Between the Mountain of Stars and the Gorge of Saints
WESTERN asterousia protected area | crete, greece | 6 DAYS
What TO expect
Every place in Greece has its legends, stirring tales of heroism and adventure. Western Asterousia offers tranquility in a stunning natural environment. The impressive landscape of the Asterousia mountain range is included in the Natura 2000 network.
Learn aboutthe process of olive oil production by visiting an Olive Oil farm.
Enjoy a hiking reaching the highest summit of Asterousia, the sacred summit of Kofinas (1231m).
Enjoy high-quality organic Cretan wines by visiting a third-generation family company Winery on the way to the mountains.
Relax in the azure blue waters of Mediterranean Sea.
What travellers say about the experience
“While there were many moments of self-reflection during this trip, one that stood out was on the trip to a local Cretian permaculture farm. Upon arrival at the permaculture farm, we were greeted by Manos, who showed us around the farm that he started as a passion project integrating circular farming and sustainability into the production of his crops and award-winning olive oil. Seeing how self-sufficient Manos was and his ability to live solely off the land made our cohort reflect on how distant modern society is from what we consume, where it comes from and the resources needed to sustain it. Taking part in a cooking class with the produce that we collected, complete with fresh lentils, zucchini, tomatoes and herbs, made the whole experience come full circle. ”
“Tradition and respect for nature were the common threads of our steps in this journey. First, to an olive grove where the extraction, bottling, marketing and distribution of the highest quality olive oil were all made by the family running it. We experienced the taste of a production that respects time, and we learnt what the soil, the flora and the fauna need ”
““In the small village of Pirgos, Manolis and his friends from the Melitakes cooperative are looking for old seeds to revive the cultivation of native plants, which they take careful care of with drip irrigation in a region where this resource is scarce. On the sides of the mountain, they reconstruct terraced gardens abandoned in favour of extensive lowland agriculture. They cultivate the local edible plants and herbs there and, thanks to the temperate climate, production is spread out almost all year round. I visited the garden with them to discover the richness of this terroir. I tasted a leak here, a herb there, letting its scent flood my mouth.””
A TASTE OF THE EXPERIENCE
sustainability
This itinerary has an ecological footprint of around 0.025 gha per tourist. The food & drinks category is about 40% lower than the MEET average, and the mobility & transfers category shows a 72% improvement when benchmarked against the MEET Standard.
Local experts from the Natural History Museum of Crete will fill guests in on the abundance of herbs native to the region and what efforts are being made to conserve them.
Sustainability reports and more selective criteria for suppliers were introduced to support on-farm and local service providers to be more sustainable.
Click here to view the sustainability factsheet for this experience.