DESTINATIONS CRETE | VILLA HOLIDAYS
FROM FAR LEFT: One of the 10 guest rooms at Villa Hislop; the property’s terrace
PICTURES: Alice Barnes-Brown
COOKING CLASSES Crete is known for two things: its nourishing cuisine and its fiery-but- friendly islanders, which Hislop captured so well. Clients staying at Oliver’s Travels villas can hire their own chef (at extra cost) – and ours, Ioannis, was Crete personified. Cooled by a glass of Cretan white wine, we set things up for a
cooking class in the outdoor kitchen. I tell Ioannis I’ve been learning Greek, and suddenly become the de facto translator for his foodie musings. “My grandparents would only eat produce in the right season. You would have watermelon in summer and beans in winter. Now we have watermelon in spring, summer, autumn and winter – but
they are not local. That’s the problem we have today,” he says. I take stock of his ingredients,
sourced from the laïki (public market) that morning: big, beefy tomatoes, crisp green onions and kilos of feta. To make soutzoukakia meatballs, Ioannis rhythmically squishes blended onion, meat and nutmeg into the bowl with his bare hands.
When the soutzoukakia are cooked to the chef’s exacting standards, we sit at the 16-seat wooden table to enjoy the spread, backed by that spectacular view of Spinalonga. I’ve got the best seat in the house and notice that three of my fellow travellers, inspired by
all we’ve seen, have picked up The Island and started to read.
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travelweekly.co.uk
25 JUNE 2026
31
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