Mosaic Monday # 43 - Touring Agreco Farm & dining alfresco

Our recent visit to Agreco Farm in Rythymno, a privately owned replica of a 17th century estate, was a marvellous experience.
On Sundays in May they offer guided tours of the farm followed by a gargantuan feast of Cretan dishes served alfresco on the taverna's beautiful shaded terrace.

As far as the eye can see there are olive trees; fruit trees and vegetables being cultivated.

A delightful hotchpotch of buildings house items of age-old traditional farm equipment, there's an olive press; flour mill; raki distillery; bee hives; wine press and close by a very large vat where they tread the grapes!

There's also a small zoo you can visit, home to sheep; hens; peacocks; kri kri (Cretan goats) and a donkey.

Surrounding the small village square are an artists studio; the Farm shop; the open air taverna and the Chapel of St Nicolas Kourtalious.

In the square you can watch, and even take part in, demonstrations of traditional cooking methods, cheese making and sheep shearing.

This lady is demonstrating how to make feta cheese, the men in the background are shearing a sheep! 
Once the demonstrations were over we sat and rested in the cool shade of the terrace and enjoyed a long (2 hour) leisurely lunch whilst admiring the beautiful scenery, chatting to other diners and discussing the wonderful authentic Cretan food which just kept on coming.
I hope you enjoyed the visit to Agreco Farm.......
........oh! almost forgot to show you the amazing food served during the 9 course lunch, this was just for two people!
In the first mosaic from top left: savoury cheese pies; omelette; stuffed vine leaves, tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes and green peppers; feta cheese sprinkled with oregano; slow roasted lamb with artichokes; a dish of feta, tomatoes, cucumber, olives and hard boiled eggs; a bowl of fresh fruit.

In the mosaic below a dessert of Cretan rice prepared by the Agreco chef who also demonstrated how to make Cretan sweet cheese pies.

until next time

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