Panorama Ride

Introduction
Crete Greece

Enjoy the Greek lifestyle - the bright blue sea, the golden sun and tastiest food!  Relax on the beach or visit the ancient sites!
Crete is an island in the sun, surrounded by the clear, blue sea and has a rough and wild landscape with mountains reaching 2,5 km high. You can ride within the silence of nature on the tiny island covered with olive-trees, beautiful and natural landscapes, historical places with timeless myths and astonishing tracks to follow. Swim in the ocean and dry on the deserted beach.

The moment you arrive on the hillside, you experience quiet serenity and have a tremendous panoramic view.  Under us stretches the Langada Valley with the Apposelemis River crossing through, above us rise the red coloured peaks of the Dikti Mountains. Birds of prey, like the Griffon Vulture, glide along these peaks. The estate is surrounded by a protected Kerm Oak forest and the olive groves stretch down into the valley. On the estate, many protected trees and flowers can be found, many different types of beautiful orchids grow.

In the area around Avdou, there is still unlimited space for horseback riding, in nature that has been left unspoiled. Every day we set out on a new track, with an experienced guide, through beautiful landscapes. The Star Trips are for experienced to medium experienced riders. This active holiday, combines all the good aspects of the Cretan life- relaxing on the beach or swimming in the pool, visiting the ancient sites, meeting the friendly locals, enjoying the delicious Greek food and taking our 4 footed friends for a unique ride during the cool evening hours.

Accomodation

The main building houses the reception, and a cafe with a large balcony on witch you can drink your Greek coffee or Rakí. In the main building you also find Restaurant Veláni with its large terrace overlooking the riding place and the valley. The restaurant serves the Cretan diet which is famous for being healthy and the use of olive oil. The olive oil is our own, produced by the olive grove of the estate. Reception, café and restaurant have operating hours.

This trip includes and can accommodate special dietary requests.

Riding

Horses - there are:
1 Arab horse, 1 Berber, 3 Thoroughbreds, 4 Dutch warm bloods, 4 Greek warm bloods, and for the guide 1 Hanoveran. For the children we have 2 Welsh ponies.
We ride on warm blood horses and thoroughbreds as they have a long breath and a never tiring will for long distance riding. Training them especially for the mountain work makes that we have a challenging travel companion for you. Full of strength and courage. But in the same time be surprised how cool in the head and safe our horses are.Especially for the novice rider we use reliable and easy horses, to give them the trust and safety that he or she needs.But for all our horses’ counts that they are friendly, well cared for, good fed, well trained and all have an excellent condition for the long distance riding.

The barn facilities include:
- 14 stalls with connected turnout paddocks giving the horses themselves the choice to go inside or outside.
- Outdoor arena, 45 x 20 meters with an all-weather proof floor a
- Outdoor arena, 15 x 12 meters, for lunging.
- Tack room
- Pasture
- An indoor horse shower
- Bathroom/changing-room and toilets for the guests
 

Itinerary

Itinerary:

Day 1  Arrival, a welcome tour through the stables, a dive in the pool and evening diner in the Restaurant. A briefing about the trail route.

Day 2   Ancient Lyttos Ride
We ride up to visit the archaeological site of the ancient city of Lyttos giving an excellent view over the valley of Kastelli. The city of Lyttos (meaning high, tall), was a strong town and a rival of Knossos. The army of the city joined the Trojan War and the city was already mentioned by Homer as Lyktos. During the roman period Lyttos was an autonomous city with great fame. It had an aqua duct, theatre and acropolis, nowadays little can be seen of this as excavations of the site has not been done yet. The site has 2 churches.  After the visit we ride along the remains of this roman aqua duct. (4 hours in the saddle, a visit to Lyttos and a lunch stop under the olive trees)

Day 3   Olive Ride
We make an active trip in north direction, we ride up the hills of Sfendili. We cross the Byzantine church of Avdou, we ride quick over the plateau of Mochos and have an excellent view to the Psiloritis Mountains, highest peaks of the island (2, 5 km). (4 hours in the saddle)

Day 4   River Ride. 
We follow the Aposelemis River, which we of course also need to cross. (4 hours in the saddle with lunch stop under the olive trees)

Day 5   Red Rock Ride
A steep climb up the mountain giving you an excellent view over the stables and the Langada valley. We ride through Kerm Oak forest to visit the mysterious Church of the Saint Fotini which is hidden deep into a Cave. (2, 5 hours in the saddle and a visit to the cave)

Day 6   Vulture Gorge Ride
We ride through the gorge of Gonies to start our spectacular climb to the Greek village of Kera at 800 meters. Here we make a lunch break in Restaurant Niki, before we start our decent along the springs of Kera.  (5 hours in the saddle).

Day 7   Cypress Ride
The last day we ride out through a very quiet beautiful valley full of olive groves, we ride along a small cypress forest and make some steep descends with the horses which we now fully trust. (3 hours in the saddle)

Day 8
Breakfast and departure.

Some days we take with us a lunch in the saddle bags which we enjoy at a quiet place in the shadow of the olive trees. A saddlebag-lunch can be bought in the restaurant.

--The itinerary subject to changes.

Note:  During the summer months the program changes to 2 hours of riding per day only (12 total riding hours).

Rates and Dates for Panorama Ride

Dates Note: Not available during the Crete Mountain Explorer weeks.

Other Info
Meeting: Avdou
Airport: Heraklion International Airport
Transfer: Heraklion (Iraklion) Airport by taxi or public bus

Climate:

The island of Crete has a temperate Mediterranean climate meaning it experiences hot, dry summers and mild winters. Crete has the mildest climate of anywhere in Greece. Summer sees almost no rain, while winter months, especially December to February, can be quite wet. Average temperatures are at their peak in July and August at 26 ºC while January and February see temperatures of 12 ºC on average.

In general, Crete experiences winter days that can sometimes be rainy and windy and feel quite cold. January sees the most rainfall, with some parts of the island averaging 14 rainy days in the month. Showers are frequent from November until February. Winter temperatures average about 12-14ºC. Temperature rarely falls much below double figures in lowland and coastal Crete though Heraklion did record a temperature of -0.8 ºC in 2004. In February 2004 Crete did experience an unusually cold period of weather which saw the whole island dusted in snow. Normally, though, snow is very rare anywhere on the island apart from in the higher mountains.

Springtime weather on the island can still see a number of rainy days, especially in the north, though clear and mild days are frequent. Temperatures can begin to hit the 20s and the sea begins to warm up.

Summer begins in earnest from June. The period June to September sees almost no rainfall and average temperatures of around 25 ºC. Daytime temperature in mid summer is often in the low 30s, though can sometimes reach up to 40 ºC. Summer 2002 saw the mercury rise to a stifling 45 ºC.

Temperatures begin to cool off in late September, and the now dry island begins to receive some much needed rainfall. Early autumn is a pleasant time with calm, clear days. The weather becomes more unstable from November as rainy and windy days increase, though sunny days with temperatures in the low 20s are not uncommon.

Different parts of Crete can experience very different weather patterns, due in the main to the weather barrier created by the mountain ranges that stretch from ease to west across the island. The south is on average a couple of degrees warmer than the north and is also drier. Similarly eastern Crete is drier and warmer than those regions in the west.

Crete straddles two climatic zones – Mediterranean and North African. Southern Crete falls into the North African climate zone, enjoying warmer weather and averaging over 2800 hours of sunshine a year. The varying climates on the island are reflected by the landscape and vegetation. The south can be very arid, especially in summer, while the north is more green and verdant. Southern Crete’s similarities with the North African climate are evident in the fact that African swallows remain year round rather than migrating south.

The mountain regions can experience heavy snowfall in winter due to their high elevation. Snow can often remain on the higher peaks such as Mt Ida until June. At these heights there is a distinctly mountainous climate, with large temperature variations between the seasons. Weather conditions often change rapidly. This mountain climate is very different from the coastal and lowland regions on the rest of the island.

The winds that visit Crete have an important role in shaping the island’s weather patterns. Cold, wet and windy winter days are experienced when the strong northern winds hit the island. The sirocco winds arrive from the southeast bringing hot, sand filled air from the deserts of Africa. When the sirocco winds arrive the island becomes very dusty and hot and visibility can fall. However, when they blow in winter they bring warm air and pleasant temperatures. Southerly winds in the summer months can sometimes bring stifling temperatures of up to 45 ºC. On other summer days the welcome ‘meltimi’ winds arrive from the north-west bringing a much needed cooling breeze to the island. When the wind blows from the east, Crete usually experiences calm and clear weather.

Sea temperatures around Crete are generally warm, and bathers can swim comfortably from May right up to November. The water remains above 20 ºC during these months, peaking at 25 ºC in high summer. The sea temperature will drop to about 15 ºC in February before beginning to warm again with the onset of spring.

 In the mountains it can also be cold in May or September.
The hotel has laundry available, one wash costs 5 euro.