Fos Villa (Chania)

We stayed six nights at Fos Villa (located near Chania) which was just about the right amount of time for us for a two-week vacation split between Chania and Rethymno.

Within walking distance to the villa are a butcher, two tavernas, and a small neighborhood supermarket. Having two tavernas a few steps from the villa was more convenient than I thought it would be.

We ate at the taverna next to the villa on our first night and then ordered take away a couple of times, mainly side dishes to accompany the food we were grilling at the villa.

Across the road from the villa is the village’s football pitch and on the other side of the villa, is the family home of the owners of Fos Villa. 

The location of Fos ended up being more urban than we had anticipated. It’s in a small village but positioned on a busy one-way road that leads to the village center. There was a steady flow of traffic during the day but it calmed down around 6pm.

Another urban aspect of the property is the vacant lot located between the villa and the taverna. This lot was filled with busted cars and turned into an outdoor mechanic shop one day, filling the air with smoke and noise. I’m choosing to believe that this was a rare event.

There are two large supermarkets within a five-minute drive from the villa. Greek chain, SYNKA, is the closest of the two and is open on Sundays. AB is slightly further away, smaller, more difficult to access, and is closed on Sundays.

Fos Villa is wonderfully designed with five bedrooms, a heated pool, and sea views. The beds are super comfortable, the pool gets sun all day, and the air conditioning works very well.

We were greeted by the husband and wife owners who gave us a tour of the large property. The villa is spread over four floors and was the perfect place for Peter and I to be Alone Together.

On the table waiting for us was a bottle of wine and a large plate of homemade spinach and feta pies known as spanakopita. On the counter were half-a-dozen bags of bread, pastries, and sweets. The fridge contained another bottle of wine, a bottle of raki, and about 50 oranges which thoroughly confused me… until the following day when I found a juicer in the cabinet. We had fresh-squeezed orange juice almost every day.

With the villa tour out of the way, they asked us about vaccination rates in the UK and explained that they’d received many villa cancellations because of the UK’s traffic light system and “Brits not being allowed to travel to Greece”.

We informed them that there were no restrictions condemning Brits from traveling to Greece. We had many conversations with many people on these topics over the course of our two weeks on the island.

Fos was adequately stocked with pantry staples like sugar, seasonings, salt/pepper, etc. Last summer when stayed at Vera Natura Villa II (near Rethymno), we were told that under new covid guidelines, there could not be any sharing of food across villa stays but this guideline appears to have either been ignored or eliminated because both villas we stayed at during our trip were stocked with staples.

The layout of Fos is best suited for three couples or two families. The property has four levels, including the basement. 

Basement	Bedroom with double/king-size bed, toilet, shower, laundry facilities
Ground floor	Kitchen, toilet, living and dining rooms
First floor	Two bedrooms with double/king-size beds, toilet, shower
Second floor	Two bedrooms with double/king-size beds (one with a small sofa), toilet, shower

All bedrooms with the exception of the basement bedroom have balconies with sea views.

The kitchen was loaded with dishes, cookware, utensils, etc., however, it is shockingly small for the size of the property. There was a lack of counter and cabinet space and difficult to work in at times but it got the job done.

The property and hospitality of the owners were top-notch and though the location was a bit more urban than expected, it wasn’t something that would deter us. We would definitely stay at Fos Villa again.

Following our stay at Fos, we drove to Rethymno where we stayed for eight nights. We stopped at Dourakis Winery on the way to Rethymno; its location is perfect for a midpoint stop.

We stayed at the same property near Rethymno that we stayed at in August 2020, just the other villa of the two-villa property.

I’ve updated my posts from August 2020 to include additional details for Rethymno and Vera Natura Villas.

The only new notable thing we did whilst in Rethymno was take a day trip to Margarites village. Details to follow. The village is worth a visit, whether as a day trip from Rethymno or Chania. It’s one of the prettiest villages I’ve ever visited and it’s bursting with handmade pottery.