

Booking conditions

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Payment

All prices listed are in Euros. If you are paying in a different currency, your price is locked in with Euros. but the price in your currency will depend on the exchange rate at the time your deposit is charged, then again when your balance is due. If you would like to lock in a price with a currency other than Euro, you can do so by paying the full amount at the time of your reservation.

30% of the total is due at time of booking to secure your spaces. The balance is due 60 days before your tour begins. 

Cancellation

If you booked more than six months in advance. your deposit is refundable within 50 days of the time you place your reservation.

If at the time of cancellation, it is more than 180 days in advance of the vacation, and also more than 50 days after you made your deposit, your deposit is non-refundable, but we will be happy to apply 100% of it toward any of our other vacations anytime within the next 12 months.

If at the time of cancellation, it is between 180 and 90 days in advance of the vacation, your deposit is non-refundable, but we will be happy to apply 40% of it toward any of our other vacations anytime within the next 12 months.

Once the Full Balance is paid (60 days or less before the start date):

If at the time of cancellation, it is between 60 and 14 days in advance of the vacation, your deposit is non-refundable, but we will be happy to apply 40% of it toward any of our other vacations anytime within the next 12 months.

If at the time of cancellation, it is between 14 and 0 days in advance of the vacation, your deposit is non-refundable, and we unfortunately cannot apply any portion to future vacations.

These cancellation terms reflect times that we must pay out expenses for your trip on your behalf. At times that we no longer offer refunds, we have already paid out the associated costs, and refunds are not available to us. Because of this, we are unable to bend these terms. 

Accepted payment methods

Bank wire, Credit card

We accept Amex, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa

Pricing information

Alumni discount is available. Please contact us.

Gratuities/tips

In Crete, tipping drivers, guides, etc. is customary but not mandatory. Our guides, host, driver, etc. all happily accept tips, but they are never expected. We have seen guests leave huge tips for our staff, and we have seen guests leave no tip at all. Either way, both of those guests are equally appreciated.