Wednesday 18 May 2016

A seven days trip to lovely Crete! PART ONE


It was a great temptation for me to join an eight-day road trip as a guest of TravelMassive Crete. The days were a lot and my obligations back to the office many, but Crete is such a beautiful island to miss my  chance to pay a visit once more!
I decided to be part of the eight days road trip just for the six days and then broke off the group myself to return to Thessaloniki, at the headquarters of my company! I booked my flight with Ellinair, a Greek airline company offering affordable ticket prices, direct flights from Thessaloniki to Heraklion and very attentive staff!

My  flight departed  early in the afternoon  from Thessaloniki to Heraklion and after a nice and comfortable one-hour journey I  arrived to Crete!
By rental car I headed to Chania, where I was meeting  the rest of the Travel Massive Team coming from different countries. All together we started  the very next day our tour of  Crete!
The two-hour’s drive from Heraklion to Chania was a bit difficult as we had missed the daylight. Arriving at Chania  I headed to the hotel arranged by the team of Travel Massive Crete . What a surprise when I realized that this was not a hotel but a beautiful villa at the outskirts of Chania, the Taos Villa!
The owner, Mrs Germana was a kind person welcoming us with a big smile. She showed us around the property eager to fulfill all our needs.
     Let the pictures speak on their own of the wonderful time we had !
   

          The very next day we visited some specific areas of Chania included in our tour program. In the  Astrikas Estate BIOLEA, a unique olive mill, we were taught many interesting things about olive oil ! The oil we had a trial sip of,  was truly special!

Then we took a tour to the Pnevmatikakis Winery, tasting some of the wines produced over there. 

Our lunch was an offer  by The Cellar Restaurant in the beautiful Telonio beach of Kissamos village. The cuisine was excellent and highly recommended! 
Let the photos tell the story!
  

In the afternoon hours we took a mesmerizing  stroll to the Old Port of Chania!

 A local traditional group accompanied by Cretan musicians and singers, danced for us ! 

The owner of  Creta Luxury Cruises Mr George Stamatakis showed us around in one of his impressive boats.
  

The unique flavors of  Byraki (multi - flavored raki)  and the owner of the company Mr. George Nikiforos made our day! There are 23 different flavors of Byraki and my personal preference  is caramel taste!

We returned to our hotels  as the next day was expected to be a busy one and it truly was!
The new day started with a visit to The Botanical Park & Gardens of Crete. It is an olive grove, where after a big fire, the owners created a park with plants from all around the world! Visitors may walk through the paths of the park for almost an hour and a  half to view various species of plants and trees and then taste the products produced, in the restaurant located inside the park.
  

We completed the entire route and saw all the impressive plants grown there! At the end, we enjoyed an excellent meal at The Botanical Park & Gardens of Crete restaurant. All products are produced within the botanical park and the flavors were fantastic! Enjoy some pictures!
  

The day ended with a visit to MANOUSAKIS WINERY, where we had the chance to listen to the owner’s life story while tasting some excellent wines.
  


STRATATOURS, did an excellent job being in charge of  all transportation.

Read the PART TWO here
Read the PART THREE here