Indulge your appetite for food, fun

A GREEK lunch isn’t something you can easily slot in between a morning dip and an afternoon of sightseeing.

The classic meze, meaning appetisers or small plates, is all about sharing, savouring and, at seafront Taverna Paliria in the village of Plaka in Crete, consists of about 16 courses.

Starting with lightly battered prawns, calamari, feta salad and fresh bread with tzatziki, I did what those unaccustomed to this style of eating do on holiday – gorged. Big mistake. The dishes just kept on coming – grilled octopus, anchovies, hand-cut chips, stuffed peppers, goats’ cheese, seaweed parcels and beetroot dips.

Nearly two hours later and I was so full I could barely move.

Another great thing about this friendly taverna is the view over Spinalonga – a tiny island that, until the late 1950s, was a leper colony.

Now free of poor, diseased folks, it’s a fascinating destination for a day trip for kids and adults.

You can do what I did and have a proper tour with a guide or just clamber through the maze of ruins that were once the banished islanders’ homes.

Despite Spinalonga remaining pretty much untouched since it was last inhabited, there is a small café/ bar for a quick drink before heading back to the mainland.

I used online travel agency On the Beach to book a two-night stay at the nearby five-star Mirabello Beach and Village Hotel.

An appealing mix of private apartments, airy rooms with balconies, and bungalows, it’s set on a hillside overlooking the Mirabello Gulf and the pretty town of Agios Nikolaos. RACHEL O’DONOGHUE It has an indoor candlelit spa pool, an infinity pool stretching the entire side of the hotel, as well as a 400metre crescent-shaped sandy beach area with sun terrace, sunbeds and parasols.

Activities on offer include tennis, crazy golf, mini-soccer and on-site scuba diving tuition. The hotel also hosts Greek nights, barbecues and evening shows.

I also stayed at the Serita Beach Hotel, a five-star all-inclusive resort in Anissaras. Set on a sandy beach, it has a choice of luxury suites and bungalows, plus several pools with little bridges and sea views and another with waterslides.

Dining is such a pleasure here, out in the beautiful open-sided Greek, Italian and Asian restaurants set around the pool. There’s also an irresistible crêpe and ice-cream bar enticing you across the water with its sweet aromas.

If you fancy getting out and about, book a cab and venture up the steep hills into Crete’s miles of olive groves and vineyards.

The family-run Winery Stilianou offers tours where you’ll get to see how red and rosé wines are made in giant vats before sampling them.

Meanwhile, the island’s capital city Heraklion is all about the hotels and bars – where café tables spill out on to the streets as tourists and locals jostle for a shady spot under a parasol.

But just a few minutes away from the city hubbub there are some tucked-away sightseeing treasures.

The Palace of Knossos (although I use the word “palace” loosely) is Crete’s most-loved archaeological treasure.

It’s a dusty, sprawling town of Bronze Age structures that was a massive Minoan civilisation roughly 3,000 years ago.

Its claim to fame is also that it’s the setting of the ancient Greek myth, Theseus and the Minotaur, which tells the legend of a prince slaying a killer beast trapped in a labyrinth.

Heraklion is small as cities go, but it is absolutely packed with excellent restaurants.

Walking through the bustling streets, past locals smoking cigarettes and drinking ouzo, you’ll have to bat away dozens of waiters trying to entice you into their tavernas.

One of the best places for dinner is the authentic Peskesi Restaurant with its mish-mash of tables and benches.

It serves succulent cuts of pork hanging on metal hooks, and meltin-the-mouth lamb is smothered in dollops of goats’ cheese with roasted vegetables.

The eaterie’s goal is reviving what it calls the “forgotten” Cretan diet.

After sampling it, I was left wondering why it was ever lost in the first place.