Looking for a quaint greek cooking experience where my husnad and I can learn to cook some greek foods and share a meal with greek family preferably at their house or farm so we can learn about the local foods and culture. We prefer something small and authentic with a family. We will be in athens, chania, crete, santorini, and naxos. Any recommendations? Please no large touristy groups or organizations thanks!
Posted by
11154 posts
Contact Maria at Diktynna Travel in Chania, Crete. This is an incoming tourist agency used by travel agents around the world to book travel and experiences within Crete. We dealt directly with Maria and she took Very good care of us. There are also good reviews on Trip Advisor of Diktynna Travel.
Consider an overnight in Loutro on Crete’s southern coast too. Crete will offer you the least touristed opportunities of the places you are visiting.
reservations@diktynna-travel.gr
Tel: 30 2821 041458
Posted by
1226 posts
I thought of this (there is a description of his Greek food class in the article somewhere ;)
Posted by
martinez, ca, usa
2299 posts
hey hey ballrains
cookly.me
type in your city and see what they can offer you within the islands.
withlocals.com
type in greece or athens, which offers food market tours with cooking lessons after you have shopped.you can email them and see if they have a discount code.
vamosvillage.gr under activities
chaniagastronomy.com
culinarybackstreets.com
athens-walks.com
greekingme.com click view tours, places and interests and see what you like. good luck and have fun.
few years back did a greek island cruise roundtrip venice to venice. had a fabulous time and great food.
aloha
Posted by
Nanaimo, BC, Canada
1370 posts
In September we were on Naxos and found a new tour company that specializes in out of the way locations. One of the tours took us to a family owned farm where they specialized in Cheese making. The tour included a visit with all the goats at feeding time then a farmhouse meal with several traditional dishes lots of home made wine and finally where we got to participate in cheese making.
It was an awesome experience. Here is my trip report.
Philema tours. The owner Elaini, who was a tour guide for Naxos tours but when she discovered the bus driver was getting 200 euros to drive the tour bus and she was getting 30 euros to guide the tour she quit and designed several unique itineraries that included local farmers, wineries and olive oil producers.
This is a small tour with a maximum of 7 people plus Maria and the driver. For this trip we had one other couple with us. They were from New Orleans and were convinced they didn’t have any accent at all.
The farm was way out in the country in an area we have never visited before. As soon as we arrived they herded about 20 goats into a nearby pen and we were allowed us to feed the noisy, rambunctious crowd and play with their farm dog Harry. Harry was quite put out that the goats were getting more attention than he was. This close encounter with goats allowed us to ask the famous question why do some goats have a bell while others didn’t. We thought that the most intelligent goat was a natural leader and the other goats would follow the bell. It turns out, the naughty goats get the bells so the farmer will know where they are at all times. Naughty goats climb trees, are escape artists. Climb fences, butt people, dogs and anything else that’s handy, and are always pushing to the front of the food trough. My wife has taken to threatening to hang a bell on me when I am not on my best behaviour.
We moved inside and were greeted with a big farmhouse table laden with food. There were spinach and cheese pies, zucchini fritters plus two egg and cheese dishes bread olive oil and homemade wine.
We discovered the only way you can get a Greek host from refilling your wine glass was to leave it full when you have had enough. I think I learned that lesson a bit late in the process but I wasn’t driving.
Behind the table was a large caldron of milk on a heater. This was fresh milk from the goats which had been simmering on the heat for the past two hours. The farmer brought out a stick and started to slowly stir the milk and it began to lump up. They had plastic baskets/moulds and the farmer began to add the curds to the baskets. Each of us got an opportunity to fill the baskets and pat down the curds into a solid mass. Each basket was then submerged in the Whey and the cheese was coaxed out of the moulds turned upside down and reinserted. The cheese is stored in a separate room in coolers and is aged for several months. Apparently the little local products store where we buy spices, wine, ouzo Kitron and cheese is actually the business that purchases the cheese from this farm. That made our day, to discover the cheese we made today, would eventually end up in a shop we know well.
The tour next went to a winery. Apparently the wind in Naxos makes it very hard to grow grapes but what survives makes a high quality wine. We toured the grape field then were taken to a lovely sheltered picnic area where we had a wine tasting of 5 different wines. I am estimating that each pour was at least 2 ounces. Then they brought out two bottles of their home made wines.
By this time it was dark and we still had a half hour drive back to Naxos town to our hotel. We can certainly recommend Philema Tours.
Images of Naxos 2019. The tour photos are on the second page of this album.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbr54/albums/72157711294807761