The Shepherd's Shelter (To Spiti tou Voskou), Psiloritis

What Happens

The day is built around the flock. You watch the sheep being milked, then join in as the milk is turned into cheese. The shelter makes three: graviera, matured for 60 days until it turns firm like a Gruyère, myzithra, a soft whey cheese served warm with honey, and anthotyro. The shelter also runs a restaurant, cooking Cretan recipes from local, seasonal produce.

The shelter does not publish a fixed timetable or a price list. When you send the request form you give the number of guests in three age bands (up to 4, 5 to 10 and 11 and over) and where on Crete you are staying, and the family replies with a plan.

Other Activities Through the Year

• Walks on the old shepherd trails, all year, through phrygana scrub, maple and oak woods, terraces and other mitata.
• Wild flower and wildlife walks, best from April to July.
• Small-group workshops on vegetable growing, Cretan cooking, vineyard work in early spring and sheep shearing in summer.
• Threshing on the shelter's own threshing floor in July and August.
• Tsikoudia (raki) distilling in October and November, with meze.

Getting There

The shelter is on the mountainside above Krana, in the Mylopotamos area of Rethymno. You need a car, or you can come on one of the day tours from Heraklion and Rethymno that include a stop here. Heraklion and Rethymno are both within a day-trip drive. The last stretch is a mountain road, so drive it in daylight.

Tips

Milking happens on the animals' schedule, so ask what time to arrive when you book. Bring a layer even in summer: at this height evenings are cool. The village of Zoniana, with the Sfendoni cave, is a few minutes away, and Anogeia is just beyond. See Anogeia and the Psiloritis shepherd country for the rest of the area.