Douliana or Ntouliana…

Douliana, also known as Ntouliana, is a pretty little quaint village in the prefecture of Chania on the Greek Island of Crete.

The variation in spelling is because the translation from the Greek language to the English language is not an exact science.

Many letters in the Greek alphabet do not translate exactly to a letter in the English alphabet.

So mapmakers, road sign writers, and guidebook authors translate the Greek alphabet place names to what they believe is a phonetic counterpart in the English language.

So this is why you'll see Douliana sometimes spelt as Ntouliana on road signs and on maps.

Douliana lies just 20km east of Chania and is close to the beach resorts of popular Almyrida and Kalyves.

The lovely village has a tiny church, traditional stone houses and dry stone walls encasing olive groves and carob trees. The whole area is very beautiful with tremendous views overlooking Souda Bay and the White Mountains.

A fine selection of luxury villas for rent lies at one end of the village of Ntouliana.

For such a quiet, peaceful and tiny village there is a wide choice of places to eat and drink. A tiny rustic traditional Kafenion offers the thirsty traveller a variety of drinks including traditional Tsikoudia (Raki) and Ouzo.

Each drink ordered is served along with a small meze of local foods such as Feta cheese and olives or sliced cucumber and tomatoes. There's also a little snack bar attached to the mini market.

The first restaurant you are likely to come across is the wonderful Ivgoritis with spectacular views over the hills and valleys of Apokoronas.

Formerly a newly built traditionally styled Mezedhopolio (Mezedopwleio) - a place to buy traditional mezes or small plates of traditional food, this changed hands late in 2009. We haven't tried it yet, but understand the food and service are highly recommended.

The Douliana Taverna in the heart of the village, which we reviewed in the past, has since closed.

A track used by walkers, hikers and cyclists runs from the village centre down the hillside to the beaches of Kalyves and Almyrida. The 3 km track is overlooked by the White Mountains (Lefka Ori).

For lovers of nature you'll find lots to interest you with rare wild flowers of Crete along the pathway and glorious birdlife in the sky. We often have up to three or four buzzards circling above our heads as we wend our way down the scenic path from Douliana down to Kalyves along with many other birds.

Cretan Meze Dishes to Try in Douliana

Meze are small plates of local food from the Cretan diet, shared at the table with drinks such as Mythos beer, tsikoudia (raki) or ouzo. When we ate at the Ivgoritis mezedhopolio in Douliana, most dishes were made from locally grown ingredients.

These 4 village dishes are worth ordering:

• Horta: wild greens of many varieties, picked from fields, hillsides and even roadsides, often by the village women. They are steamed and served with lemon juice and olive oil.
• Greens pies: small filo pastry pies filled with horta.
• Cheese pies: small pies filled with cheese.
• Fava: yellow split peas cooked with olive oil.

Meat lovers can order grilled chicken, lamb chops or pork souvlaki with home-made chips. A Greek salad of tomato, cucumber, green pepper, red onion and local olives, topped with a slab of feta and oregano, completes the meal. The outdoor tables at the Ivgoritis looked over a valley of pine, cypress, olive and citrus trees.