A munch through north-west Crete's finest menus.
The last time the three of us had been on holiday together was a hectic camping weekend in Essex back in the early 1980s. This time me, my partner Simon and our best friend Marion were off for a relaxing week’s break in the rural north-west of Crete.
es, Simon and me have been together for more than 20 years. And after nearly three decades, an extra companion on holiday is more than welcome, believe me (ladies, you’ll know what I mean, but so will the blokes!).
We all had a good time, and I recommend the threesome, especially if you all love to eat out. Conversation’s ramped up and has some variety – and you can all have a proper laugh.
Even if, like me and most of my friends, you actually enjoy holidays alone without your so-called ‘nearest and dearest’ – how I hate that expression – try again. A third friend will revitalise the holiday experience and you’ll feel more alive than in your usual long-married roles.
One thing about this holiday – there was plenty of rain. Yes, even Crete has bad weather sometimes. So our food safari was a real bonus.
Traditional villages
Our first holiday destination was the Ellotis Villas, just outside the hillside village of Vamos, a few miles inland from Almiros Bay. This secluded cluster of traditional Cretan stone villas is tucked away on a hill just outside the village. Built by a local stonemason, who has showcased his skills in these impressive homes, each has a swimming pool and a garden, and is handsomely furnished with artisan furniture.
Arriving here at 6.30am, after a night flight and a 70-mile drive along the National Road from Heraklion, we tumbled into bed, oblivious to our surroundings. Awaking a few hours later, I opened the shutters and walked onto the balcony to be greeted by the breathtaking sight of the White Mountains filling the deep blue sky. All around were dusty olive groves and rocky pastureland where sheep, with bells jingling round their necks, foraged for food.
We spent four days in this beautiful setting, exploring Vamos and its shops, bars, kafeneions and tavernas, and strolling around the atmospheric cobbled streets of the old part of the village. We also found time to tour some of the surrounding villages, too, including Douliana, Stilos and Tzitzife, as well as the coastal routes leading down to the gorgeous beaches at Almirida and Kalives. And we even managed to take a dip in the sea, although our beachside fun was cut short by rain.
Mountain living
Unfortunately, the bad weather was to follow us as we moved on to our second destination – the Topolia Village Houses in the centre of the tiny mountain village of Topolia. The houses – we stayed in the largest, with an enormous open-plan lounge/diner/kitchen, en suite bedrooms and superb top-floor balcony – have been renovated by two brothers from the village, Manolis and Yiannis, and are looked after by their welcoming mother, Argiouro. The brothers have kept the original style and character of these comfortable homes. And there’s even an elevated pool from which you can drink in the rich panoramic views out over the village and the surrounding valley to the mountains.
Picturesque Topolia tumbles down over the mountainside, straddling the small main road that leads from Kissamos though the Topolia Gorge and winds down the steep ravine to the stunning west coast lagoon at Elafonisi. From almost any point in the village you have spectacular views north to the sea at Kissamos and south to the imposing gorge.
Our stay here was short but eventful – a hair-raising trip along the single-lane mountain roads to Elafonisi, where we swam despite the drizzle; an all-night thunderstorm which temporarily cut off our electricity supply; and torrential rain which threatened to wash away the road. But our spirits weren’t dampened because the village people were so friendly and helpful (even directing me down the correct track to our house when I tried to take a late-night diversion into a goat shed!).
Table for three
Fortunately, while we stayed in these two beautiful parts of the island we were able to sample traditional cuisine in tavernas off the beaten track. And as we discovered, you can arrive in any of the many small villages in this region and you’re almost guaranteed to find an inviting taverna or two offering good, simple food. With evening meals costing €38 to €46 between the three of us, including wine and beer, they didn’t break the bank. As for the house wine, at about €2-€3 for a half kilo, it was reasonably priced and we eventually acquired a taste for it!
We found that the further inland you go, away from the tourist areas, the better the food. So it’s worth taking the time to explore, not only to experience true Cretan culture but also to taste the best cuisine. Here’s a selection of our favourite tavernas, where you’ll get good, homecooked food served in a friendly atmosphere, often in picturesque surroundings.
Katherine Rake
Taverna Guide
Sterna tou Bloumosfi: authentic cuisine
Vamos has two tavernas, both worth a visit. The one at the bottom of the main street, Sterna tou Bloumosifi, is the most traditional, and is run by a local group that aims to preserve the region’s culture. We enjoyed a late lunch and an evening meal here, both times sitting outside on its terrace under a leafy canopy of vines, feeding titbits to the village cats and watching the world wander up and down the road. There’s also a large indoor dining room across the street, to which we had to dash on our second visit to escape a thunderstorm!
It has a specials menu – which includes fresh fish – as well as standard fare. We sampled simple fried fish plus sardines wrapped in vine leaves. The pork and herb meatballs were good, as were the chorizo-like village sausages. Also try the mushrooms and aubergines stuffed with cheese, the chunky goat stew, lemony dolmades and rich pork in wine. The Greek salad with Myzitra, a cottage cheese-like alternative to feta made from ewe’s milk, is also worth sampling. Our excellent meals here were rounded off by the customary shot of raki plus a plate of Greek yoghurt topped with rich caramelised dates.
The Marouwas: international
Near the top of Vamos’s main street, The Marouvas – named after the sherry-like local wine – is spread over two floors and has plenty of covered terrace seating, one part of which overlooks a small wine co-operative where, on the evening we visited, the farmers were merrily celebrating the grape harvest. It’s a lively place to eat and you’ll find an international mix of fellow diners to talk to, courtesy of the language school next door!
The taverna offers a good range of homecooked meals with plenty of tempting choices, and don’t forget to ask the waiter if there are any specials. We plumped for a small selection of appetizers, including wood-oven roast potatoes, and three main dishes: fresh prawn omelette (as recommended by our waiter), spicy pork souvlaki and rooster with pasta and tomato. Here you’ll be served a complimentary glass of sweet muscato and an intensely sweet dish of halva with fruit to finish off your meal – plus more raki, if you can manage it. We did!
Agamemnon: lunch like the gods
For Sunday lunch we met up with Jane Freeman and her business partner Christos, who together run Cretan Ambience, the firm through which we’d arranged our trip. They’d promised to take us to a real country taverna for a taste of traditional local cooking.
The venue was the Agamemnon, which takes its grand name from its cheerful owner, and is set in Christos’s tiny home village of Kendrohori, which clings to the hillside a 30-minute drive south of Rethymnon, with panoramic views of the cultivated valley that spreads out below.
As Agamemnon delivered each dish to our table out on the terrace, for us to all share meze-style, Christos described their ingredients and their sources, nearly all local. This fresh produce formed the base of our three-hour-long feast, which included traditional Cretan dhakos – dry rusk soaked with olive oil with tomatoes and feta crumbled on top – sticky dolmades, juicy peppers baked with cheese, deep-fried field mushrooms, horta (greens) with courgettes and green beans, tangy beetroot with mayonnaise, warm fava been dip, pork rib fillets, rabbit and slices of melt-in-the-mouth lambs liver. And we even found room for some snails cooked in vinegar!
Our lazy, all-afternoon lunch was rounded off in true Cretan style with a shared dessert of Greek yoghurt with ‘ sweet of the spoon’ (caramelised sour cherries and quince), Greek coffee and a shot of raki.
Enohoos: the top of the world
Dine at the Enohoos (Oinoxoos) taverna, up on the mountainside in Topolia, and you can sit outside on its covered terrace, enjoy the fresh air and watch the trickle of traffic wind its way up through the hairpin bends towards the village.
Our dinner here was to be our most eventful meal out. We amassed a huge spread from the taverna’s extensive traditional menu, including dark, spicy village sausages, a tasty lamb stew and some gourmet ‘fried potatoes’ – chips! – cooked in Cretan olive oil. Try them – you won’t be disappointed. Simon ordered a pork chop and ended up with an enormous, succulent piece of meat that filled his plate. I decided to try something described on the menu in English as ‘Noodle Souffle’, and which turned out to be layers of macaroni with delicious herby pork mince.
We were half way through our mountain banquet when there was an explosion of noise as a crowd of people invaded the taverna. It turned out that there had been an election rally that evening and it was customary for the candidate to feed his potential voters, which seemed to include the entire population of Topolia.
As everyone took their seats around us, the evening really took off. We started chatting with our new tablemates, were invited to share their food and had drinks bought for us. One gentleman of an hour’s acquaintance even offered to pay for our meal! That’s what I mean about the advantages of there being three of you on holiday, rather than just a ‘keep-away’ couple.
Unfortunately, the party was brought to an abrupt halt by the storm that had been brewing all evening. There was a large crack of thunder directly overhead and out went all the lights. It was time to make a dash for it back through the rain, to watch the spectacular storm rage through the mountains from the security of our hillside home. It was a rainy end to our holiday, but we certainly wouldn’t forget the hospitality of the people of Topolia in a hurry.
Tzitzifes Taverna: woodland gem
For a meal in an unforgettable setting, try the Tzitzifes Taverna, about 20 minutes south of Vamos. The drive to the eponymous village itself is simple, but the final descent to the taverna is alarming as the road winds down a steep hill of hairpin bends and seems to peter out. Keep your nerve because the reward at the bottom of the hill is worth it.
The Tardis-like taverna – tiny from the outside but huge inside, with a large, outdoor terrace – has spectacular views over the lush, wooded valley below. Surrounded by walnut trees, citrus orchards and olive groves, when we visited in early autumn it felt as if we’d arrived in a land that time had forgotten, cut off from 21st century life.
We were supposed to be having a light lunch here, sharing between us a perfect Greek salad with feta, fried field mushrooms, cold fava bean dip, a tasty dish of chicken with okra and some spicy village sausages. Our leisurely – and, as it turned out, rather substantial – lunch was washed down with a half kilo of house wine and was a real bargain, costing us a grand total of €22!
Where We Stayed
Cretan Ambience - A small, specialist tour operator offering a wide range of hand-picked holiday accommodation.
A week in a one-bedroom house at the Ellotis Villas starts at £995, while a one-bedroom home at the Topolia Village Houses costs from £499 per week. These prices include car hire but not flights, which can also be arranged through Cretan Ambience from a wide range of UK airports to Chania and Heraklion.
Tel: 020 7553 6959
Web: www.cretanambience.com