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Holiday Rentals in Gavalohori - Find Holiday Homes & Villas for Rent in Gavalohori, Europe:
Gavalohori is a little village away from the main tourist beat, but still only 5 minutes to the beach resorts Almirida and Kalíves.
Many of the lovely old buildings have been restored, and new life has been breathed in to a village with a long history. If you explore you may find old mill workings and ancient Roman wells. Three Roman tombs are hidden away in a field by the windy road up to Vamos. If you find them you will be touched by the past - imagine the view as it was, probably not changed too much in 2000 years
The village centre has three good tavernas, shops, bakery, souvlaki bar and patisserie, and sometimes live music on Summer evenings.
You can find everything you need within a 5 minutes walk. In fact best taverna in the area is APOSPERITIS, our local open-air taverna . A family run taverna with a traditional Greek menu with many vegetarian options, very easy-going service and good value, everything prepared to order.
Rivalling Aposperitis for fabulous food, right in the square, and now open all year is GAVALOHORI KAFENES. Run by Georgos his wife Tasmanian wife Monica. This café/snack bar has been very nicely renovated and is open every day. The menu has expanded here - enjoy ‘mezes’ and traditional Cretan dishes from the oven, as well as Greek salad, giant beans, stuffed courgette flowers and specials of the day. The village bakery is a few yards up a little side street and you can enjoy their delicious brown bread, spinach pies, and sometimes chocolate croissants.
Also in the village square - the hub of the village, is the GAVALOHORI WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE. This co-operative is run by 30 ladies from the village & sells all kinds of local products, particularly lace which is hand made from silk from their own silk worms. They also have herbs and wild teas from Crete, locally produced olive oil, and ‘spoon sweets’ in jars. They have an ice cream fridge and cold drinks. The co-operative acts as an informal kafeneion for the old men of the village who sit along the street, opposite the real kafeneion.
Just off the square, walking past a cafe which is a renovated Turkish kafeneion, you will find the GAVALOHORI FOLK MUSEUM,chronicling the history of the village, and its former way of life. It is interesting as a renovation project, as well as a record of culture and handicrafts.
As in all of Greece, the biggest festival is Easter, usually a week or so after UK Easter. The church bells start tolling after carnival, at the beginning of Lent, and the tolling increases relentlessly until Easter, when there will be a huge bonfire outside the biggest village church, Judas is burnt, and everyone greats each other as if they haven't seen them for years, then repair to the square for red eggs, wine and cheese pies .