Our tour was mind blowing!! Dimitra is outstanding!! Her depth of knowledge, passion for teaching and presentation skills are unparalleled. She ignited excitement about the ancient world in both the teens and the adults. Her full day tour of Knossos Palace and Heraklion was riveting. I hope Dimitra adds different tours of Crete because I would book them all. Highest recommendation for Dimitra.

Dimitra went above and beyond. She had so much information about the historical sites and then also called and made us reservations for dinner. It was our best dinner of the entire trip. We would love to do another tour with her again in the future.

Excellent tour with Ourania in June 2023 that provided an extensive introduction to Knossos and Heraklion. Each traveler is different and will appreciate different things. This tour has a higher price point than other tours that are available. I do not always pick the higher cost alternative. For example, I traveled by bus from Chania to Heraklion. I participated in group bus transportation to and from Samaria Gorge. I appreciate value which this tour certainly delivered. Communication is excellent. In addition to the confirmation emails leading up to the trip, I received Ourania’s contact information by text message the day before. On the morning of the trip, I was traveling to Heraklion (by bus). We had pre-arranged to meet at the hotel where I would be checking in. Ourania and the driver had arrived 15 minutes early and were concerned when the hotel told them that I had not checked in. She contacted me by WhatsApp while I was on the bus, but I did not see the notification. When we connected by phone, they volunteered to pick me up from the bus station. I was able to get off the bus directly into the air-conditioned van saving me the walk to the hotel. Iced water bottles were always offered whenever I entered the van throughout the day. She is obviously fluent in English, but she is also able to describe more complex concepts in history, art history, botany, and archaeology without difficulties. The Knossos site would be difficult to see without a guide. Ourania explained the original structures, the reconstructions and hypothesized functions. She also showed through examples in art how women had an active role in Minoan society. Because she has more than two decades of experience being a nationally certified guide, she could tell me how interpretations have changed over the last 10-15 years with more advanced scientific techniques. She was also able to report on recent updates from site archaeologists. At the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, she continued to explain Knossos and the other Minoan sites, efficiently showing me the highlights but also stopping longer at items that I had questions about. Throughout the tour, she was open to questions. The tour of the city of Heraklion was both by van and walking. Ourania knows this city well as she grew up in Heraklion. One of the churches we visited was around the corner from her elementary school and she visited often as a young girl. I continued to learn about the history of the city including the Venetian and Ottoman infuences. I had not previously realized that El Greco was from Heraklion. Ourania helped me connect the dots in my brain about the Venetian and post-Byzantine influences on his work. Also, I was able to learn more about another Heraklion native Nikos Kazantsakis after whom the Heraklion airport is named. (He wrote the novels on which the movies Zorba the Greek and Last Temptation of Christ are based.) I also had many opportunities to learn about modern culture as we talked about cooking, education, family, etc. Truly, the tour was more like an extended conversation with an expert rather than a tour. I strongly recommend this tour if you want more than just superficial information that you could get from a guidebook.