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A thirty-minute drive from the villa, on a hilltop above Souda Bay, sits one of ancient Crete's most important city-states — a place that minted its own coins, sent archers to fight in wars across the Mediterranean, and survived for well over a thousand years before an earthquake brought it down. Aptera makes a rewarding half-day out, with Hellenistic walls, a restored theatre, a Roman villa still being excavated, and two enormous rainwater cisterns among the highlights.

A short, shaded walk from the villa, along a track flanked by olive groves and woodland, brings you to the tiny village of Maza — home to a historic chapel and Kosta's Taverna, where you can sit down to proper Cretan cooking after the walk. Close enough for an easy evening stroll, with wildflowers lining the route and a warm welcome waiting at the other end.

Villa Kourkoulios sits in Champatha, a tiny hamlet in the foothills of the White Mountains whose history stretches back centuries — though little has ever been written about it in English. This is the story of the village around the villa: its old stone houses, its olive groves, and the quiet mountain life that has shaped this corner of Crete long before it became a place for guests to stay.