Discover Astrikas

Astrikas brings together several travel interests: olive oil production at BIOLEA, frescoes in the church of Zoodochos Pigi, and green scenery along the road to Astrikas. These themes are clearly distinct. BIOLEA combines a tour with a tasting, the church offers an art-historical connection, and the landscape describes the route to the village.

Olive Oil Production and Tasting at BIOLEA

At BIOLEA, visitors can see and learn on a tour of the olive mill how olive oil is made using a stone mill and cold pressing, as well as modern cold extraction. This brings two specifically named methods into focus: the combination of a stone mill and cold pressing, and modern cold extraction. This is useful context because the tour is not just a tasting; it also shows and explains how olive oil is produced. The tour is available by appointment. If you plan to include it, arrange a time in advance.

The guided tour includes a tasting of four award-winning olive oils, served in glasses. Biolea Stone Milled & Cold Pressed is made from the Koroneiki variety; PAMAKO High Phenolic Mountain Extra Virgin is made from Tsounati. The selection also includes Lemoni Flavored Olive Oil and Nerantzi Bitter Orange Flavored Olive Oil. This allows you to distinguish two named varieties from two flavored options. For comparison during the tasting, two straightforward questions are: Which oils are associated with Koroneiki and Tsounati, and which carry the names of the lemon- and bitter-orange-flavored varieties? This helps focus attention on the variety details and flavoring.

Frescoes in the Church of Zoodochos Pigi

Frescoes of high quality, attributed to the early Cretan School, are visible beneath the whitewash in the church of Zoodochos Pigi in Astrikas. This attribution gives a more precise cultural connection than simply mentioning the church. For travel planning, this is a different focus from the tour at BIOLEA: here, the interest is in frescoes with an art-historical attribution, while there it is in olive oil production and tasting. Anyone interested in church art can take this attribution as a specific point of reference for Astrikas’s cultural character.

Greenery Along the Road to Astrikas

There is plenty of greenery along the road to Astrikas, including olive groves, eucalyptus trees, and flowering gardens. These features paint a picture of the route that differs from the tasting and the church’s art-historical connection: here, the vegetation along the road takes center stage. The information is useful for choosing a destination in different ways: the olive mill offers an activity that can be scheduled for a specific time, while the frescoes and the road scenery appeal to cultural and landscape interests. This lets you consider destination choice and activity planning separately.

Discover more destinations: Kalives, Topolia, Apokoronos, Vamos, Xirosterni, Falassarna, Kandanos, Kavallos

For the broader travel overview: Chania.