OUR FAMOUS FISH LUNCH EXCURSION

We believe the coastline of western Crete is one of the finest landscapes on the island – rugged rocky terrain reaching down to lovely beaches.

The beach at Falassarna, half an hour’s drive from the Mistral Hotel, is a long-standing favourite of ours and we know how much our guests enjoy its fine sand, warm and shallow turquoise waters and rocky backdrop. Falassarna has been voted several times one of the best beaches in Europe and one of the most beautiful in the world. In effect, Falassarna is a long stretch of sand that runs on for more than 3 km. The main beach is Pachia Ammos (Deep Sands), it is about 1 kilometre in length and made up of soft white sand and turquoise waters.

After relaxing for few hours on this beach – with the option of a tour of the nearby Hellenistic archaeological ruins for those who are interested – we head back uphill to our new fish lunch taverna overlooking the Aegean sea.

Here you get the chance to see the food being prepared in the kitchen with virtually everything produced locally – the vegetables from the gardens, seaweed from the rocky shores, fish caught in the morning, tomatoes and cucumbers from the family’s greenhouses, and salt gathered from the rocks, along with goat’s cheese, olives and olive oil. Depending on what the fishermen brough up from the sea in the very same morning, you will have the chance to taste either grilled fish, lobster pasta, kakavia fish soup and an array of meze dishes of seafood (could be cuttlefish, shrimps, kalamari or octopus) and vegetables with plenty of local wine.

 

It’s a long, leisurely lunch, enjoyed with amazing views over the turquoise sea, with surfers riding the larger waves not far away.

A lovely location to enjoy one of the island’s most popular dishes, it is an excursion that remains a firm favourite of our guests. This very special trip is one of our must-do excursions.