The Organic Farm is in the very small rural village of Apostoli in the center of the island in the heart of Crete wine country and about an hour from Heraklion, Crete’s capital and what felt like a world away from anywhere with crowds of people. It was only available one night but we would have liked to spend many more.

Manolis’ house and 3 guest houses are perched at the top of the hill in the town near an old church. The accommodations are rustic and very comfortable. Sitting outside on the deck, there are views of the surrounding mountains as far as the eye can see and because of the seclusion, the stars at night are magical. In the morning fresh eggs, vegetables and bread are delivered to your door for guests to cook breakfast and it was some of the freshest food we had our entire time in Crete (which is saying a lot!).

The town has 1 small taverna for dinner which was simple and delicious as we found everything in this rural area to be.

Apostoli is actually in the heart of Crete wine country and our hosts gave us a map of 21 wineries nearby. During the day we drove to Lyrarakis wines for the 5 pm wine tour and tasting. We got lost on the way and joined the tour a few minutes late, which was only the 2 of us and a couple from Finland. The wine was excellent and we brought a bottle back with us to drink under the stars on the large deck at our AirBnb.

We also perhaps got a little wine giddy as evidenced by this series of photos and video clips:

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We had dinner at the small taverna in town run by a lovely older couple and like everything we experienced during our stay in this part of Crete, we had the place to ourselves and the food was fresh and delicious. Two men who spoke very little English pulled up in a van selling cheese. We tried some and as expected loved it and though neither of us are cheese people we bought some to eat with our breakfast the next morning.

Manolis and his family offer a lot of other things at this AirBnb we didn’t get to enjoy because we only stayed 1 night, which include collecting herbs, aloe and wild greens from their farm, cooking in their fireplace oven or baking bread. We hope to come back here again where we felt that we were in another world with beautiful, secluded nature around us, fresh and tasty food and wine as well as amazing and friendly people we met wherever we went.