Greece · 1 tour
Souvlaki, loukoumades and a meze lunch in Athens, then a short flight to Chania for bougatsa and raki, a cooking class in an Apokoronas village, a family olive oil mill and a shepherd’s cheese in the White Mountains.
Shepherd's hut in the White Mountains, Crete
Overview
Greek food at its best is simple and seasonal: olive oil poured freely, vegetables cooked slowly, cheese from sheep and goats, grilled meat and fish, bread, and a glass of something strong to go with it. Athens shows the city side, with a central market, souvlaki counters and meze tavernas that stay full until late.
Crete is where the countryside still sets the menu. Western Crete has more olive trees than people, families press their own oil, shepherds make cheese in stone huts in the mountains and every meal starts and ends with raki. Our tour spends two nights in Athens and four in Chania, with days in the villages of Apokoronas. Eleni Papadaki, who lives in Chania, hosts.
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1 tour · prices per person
Athens · Chania · Apokoronas · White Mountains
CookingSeafoodProducers
From$3,390per person, double room, most meals
View tour3 places
01
The Varvakios market on Athinas Street, the Central Market of Athens, has sold meat and fish under its iron roof since the 1880s, and the streets around it are lined with shops selling spices, olives, cheese, cured fish and dried beans. Athenians eat on the move: a koulouri, a sesame bread ring, from a street cart for breakfast, souvlaki wrapped in pita at Monastiraki, loukoumades, small fried doughnuts with honey, in the afternoon. The neighborhood of Psyrri, a few minutes away, is full of meze tavernas where lunch stretches over small plates of fava, keftedes and grilled sardines with ouzo or tsipouro. The Acropolis is a short walk from all of it.
Best monthsApril, May, October and November
Tours that visit Athens
02
Chania, on the north coast of western Crete, grew up around a Venetian harbor whose lighthouse and stone warehouses still stand. The old town is a maze of lanes in Splantzia and the former Jewish quarter, and around the Agora, the cross-shaped market hall of 1913, are shops selling thyme honey, mountain herbs, barley rusks and cheese. Breakfast here is bougatsa, flaky pastry filled with soft mizithra cheese and sprinkled with sugar. Kalitsounia, small cheese pies, sell at every bakery, and dinner in a taverna ends with a free carafe of tsikoudia, the local raki, and a plate of fruit. Our tour stays four nights in the old town.
Best monthsMay, June, September and October
Tours that visit Chania
03
East of Chania, the district of Apokoronas climbs from the coast through olive groves and stone villages such as Vamos and Gavalochori to the foothills of the White Mountains, the Lefka Ori, which keep snow into May. Its olive oil, mostly from the Koroneiki variety, has its own protected designation, and many families still take their olives to a local mill. Shepherds higher up make graviera, mizithra and anthotyros, and staka, a rich cream skimmed from sheep’s milk. In spring the hillsides give wild greens such as stamnagathi, eaten boiled with oil and lemon. Our tour spends three days here, with a village cooking class, a mill and a shepherd’s hut.
Best monthsApril, May, October and November
Tours that visit Apokoronas and the White Mountains
Ways to go
01
Athens and Crete: Markets, Olive Oil and a Village Kitchen spends two nights in Athens and four in Chania. Eleni hosts throughout, with a market walk, a flight to Crete, a village cooking class, an olive mill, a shepherd and a Cretan winery.
02
The tour leaves only an afternoon for the Acropolis, so many guests arrive a day or two early for the ancient sites and the museums. Lena can book extra nights at the tour hotel near Syntagma.
03
Groups of six or more can run the tour on their own dates, add a night in an Apokoronas village or time it for the olive harvest. Write to Lena Ortiz in reservations and she plans it with Eleni.
What’s included
The tour includes hotels in Athens and Chania with breakfast, every tasting and the meals listed day by day, the flight from Athens to Chania, a village cooking class, an olive oil mill, a shepherd’s cheese tasting, a winery visit, wine, ouzo and raki for guests 18 and over, transfers at group times and Eleni or another host.
Not included: flights to the start city, travel insurance, the meals not listed, tips. Alcohol only for guests 18 and over, the legal drinking age in Greece. Full list
When to go
Our departures run in April, May, June, September, October and November. Spring is the season of wild greens, artichokes, fresh cheese and Easter lamb, with flowers on every hillside in Crete. June is warm and the sea is ready for swimming. July and August are hot and crowded, so we skip them. September and October bring grapes, figs and the last warm sea. November is the olive harvest and the season when villages distill tsikoudia from grape pomace, which makes it our favorite month in Crete despite the first rain.
Before you book
Ask Lena directly
Lena Ortiz in reservations replies within one working day, Monday to Friday.
Crete grows most of its own food, from olive oil and cheese to wine and greens, and its villages still cook the old way. The smaller islands are beautiful but import much of what they serve in summer.
By a scheduled flight of about fifty minutes, included in the price with one checked bag. The overnight ferry is possible for private groups.
In western Crete it runs from about November to January. On the November departure of Athens and Crete the mill is pressing that week.
Very. The Orthodox fasting calendar created a long list of meat-free dishes: greens, beans, stuffed vegetables, pies and vegetables slow-cooked in olive oil.
On the June, September and October dates the sea near Chania is warm enough, and there is free time most evenings. In April and November it is cold for most people.
Yes. Sicily: Palermo Street Food, Modica Chocolate and Etna Wine runs in the same months, and Palermo is a short connecting flight from Athens.
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Dates and seats
Tell us which tour, roughly when and how many of you. Lena Ortiz in reservations replies within one working day with dates, seats, the price and how we can handle any dietary needs.
Lena, Grant and Priya, Charleston
SubjectAthens and Crete: Markets, Olive Oil and a Village Kitchen: dates and seats
Please include
Lena Ortiz in reservations replies within one working day. No payment now. A $300 deposit per person holds seats on a multi-day tour; day tours are paid when you book.
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