Wow Wow Wow. This is such an incredible Airbnb. We feel so lucky and privileged to have stayed here. Manolis and Poppi are the best hosts we have ever had and we have stayed in over 200 Airbnb’s. The photos you see are totally real in fact they don’t do the place justice as the views and the pool are out of this world. Manolis has thought of everything. We had a fully stocked fridge which we didn’t expect, lots of choice of coffee, tea, the usual staples and so much more. The WiFi was brilliant. We couldn’t believe that in the mountains WiFi could be so good. It’s much better than ours at home in the UK. He has different WiFi connections so that it is just as good outside as it is in the house. The television had every channel imaginable and it was huge with surround sound. The beds were also super comfortable.
Did I mention those views! Lol. We have never stayed anywhere with such incredible views from every angle. The pool is a real treat as well as the pool area. Fantastic furniture, music from blue tooth, lighting at night. It’s just so beautiful and our favourite part of the property. If you walk out of the property to the right and up to the old buildings you will see even more amazing views of the Rokka gorge as well as lots of goats. There were beautiful wild flowers up there too. I could not stop taking photos during our while stay. The eagles above in the sky, the swift’s dipping into the water, the goats and sheep climbing up the mountain.
The location was also perfect. Only 10 minutes to a lovely local restaurant on Manolis recommended list that served fantastic food at very reasonable prices and the house was 15 minutes from Kissamos. We would also recommend Biolea Astricas Estate which does free olive oil tours and has a restaurant with incredible service. Everything in the restaurant was explained to us with such passion and they use all local produce. It is the house you can see from the pool in the distance through the mountains. We went to Gramvoussa restaurant which is on the road to Balos but a sealed road. The food was great but the service not so much. It it is worth going as the actual restaurant is beautiful. There is also a book in the house with lots of suggestions in too.
We also hired a jeep for the day and we went to Balos which is beautiful and a must do (I wouldn’t recommend going in a normal hire car though as it’s not a sealed road), Milia Mountain retreat for lunch which we would highly recommend, through lots of lovely villages to Elafonisi and then we took the coastal route back to Falassarna. Just make sure you fill up with petrol. None of the restaurants were open in Falassarna as we went in April but they looked lovely.
Our highlight of our stay though was the hospitality from Manolis and Poppi. They asked us if we’d like the, to cook us some pizzas so we spent an evening with them and have never eaten so much delicious pizza. They were amazing. We loved spending time with them and they are both such lovely people. We also pleased that we got to meet their new baby when we left as they came to see us off.
We really hope we get to stay again in the future but worry that it’ll be booked up and they’ll be no availability as I know that people will keep going back and I hope they do as so much time, thought and money has gone into the property and grounds that they deserve it. We fell in love with Crete, the people, the food and the scenery. We wish Manolis and his family all the best for the future and thank them for making our holiday so special.