“We love our land… we choose Cretan products” is the philosophy of the Chanian tavern the “Botanical Park of Crete” which successfully completed the process of certification by the nonprofit organization “Cretan Quality Label” and is located in Fournes in the municipality of Kydonia in the prefecture of Chania.
Having acquired the “Quality Label of the Cretan Cuisine”, the new sixth member of the Network of Certified Enterprises continues to revive traditional tastes using local products, in a combination with traditional cooking techniques such as pyromachi, satsi and wood oven, along with new gastronomic suggestions.
The “Quality Label of the Cretan Cuisine” aims at the protection and promotion of the Cretan Diet, it is awarded to restaurants that offer Cretan Cuisine and solely use Cretan virgin olive oil and local products and constitutes a competitive advantage as well as a powerful promotion tool for all the restaurants that wish to acquire it. In the “Botanical Park of Crete” food and wine tasting is organized along with cooking lessons, during which the promotion of a variety of native Cretan products is realized: endemic Cretan herbs, wines from old Cretan varieties such as romeiko or vilana, cheese varieties such as Gruyere and skim-milk cheese, wild herbs and many other local products. Emphasis is not so much given on the recipe but on the philosophy and the imagination that the women in Crete use when they cook even today. Food and wine tasting is mostly realized in groups that visit the Park on an everyday basis during summer time.
The “Botanical Park” is a walking, educational and recreational park unique in its kind in Crete that contains more than 150 kinds of fruit trees along with dozens of herbs, pharmaceutical and ornamental plants, enabling, thus, people to enjoy their stroll in a bright green natural environment. Accurate path signs lead the visitor to the various sections of the Botanical Park with tropical trees, fruit trees, citrus trees, herbs and vineyards.
The all-green scenery is completed by a lake at the bottom part of the park that provides shelter and protection to ducks, geese and a variety of water fowl (including rare species as well) while even hawks fly over the area. Moreover, in the park there is an open-air, stone atmospheric amphitheatre used for small events (of about 250 people).
This idea was conceived in the end of October 2003 when after very strong southern winds a cable of the Public Power Corporation was the reason for a fire to break out.
60.000 olive trees were destroyed that were over 400 years old, in the region of the village of Skordalos, 20 kilometers off the city of Chania.
Petros Marinakis’ family possessed a lot of orange trees and olive trees in an area of about 150-200 hectares that were destroyed by the fire as well. After this catastrophe the idea was conceived that “a botanical park with a walking, educational and recreational orientation could be created on the burnt land”. The other three brothers of the co-owner agreed with the idea.
Curriculum Vitae
The man in charge, the co-owner and the instigator of the “Botanical Park of Crete” Mr, Petros Marinakis was born in Chania in 1969. He studied tourist business administration in Greece and abroad, while his experience is extensive in the last 20 years regarding the tourism industry of Crete. His career started as a waiter but now he speaks in seminars and runs a hotel.
Source of publication 12th edition In-On