Mihaela Lica Butler: Travel Writer, Recipe Developer

Students want fun, parents want safety, teachers want survival. Crete delivers all three—plus chaos.

The Crete Rural Tourism 2025 survey by epaithros+ reveals who visits rural Crete, what they seek, and how they spend.

Heraklion forces tourist catamarans into an unsafe, foul-smelling industrial port while raising fees by 300%

Oleander grows everywhere in Crete, but it is highly poisonous to people and pets.

Crete offers rich mushroom habitats across its forests and mountains. Learn where to find them, when to forage, which species are safe, and how to explore responsibly.

Malevizi signs a 1.6M-euro road improvement project, upgrading rural access and boosting safety for visitors exploring Crete’s mountain villages.

Parking in Heraklion is not driving. It is anthropology. It doesn’t submit to normal rules you learned in driving school. Tourists arrive in Heraklion imagining parking will work like in the rest of Europe. It does not. Heraklion has its own ecosystem — part tradition, part improvisation, part ancient Cretan instinct for chaos. If you […]

The future of the Cretan chestnut is at risk, as experts warn of genetic loss, aging trees, and the threat of incoming pathogens.

A deep exploration of the Cretan mantinada, tracing its history, musical roots, poetic form, and enduring role in island culture through example and tradition.

Found across Crete’s hillsides, the evergreen Koomaria tree bursts with red fruit and white blossoms each autumn, offering beauty, flavor, and surprising health benefits.

In Crete, umbrellas have a life of their own. They vanish, wander, and return only when the sun is out. Here’s what really happens to them.

Cretan Mountain Tea, or Malotira, is a herbal treasure brewed for centuries in Crete’s highlands.