8 Days Sunny Horse Riding Holiday in Crete, Greece

You will be accommodated at Odysseia Stables' equestrian hotel, Country Hotel Velani. Every day, there is a service of room cleaning and towel change at the Country Hotel Velani. Every once a week, the sheets are changed as well. You can also have a free use of sunbeds. Reception, café, and restaurant have opening hours. The moment you arrive on the hillside, you will experience the serene quietness and the tremendous panoramic view. Under the hotel, stretches the Langada Valley with the Apposelemis River crossing through.

Above Country Hotel Velani, rises the red-colored peaks of the Dikti mountains. Birds of prey, like the griffon vulture, glide along these peaks. The estate is surrounded by protected kermes oak forest and olive groves stretching down to the valley. On the estate, many protected trees and flowers can be found, such as a different type of beautiful orchids. The hotel suits its surrounding as it is built with real natural stones collected from the land it stands on, giving it a robust and natural look. The hotel has a neo-classic style creating a romantic atmosphere for long summer nights.

The main building houses the reception and a café with a large balcony on which you can drink your Greek coffee or rakí. In the main building, you can also find Restaurant Veláni with its large terrace overlooking the riding place and the valley. Next to the main building lays the naturally formed large swimming pool that is 100 square meters in size (130 to 160 meters deep) with a separate and lower situated children’s pool of 11 square meters (40 centimeters deep).

The 12 hotel rooms are grouped into two bungalows, each housing six rooms. The bungalows lay quietly separate from the main activities. The rooms are large and comfortable and all have a tremendous view over the valley. Each room has a large bathroom with bathtub. The rooms have central heating and air conditioning (both included in the price), a fridge, a flat screen TV with international channels, a hairdryer, a large glass door of two meters, and a private balcony or terrace. Most rooms are equipped with a wood stove (the wood is not included in the price). There are three types of rooms including Grand Comfort room, Panorama VIP room, and Family Luxury room.

Grand Comfort

The Grand Comfort room is a two-person room that sleeps one to three persons. The total room surface is 23 square meters. The room has a terrace with private garden and a bathroom with toilet and bathtub.

Panorama VIP

The Panorama VIP room is a three-person room that sleeps two to four persons. The total room surface is 29 square meters with a balcony. The bathroom has a bathtub and a separate shower cabin. The toilet is housed in a separate room.

Family Luxury

The Family Luxury room is a four-person room that sleeps two to five persons. This room actually comprises two Grant Comfort rooms that are connected with a connecting door.

The stables

Odysseia Stables is a small friendly stable giving home to 18 horses. Due to the small character of Odysseia Stables with a maximum of 10 horse riders a week, they are able to maintain a close and personal contact with the guests. The stables are designed in a way to be as close as possible to the physical needs of horses. The facilities of the stable include:

• 14 stables connected behind turnout paddocks giving the horses themselves the chose to go inside or outside
• Outdoor arena (42 x 20 meters) with an all-weather proof floor and a small tribune
• Outdoor arena (15 x 12 meters) for lunging
• Tack room
• A horse shower
• Bathroom / changing-room and toilets for the guests

Odysseia Stables has high standards for their horses, facilities, and equipment. They use English saddles. Space, outside air, and contact with other horses are what give Odysseia Stables' horses’ joy, health, and peace. That is why not only the horses enjoy a large stable with an open turnout paddock, but also they have the possibility for social contact. Most of Odysseia Stables' horses are stabled in pairs in one large stable of 6.2 x 3.2 meters and the separations in between the stables are half open. The roof all around is openly giving the horses a constant flow of fresh air. Also, the top of the roof has an open construction leaving hot air to travel out.

The horses

You will ride on Arabic, Thoroughbreds, and warmblood horses. These breeds have long breaths and never tired in a long distance riding. They are beautiful and well-trained holiday horses that always eager to go and have a very relaxed mind. The horses are also sure-footed in the mountains and human orientated. Special for a novice rider, you will use reliable and easy horses to give them the trust and safety that you need. For the children, Odysseia Stables has a Welsh B pony - a real children’s pony. It is very sweet, safe, and with speed. All of the horses are friendly, well cared, good fed, regularly trained and they all have an excellent condition for the long distance riding. The horses are ridden in English riding style but are easily handled with long rains.

Program

This partner or family program is an ideal combination for those who travel together with non-riders or whose partner joins one of the other sport activities in the hotel like golf, mountain climbing, or paragliding. You will have a daily ride (a two-hour active trip) through the valley of Langada. You will cross the traditional Greek village of Avdou with its Byzantine Church. You will climb up the mountain giving an excellent view over the stables and the Langada Valley. You will then ride through Kerm Oak forest to visit the mysterious Church of the Saint Fotini which is hidden deep to a cave. You will have two hours in the saddle and a visit to the cave and you will make a quick canter over the plateau of Mochos.

This active holiday will combine all the good of the Cretan live, relaxing on the beach or swimming in the pool, visiting an ancient site, meeting the friendly locals, enjoying the Greek food, and taking the four-footed friend for a ride during the cool evening hours. The program includes six-day horse riding with a total of 12 hours. This horse riding holiday is suitable for beginning, medium, to experienced riders. Riders will be split according to their riding levels.

Note: Arrivals and departures are a 24-hour service, but Odysseia Stables needs to be informed about your arrival time and flight number.

You will have a visit the mysterious Church of the Saint Fotini.

Crete, a Greek Island, in the sun surrounded by a clear blue sea and with mountains rising to 2,5 kilometres makes a rough and wild landscape. Here, there is still unlimited space to ride horse in the peace and quietness of nature. Visitors usually ride among a land dotted with olive groves and ancient sites holding timeless myths, take amazing paths way up into the rough mountains enjoying breathtaking views, swim in the clear blue waters, and dry at an abandoned beach. Visitor can also be prepared for numerous nice surprises and for a strong sense of daily life as well as for honest and warm hospitality. These characteristics need to be discovered not in the urban centres, but mainly in the remote seaside and mountain villages.

Nearby places

• An 18-hole golf course, 7 kilometers
• Anissaras, 15 kilometers
• Avdou, 2 kilometers
• Heraklion International Airport (HER), 40 kilometers

The meals will be on a basis of a full board which includes breakfast, lunch and, dinner at Restaurant Velani. You will start with dinner on the first day until breakfast on the last day. Breakfast and lunch will be served in between standard hours. Dinner will include free choices from the menu and include a starter, main dish, and salad. During the riding, on day one, you will have lunch in the restaurant while on day two, lunch will be at Restaurant Niki in Kera and have four times a saddle bag lunch. Reception, café, and restaurant have opening hours. Drinks and desserts are not included.

Restaurant Velani

Restaurant Velani welcomes everybody who wants to experience the local healthy Cretan diet or Greek cuisine. The Cretan diet is famous for being healthy and the use of olive oil. The olive oil is Restaurant Velani's own produce by the olive grove of the estate. The restaurant serves all fresh home cooking with organically grown vegetables and fruit from their own gardens and makes use of local products from nearby farmers. You can enjoy a refreshing drink or Greek dinner after the ride at the terrace with a view of the riding arena.

Every Sunday afternoon, chef Manolis heats up the outdoor oven by burning wood from the restaurant's olive trees. When the oven reaches the right temperature, the wood is removed and the food trays are placed inside, then the door is closed with a paste of ash and water. The food is slowly cooked for hours, making them soft and juicy. For vegetarians, the Cretan kitchen offers a wide range of possibilities.

The Restaurant Velani opens all year from spring to autumn and on a daily basis when they have guests staying at the hotel. In winter, the restaurant opens on Saturdays and Sundays. If you follow a special diet, please inform Odysseia Stables with your reservation so Restaurant Velani can cater for you. Moreover, for groups, it is possible to make arrangements outside normal opening hours.

• Aqua fun park visit
• Biking
• Birdwatching at the dam lake of Aposelemis
• Greek cooking class
• Hiking
• Mochos Village visit for a drink on its central village square
• Mountain climbing
• Organized tours from the harbor in Elounda or Agios Nikolaos
• Paragliding for experienced pilots
• Sea aquarium visit
• Sightseeing tour of Knossos and the archeological museum in Heraklion
• Speleology (caving)
• Swedish massage, Thai massage, or aromatherapy
• The island of Spinalonga visit
• The traditional village of Amariano tour
• The village of Krasi with a water spring and very large old Platanus tree tour
• Tour of the Minoan Palace in Malia
• Walking

• 6-day horse riding sessions
• Visit the mysterious Church of the Saint Fotini
• Full board meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
• Everyday room cleaning and towel change with a once a week sheet change
• Free use of sunbed
• 7 nights’ accommodation

• Transfer from or to Heraklion International Airport (HER), port, or Heraklion
• Drinks and desserts

Driving directions from Agios Nikolaos

• Take the national highway in Agios Nikolaos in the direction of Heraklion.
• Take the exit to Kastelli or Lasithi Plateau (Oropedio).
• At the end of the exit, turn left in the direction of Oropedio or the golf course.
• Drive past the golf course.
• Do not take the Mochos exit from the highway as this route to the hotel will take much longer due to the mountains. The road will split in direction of Lasithi Plateau (Oropedio) and Kastelli.
• Follow Lasithi Plateau.
• Follow this road until you drive into Avdou.
• Drive past a large supermarket and the dam lake of Aposelemis.
• Follow the signs of Country Hotel Velani and Odysseia Stables in Avdou.
• Turn to the right into a small street after Avdou Restaurant.
• The road becomes an unpaved rural road.
• Drive uphill until you meet the hotel entrance.

Driving directions from Heraklion

• Follow the signs to the national highway in the direction of Agios
• Stay on the highway for about 25 kilometers.
• Take the exit to Kastelli or Lasithi Plateau (Oropedio).
• Turn right at the end of the exit in the direction of Lasithi Plateau or a golf course.
• Drive past the golf course.
• The road will split in the directions of Lasithi Plateau (Oropedio) and Kastelli.
• Follow Lasithi Plateau.
• Drive past a large supermarket and the dam lake of Aposelemis.
• Follow the signs of Country Hotel Velani and Odysseia Stables in Avdou.
• Turn to the right into a small street after Avdou Restaurant.
• The road becomes an unpaved rural road.
• Drive uphill until you meet the hotel entrance.

Arrival by airplane

Please book your flight to arrive at Heraklion International Airport (HER). Transfer from and to this airport is available upon request.

The transfer from or to the airport, port, or Heraklion can be organized. Odysseia Stables will be waiting in the arrival hall with a sign mentioning the guest’s names. The transfer is not included in the price and costs 50 EUR per trip (one way) with a maximum of four guests. In case more guests can share a transfer, Odysseia Stables will inform them and they will share the price. If guests organize their own transfer, they have to be aware that most taxi drivers don’t want to drive the last two kilometers over the unpaved road to the hotel or count extra money for this.

Arrival by bus

Guests arriving by public bus to Avdou need to be aware that bus only goes twice a week (Monday and Friday). They can make a phone call from the village and Odysseia Stables will pick them up from the bus stop for free.

Arrival by ferry / boat

The transfer from the port in Heraklion can be organized. The transfer is not included in the price and costs 50 EUR per trip (one way) with a maximum of four guests. If possible, you will share the transfer (and the costs) with other guests. In case more guests can share a transfer, Odysseia Stables will inform you and you will share the price.

• A reservation requires a deposit of 20% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid 21 days before arrival.