|
| ecoholidays |
ikarian wine club
description - The IkarianWine Club is an agrotourism unit with an organic farm and winery where small groups of guests stay in two stone houses. The unit was set up by George Karimalis and his wife Eleni when they returned to their native home to dedicate themselves to environmental work on their own land. They live there with their four children. Ikaria is a medium sized island with a unique environment and a variety of interesting places. It has mountains, large free-standing rocks, quiet beaches and clean seas. Much of the island is covered with pine and oak forests. It has an abundance of wildlife, and looks particularly beautiful from October to May. The island is featured in a new book called Blue Zones, which lists the places in the world with the longest life expectancies - Ikaria comes near the very top. Historically, at least, a simple, frugal and mainly vegetarian diet - even today a surprising number of islanders are basically vegetarians who eat some fish and perhaps goat meat on a special occasion. Abundance of locally-grown, organic fruit and vegetables - they are very proud of the fact that organic agriculture has been the tradition on Ikaria and is not a recent fad. As there are no charter flights to the island it is still free from mass tourism. Ikaria is ideal for guided mountain walks. Our guests can also enjoy cycling in the pure nature of the island. The property is located to the northwest side of the island, in the hill village of Pigi. It is in the middle of a pine and oak tree forest 3 kilometres from the seashore (about 10 minutes by car).The farm is certified as organic and offers its guests organic meals and in addition they live in this farm. We want to maintain our local culture. Our family keeps alive most of the traditions, the spirit and the love passed down from our ancestors. In a small room, we call 'museum' we keep many antiques, things that our family has used over the last 500 years. We continue a tradition of thousands of years of wine production. We preserve the stone mills; one for olives and one for grain, as well as the 'petalo', a wine-press made from five big stones of granite where our ancestors made wine for thousands of years and stored it in traditional clay pots planted in the ground. The vineyards are planted mainly with local varieties of grapes such as the red Fokiano, Koudouro, Reteno and the white Begleri. We mainly produce grapes and wine (in our winery) as well as olives, vegetable and fruit, aromatic plants and a few corn and beans. We use these products in cooking and offer them to our guests with our home-made bread, jam, grape syrup, raisins etc.
accommodation - The two stone houses have been recently sympathetically restored using natural stone materials. They were the original family homes built between 120 and 500 years ago. Each is approximately 70-80 square metres in size and has 3 rooms. They each have 2 bedrooms, one on the first floor and a large living room/kitchen at ground level. They each have a large family sized bathroom attached to the house. Most of the rooms have no internal doors and almost all doors open onto the courtyard. They can accommodate between 4 and 6 people. Each has an outdoor seating area with flower garden having views over the vineyard and the forest to the Aegean sea. Visitors can relax and watch spectacular sunsets across the sea from here. (We use the words 'visitors and 'guests' in sustainable tourism rather than the word 'tourists') There is a
family sized kitchen/living room with gas cooker, dishwasher,
refrigerator, filter coffee maker (fair trade coffee), toaster. Every
house has a family size bathroom. Bedrooms: 2 bedrooms per accommodation, cork insulated beds, ecological mattresses, feather pillows, bath towels. Services: Daily cleaning, change of bed linen and towels twice a week. Further cleaning services by arrangement. Free Access to the internet (ADSL) ,Digital and satellite TV. Family friendly: The whole family lives on site. They have their own courtyard and privacy. Visitors children are able to play with our own children at table games, outdoor games, cycling, walking in the forest and use of the village play area. They will also learn about organic farming and possibly archery. Baby friendly: We can put a cot in a room (parent's room or kitchen) and provide several baby toys. We can also buy and prepare baby food for your baby, after pre-arrangement (including the cost). We offer our guests other organic products (soap etc.)
how
this holiday makes a difference:
Our aim is to operate the unit with the minimum possible impact on the
environment and use only sustainable energy.
We try not to add to global warming. · We compost all our organic waste from the farm, the winery and the people (guests, visitors and the family). We recycle the rest of our waste. We try to reuse anything. We participate (if not lead) the local movement for recycling. · We clean and reuse almost all water used from the guests, our family and the winery for watering plants (fruit trees and vines). We collect rain water in tanks and use in the vegetable and fruit gardens. We have our own springs which we use to water our organic gardens. · We use energy-saving electrical items (light bulbs, refrigerator etc). We do not use air conditioners as the stone houses have very good bioclimatic behaviour. A hybrid heating system (solar panels/wood) provides warm water all the year. It also provides heating (for the rooms) in the winter. · We produce electricity using photovoltaic panels. This a 5KV power station on the roof of the winery. We mainly use gas and wood in cooking instead of electricity. · The club owns an electric car (for 4 persons) which is one of the first seven in the country · We support several initiatives against hunting. We do not allow hunting on our property. · We use only 100% biodegradable cleaning products as we are reusing the water to water pants (mentioned before). · All our buildings are mainly made from local materials (stones, wood, canes, sand etc). We also use cork and latex (in beds and floors). We also use copper (mainly pipes), bronze (mainly in doors and windows) and iron (in locally made things). · We do not use plastic, aluminium, or other artificial materials (except for some pipes for watering).
other activities: Mediterranean Cookery Courses We offer our guests courses about the light Mediterranean cookery, which is a new and unique cooking style. There we combine the taste of the traditional Mediterranean recipes, using organic ingredients, with the benefits of the islands light cooking that keeps all the nutritious content of the food. The courses take place in the kitchen of the agritourism centre. At the end of each session, the guests have lunch with the prepared food. Some details about light Mediterranean cookery: It comes from the Greek Island of Ikaria and it has got its final form from George and Helen Karimalis. It is a long living diet as a result of many detailed investigations. It is mainly vegetarian and uses very fresh organic ingredients, sometimes just picked. Meat will be prepared every second week (mainly goat meat or poultry) fish can be prepared every week at least. (The less meat you eat the more years you live). It mainly uses goats cheese and goats milk when milk products are used in recipes. It uses goat milk in breakfast. It uses low temperature in cooking. Frying and microwave oven are prohibited. Spices are rarely used (Supposed to be dead food). They are replaced with fresh (sometimes dried) aromatic plants which are full of antioxidants and vitamins. The olive oil is added at the end of cooking. The recipes are Greek (including all possible from Ikaria ) and the near Mediterranean area. The recipes are lightly salted (never too salty). The prepared food will be eaten warm (when it is still fresh). It usually replaces sugar with grape syrup or honey in sweets.
The Wine Course You can explore the world of wine with the wine producer George Karimalis on our 6 day course. Over the course you will learn the basics of wine, its origins, its making and its varieties starting from the very beginning. You will learn about the different styles of wines and the grapes used in them. You will learn step by step how to taste the wine and the special vocabulary of the wine-tasting. This includes how to describe the colour, the flavours and the taste of the wine. The wine courses need a minimum of 6 participants. For this, you will be given 6 four-hour lectures at the winery with the aim of giving you an entry into the world of wine, its origins and its flavours. You will learn about the history of wine-making Every day we learn through charts, projectors and photographs and we taste 8-10 carefully selected and representative wines. Then, at the end of each lecture, the remaining wine in the bottles will be drunk with the accompaniment of freshly prepared organic food. It is envisaged that the lectures will take place in the afternoon and early evening, from 6pm to 10pm , when the sun is not so hot and the atmosphere is less dry and more relaxed. All participants will receive a certificate of qualification at the completion of the seminar. This costs 300 Euro per person.
Greek Dancing Lessons We offer our guests Greek dancing lessons and we believe they find them very entertaining. We think that the Ikarian local fiestas will be an unforgettable experience for any visitor of the island. The people in these fiestas (except the musicians) work without payment. At the same time it is an old tradition of the island that the whole profit from these fiestas benefits the host community. It is a positive force for the perpetuation of the local culture when visitors support and enjoy these events.
getting there: From May till early October: Get a flight to the near island of Samos and then take the ferry to Ikaria . All the year round: Get a flight to the airport of Athens and then take the ferry to Ikaria or a flight from Athens to Ikaria if possible. We will greet you in the airport (Athens or Samos ) and we will organize the rest of your trip from here. The
accommodation is 30 kilometres to the west of the island's airport We usually drive our visitors from the port or airport to our place. A small piece of advice to our visitors: Choosing Ikaria , a Greek island, for your holidays will give you the benefits of staying within the EU area with its safe social and political situation. We strongly believe the best thing you can do while you are here is to buy locally produced goods. So please check items do not say 'Made in China' Ask if it is a product of the island. Ask to see where it was made, if possible meet the producers and talk with them. That will be a significant benefit to the local communities and will discourage those who make easy money by selling imported products. We strongly ask you when you are out of our place, not to choose a fast-food style restaurant and ask before you sit whether they cook local food with recipes of the island. Ask where the ingredients come from. As you are on an island, water is something very valuable and difficult to collect. Please do not waste this resource. It is very important to know that between April 1st and October 31st it is prohibited to light an outdoor fire for any reason. The environment is too dry and a forest fire would be a catastrophe. We suggest that you do not attempt to bargain when you buy things from local people. If you think something is expensive, do not buy it. You can probably ask for a better final price only if you buy more things.
The period October the 1st till April the 30th the total cost per house per night is: 80 euros per couple, group of 3 persons (adults) 110 euros, 4 persons 140 euros, 5 persons 160 euro. The above prices include transfers from the airport or ferry port of Ikaria , breakfasts and lunches mainly made with organic ingredients (Light Mediterranean Cookery), and a bottle of organic wine per couple per day. There are special prices for those who book for two weeks or more.
Contact details: Address: Piyi
Evdilos Ikaria
email: wine@ikarianwine.gr
website: www.ikarianwine.gr/
|
|
if you are traveling somewhere remote, or to a country with an unstable political climate, please check the travel advice section first |