Through the Lens of Crete: Knossos, Legends, and Local Life from Agios Nikolaos or Elounda

Hello, My name is Alexander. I truly love Crete and the island's unique privilege for a rich quality of living! Especially, I am inspired by the Cretan local lifestyle, unique gastronomy, authentic culture, rich history, unspoiled nature, and stunning escapes. Not to mention the vivid feeling that the sea is everywhere, even if it's not visible! Crete is a glorious island with myriads of places to explore and a plethora of things to experience. An island to discover a sense of escapism that many forget it does so well. A place to disappear for an hour, a day, or even a week, only to re-emerge with a subtle bronze to your skin and calmness of being. Since I've started my guiding profession on Crete Island (almost 25-years ago) very soon I realized that my purpose was greater. My ultimate focus is to engage my travelers with the island of Crete to a greater extent. Connect them with history, art, and most of all with the local people and their authentic Cretan lifestyle, which is deeply family-oriented and rooted in traditions. All in all, to give them access to Crete's best-kept hidden gems and pure heavens. So, why I am chasing such personalization and tailor-made approach in my private tours and shore excursions? Simply because, I feel sad when travelers are coming home with the same stories, from the same places as their friends. An absolute absence of novelty in the travel segment! We all are looking to find our own idyllic personalized way of travel. Whether it is about a honeymoon, family break, cruise journey, unique adventure, business trip, cultural immersion, LGBT traveling, or experience-hunting millennials - we always try to find a home away from home! To this day, I literally have never followed a fixed itinerary. Every tour that I have conducted is customized on the expectations and dreams of my travelers down to the tiniest detail - this is the art of tailored travel. That's the iconic tailor-made Crete! Consequently, travel for me is to live, and for this reason, the goal is to change travel, but also travel to change us! I am a professional travel planner for private tour & shore excursion services on Crete Island. For the last 25 years, I am in collaboration with ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents), cruise companies, luxury travel agencies, DMCs, and tour operators. In addition, I am a co-owner and manager of a premium vehicle fleet that consists of Mercedes-Benz black vehicles - Minibus 9-seats VIP Class, Modern 6-seats Vehicle, limo 3-seats. This infrastructure gives me flexibility and confidence with my bookings by providing my travelers with the highest quality of service. All of my private tours and shore excursions are professionally organized in terms of guiding and transportation services without any restrictions.