Crete for the ultimate in holiday villa rentals

Have you ever thought of renting a seaside apartment or a hilltop stone villa on the amazing island of Crete?

Bathed in sunshine for the majority of the year, Crete has the ideal climate for all year round visitors. Summer is for visiting some of the most spectacular sandy, and shingle beaches in Greece, sunbathing and swimming. Winter is for walking, exploring and sightseeing. Crete winters are mild and you can be playing in the pure snow surrounding the start of the Samaria Gorge in the White Mountains in the morning and sunbathing on the beach in the afternoon. In the winter months should it rain there are many museums and places of interest to visit, the beautiful Venetian City of Chania with its maze of streets, Archaeological and Naval museums, Rethymnon with its tangle of Venetian and Turkish buildings and in Heraklion the Minoan wonder of Knossos Palace. Chances of rain during the summer are virtually non existent. Many visitors flock to Crete in the early spring, when the countryside is a riot of colour, to walk and enjoy the abundance of spring flowers, flora and fauna and the many endemic species to be found from the coast to the mountain tops of Crete.

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean, and is equidistant to Europe, Africa and Asia. Some 256 kms long, and between 15 and 30 kms wide, majestic mountains rise in its centre with their plateaus split by deep ravines ending up in fertile valleys and sandy beaches. It is the most significant of the Greek islands since European culture first developed here over 4000 years with the Minoan civilization.. Chania, also known as Hania, is Crete’s second largest city and was the capital until 1972. It’s history is particularly interesting as in the past invaders always focussed in this area. You’ll find traces of Byzantine, Venetian, Turkish and Germans times here and Linear B tablets discovered indicate that Chania was the site of the Minoan city of Kydonia.

The climate provides for the cultivation of olives, grapes, carobs, miniature bananas, melons, peaches, avocados, oranges, tomatoes and numerous kinds of mountain greens (horta) to name a few. The most important, the olive tree, has grown on Crete since Mycenaean times and you will see trees everywhere in the countryside of Chania. Crete is where the olive tree was first cultivated as a source of olive oil for food and fuel. An olive tree will flower in April with its first fruit visible by May. In October nets are spread out under the trees and from the beginning of November onwards the ripe olives fall. Since the oil here is so plentiful and of such good quality it is used extensively in cooking. The best grade oil is from the first pressing. In the past oil presses were huge vats in which a round stone was turned manually. Nowadays this is done by machine and the oil is extracted by hydraulic presses. Lesser grade oil is used for soap, creams and fuel.

Tourism has brought more prosperity to the island and whilst the east of Crete has more concentrated tourism the west is drawing more and more visitors and nowadays Chania has quite a cosmopolitan air. The north coast is more developed with its airport, sea port and easy road access but the south west also has its fair share of visitors these days.

Offering a wide range of holiday accommodation from sea side apartments to hilltop stone villas www.crete-alacarte.com to help you enjoy the wonders of Crete. info@crete-alacarte.com