Safaris aren’t just for gawking at exotic animals. On Crete, a safari is much more intoxicating. After being picked up in a Land Rover at your hotel in Chania, take a full-day guided tour through a landscape decorated with olive trees and vineyards. This is a tour filled with wine, food and fun. Expect to come away with a thorough knowledge of Crete’s culinary and cultural history.
Stop by an olive oil mill to learn from your guide about how olives are harvested to make extra-virgin olive oil. You’ll even see a 3,000-year-old olive tree. Moving from olives to grapes, take a tour of a vineyard and taste the wine while learning about the ancient Cretan methods of wine-making.
Sit down in a small tavern and enjoy a typical Cretan meal. The cuisine of Crete is renowned for its life-giving, longevity-producing qualities. Expect fresh herbs and greens, seafood, feta cheese, and maybe even savory pies.
Stop by the chapel of Agia Paraskevi, set above a huge cave. The cave, 525 feet (160 m) deep and 118 feet (36 m) wide, was a shrine to an ancient fertility goddess long before the church was built. At the conclusion of your tour, you’ll be dropped back at your hotel.