4th September
We had organised with mum and dad and my brother Charley to meet at about one o'clock at a campsite near Nea Kallikratia - they were getting a hire car from the airport. We set off fairly early and found it easily so were there by eleven o'clock waiting for them with a coffee. They arrived a bit earlier than one and we all sat down and got a 'fredo' - a Greek style iced coffee. We all decided that the campsite looked a bit shoddy and the beach wasn't very nice so we'd drive further south to Kassandra, the first 'leg' of Halkidiki. With the satnav back in use we looked up a campsite and me and Pete led the way south. After an hour or so driving we were on the west coast of Kassandra in a very nice campsite called Blue Dream near the Sani Resort. First things first with the Woodfines and we got some beers from the shop and chatted and set up our camp. Having two tents with the van makes it feel like a proper camp! The campsite was right on the beach so we went for a swim, which strangely was very wavey but fun for playing in. After a swim and a sunbathe we decided to walk along the beach to a grassy headland we could see with a tower on top. It was a nice walk which led inland slightly around a harbour full of very expensive looking shops and even more expensive looking yachts. On the headland you could see around into the next bay and it was very pretty and then we wandered back to the campsite and had a beer in the campsite bar. We watched the gorgeous sunset with the Gods over Mount Olympus which was pretty cool. After all getting showered and hanging out back at camp for a bit we headed back to the campsite restaurant for dinner. It was busy and the menu was in Greek - we thought that was a good sign - and we were right. We had an amazing meal, my favourite being the starters of spinach with honey and sesame seeds and spicy feta cheese! Yum. There was alot of wine drunk and even more back at the campsite and we had a great first day and night with my family.
Mount Olympus. ^
After tea and breakfast we went for a dip in the now very calm blue sea at the campsite. Obviously the wind had died down and we couldn't believe it was the same sea as yesterday. We spent a while swimming, snorkelling and trying to catch small fish with our net, and after no success we went back in and sunbathed. Late morning we drove to Kassandra town, in the centre of the leg, to have a look around. We thought it might be historic as it was the oldest town in this area but instead it was just a cute little town with shops and cafes. We stopped for a fredo and then crossed to the east side of the leg for lunch. We got food from a supermarket and then drove through a pretty little town called Athetos to get to the beach. There were very ripe looking prickly pears by the side of the road which we tried eating and everyone got loads of the thorns stuck in their fingers and mouths! We also got some ripe figs straight off the tree. The beach was very pretty but quite rocky along the waters edge and covered with urchins, so not so good for swimming. We had a lovely lunch and afternoon and then headed back to the camp in the evening for some more swimming and frisbee playing at our beach. For dinner we had a delicious chicken barbeque and stayed up drinking and playing 'I'm in business'.
Petes birthday!! We woke up and Pete had his couple of presents - including a plastic stag head to go in the van from mum and dad! We'd decided that we would move on today so we packed up and set off quite early. We had an hour or so drive to Sithonia - the second leg - and looked at a couple of campsites before finding the perfect one. Finally we found an amazing space over looking the campsites own private bay in a nice looking town called Nea Marmaras. We set up camp and had a great lunch of homemade hot dogs with Greek kebab sausages. Everyone on the campsite was very friendly and some people looked in our van and said 'that is real living'! The campsite owner was also very friendly and spoke amazing English and when we arrived he told us that the campsite closes at the end of September so the restaurant isn't open now, but if we liked he could cook for us tonight. As it was Petes birthday we said yes and asked for fish, which he said he would go and buy fresh straight away! After lunch we went swimming in the lovely shallow sea and played catch and frisbee in the water. Later in the afternoon Charley wanted to do some fishing and me and Pete fancied exploring around the rocks. We climbed around the rocky cove to the end of the campsite and found a few very posh looking villas with their own private beach. We akwardly walked past the people on to the rock jetty and got set up to fish on the nice calm side of the bay. Out of nowhere a man swam over to tell us we couldn't fish on the side, only on the otherside of the jetty, which was much rougher sea. A bit annoyed we left the jetty and found some nice rocks to sit on and sat not catching fish for a while whilst the sun set! We headed back and at seven thirty we headed over to the restaurant on the terrace. It was all closed up except for a table for us five and the owner served us and told us what food he'd got. We were chatting to him and it felt like we were at his house having dinner. The food was great - Greek salad with tzatsiki to start and a whole bream each with chips and then melon for pudding. Yum. After dinner we went to the bar, which is on the campsite beach, and got a shot and a beer in celebration of Petes birthday. I had also made Pete a 'cake' which was just a massive bowl of Haribo - his favourite - with a 2 and 8 candle on top. So we sang happy birthday and the bar man gave us some more shots for free. We also decided that the sea looked lovely and calm, and as a night time swim was on my to do list for this trip, me, Pete and Charley went for a dip. It was pretty cold but so worth it because we saw phosflourescents! We couldn't believe it! So we waved our arms around a while, watching the sparkling plankton and then ran in to have a hot shower and warm up. We stayed up a little while chatting and then went to bed. Great day!
7th September
After breakfast we decided to go for a walk into Neas Marmaras. We left the campsite and wound our way through the very pretty, green streets, looking at all the fruit growing in peoples gardens (including pomegranites!) and found the harbour. We got a coffee overlooking the boats and watched some men with handlines catching fish off the jetty. We walked further into the town where it got a bit busier with more tourist shops and restaurants but still very nice. It was a hot day and Pete and Charley jumped off the end of a jetty into the sea a couple of times. We got some food in a small shop in town and discovered the 'local' area with a fish monger and butcher. For dinner later we wanted burgers so we asked the butcher for mince and he went into the back fridge, hacked off a bit of beef and minced it to order! Well good! We had omlettes for lunch back at the campsite and spent the afternoon on our beach and playing volleyball in the sea - there was actually a net set up in the shallow water so you could properly dive for the ball! We'd seen a sign in the bar saying that it was it's last weekend open before closing for the end of season so they were holding a kareoke night at ten o'clock tonight. We had drinks and a delicious burger BBQ for dinner and got ready for some singing. We assumed that most of the other campers would go but when we got there it was just the two bar men and another couple. Anyway they started up the kareoke for us and we sang to each other and the Greek men sang terrible Greek songs (we later found out they were all songs from Eurovision!) A few other people did arrive but me and mum scared them off with 'Sweet Child of Mine'. We got some free shots and all got quite drunk and it was really fun as we basically had the thing to ourselves! Hilarious evening, the best song being 'Alcohol is free' - apparently a Greek classic.
8th Sepetember
It was quite an overcast morning but we still packed our beach bags and headed off in the car to explore the west side of the leg. We came across a large sandy beach with a very cool beach bar on the end called Ethnik. Everything was painted a different colour and the bar was mosaic-ed! We got a coffee here and played cards whilst waiting for the drizzle to pass. Eventually it did and we went down to the beach to play volleyball a while then had a stroll along the sand. There were loads of free campers here - quite like where we stayed in Stavros - and actually along the whole coast we kept spotting campers parked up on the beaches. Good to know! We drove on further through gorgeous scenery. It seemed to change as we got further south; starting with thick green forests around the campsite and becoming more rocky and barren as we went along. We passed hundreds of goats and the only buildings on the hills were little goat farms. For lunch we stopped at a shop in Toroni and then ate on a small beach with a few little fishing boats. There were some men fishing from the shore and catching small fish (everyone we see is catching fish!) After lunch we carried on south and came around to the tip of the leg. It is very wild down here and really beautiful and thankfully the sun was now shining so the views were amazing. From a viewpoint at the top of a mountain we could see the end town of Kalamitsi. We saw it had a nice looking bay, with another secret looking bay over some rocks, so we decided to head there. We drove down and parked in the small town, which looked quite nice and lively, and walked along the beach. The bay in the town was quite busy as it was Sunday but we scrambled up, over the rocks to find the other beach. From the top of the rocks we looked down on a gorgeous, white sand, little beach with a kind of small shanty town built on it. It was like discovering 'The Beach'! And as we looked closer we realised that everyone was naked! They obviously come and live here for summer. We went down anyway and at first by-passed the beach and carried on up the rocks at the otherside. It was all sandstone and scrub land and was really beautiful. After the walk we were all very hot so we went for a swim (in our swimming costumes) and chilled out a while. It was getting quite late so we drove home without stopping and we had another yummy barbeque of kebabs and potato salad back at camp. In the evening we got a drink in the beach bar and played cards.
Volleyball. ^
The first beach. ^
Lunch near Toroni. ^
Views to the tip of Sithonia. ^
Kalamitsi. ^
9th September
I can't remember if I wrote it before but when we crossed the border from Romania to Bulgaria we met a Greek man from Thessaloniki. He had recommended Halkidiki and, in particular, a small island off the third leg called Ammouliani. He said it was 'a small paradise.' We love to get tips from the locals so we thought that we'd do the long drive to the island to see what he was talking about. We set off about ten and didn't arrive to get the ferry until nearly one. The drive wasn't actually that long but we stopped at a few places to get a picnic for lunch and everyone at some point needed a wee - but never at the same time! We also stopped to look at the view a few times as it was very beautiful scenery. Anyway we did get there in the end and we got the ferry over to the small town - I don't know the name. We didn't have a map or anything so we drove around following small tracks, which usually ended up in someones house. Then we came down to a beautiful bay with a few people on but we walked to the end and found ourselves a lovely spot. We stayed here and had lunch. Dad, Charley and Pete tried a bit a fishing - unsuccessful - and we relaxed. I followed a little path through the woods, thinking it might find another beach or view, but had to turn around because of too much human poo. The Greeks seem to do this on foot paths. Apart from that it was really lovely - a small paradise indeed. As we'd come all this way we thought we'd better see more than one beach so we packed up and drove from the south west side we were on to the north east. The beaches were completely different - one quite rocky with forests and the other white sand. This was the white sand one and we chilled out here some more and the boys got the fishing rod out. They were getting a bit bored with fishing anyway when Charley suddendly noticed an octopus under a rock in the shallow water. Pete got in there straight away with his snorkel on and decided if he couldn't catch a fish he would at least catch an octopus. He bashed it with a stick a few times and managed to get it on the shore where he hit it with a rock. He says he does feel guilty about it. After all this excitement we packed up, went back to the port and had a beer before ferrying back. The drive was much quicker home but it was still quite late by the time we'd got to the campsite. We had no food and it was too dark to barbeque anyway so we went out for dinner. On the otherside of the campsite from the private bay there is a long stretch of sand with a small promenade of apartments and restaurants. We found a busy taverna with a very friendly waiter and got pizzas for dinner and traditional Greek puddings. The waiter was surprised that we were English and said they don't get many Brits in this area anymore. Apparently the package holidays stopped coming to Halkidiki and obviously not many people want to drive all the way from the UK. Another lovely day and night.
The ferry to Ammouliani. ^
The first beach. ^
The second beach and the octopus! ^
Drink in the port. ^
West facing beach with beautiful sunsets every night. ^
10th September
I set my alarm for half six and got up when it started getting light. Charley had been wanting to go early morning fishing since he arrived and he hadn't ever got up yet! We had a tea and then set off to the jetty around from our campsite beach. Pete came too and we had all fishing gear and lots of enthusiasm. Unforetunetly we lost almost all Petes weights and floats and hooks because Charley couldn't tie knots properly and the tackle kept getting flung off! Anyway it was funny, and nice to get up early anyway. As it was my familys last day we decided to have a chilled one - as we've been so active so far! We hung out on the campsite beach reading and snorkelling and playing volleyball. A very lovely day. We paid the campsite man in advance and he said we had bought light and good energy with our smiles, which was very nice to hear. In the afternoon me, Pete and dad went to the fish monger and got a bream each for our last supper. They were delicious and we even ate Petes octopus as a starter! Stayed up chatting and drinking.
Cooking octopus. ^
Me and me family :) ^
11th September
We all had to get up early as mum, dad and Charley had to leave about eight o'clock. We had teas whilst they put their tents down and said goodbye at the campsite. I was sad for them to go - it was fun to have them here. Me and Pete didn't stay much longer and we set off to find a free camp for the night before meeting Pete's dad tomorrow! Annoyingly we didn't see anywhere to stop on the second leg so we ended up driving back down the first leg slightly and pulled over in a small harbour in Nea Fokea because Pete was so tired. We didn't necessarily plan to camp here the night but Pete had a nap in the van whilst I went and sat on the beach. Pete came and joined me after a while and on the beach were a few straw umbrellas with sun beds. The sign said you only had to buy a drink to use them so we got one coffee to share and stayed on the sun loungers all day! Very lazy day reading and sleeping. Late afternoon we finally gave up our spots and went out to the jetty to watch men fishing (and catching lots of fish!) A lady came up to us and started talking in Greek. We told her we were English and she said she thought we were locals and explained that she was from Athens on holiday in her parents holiday home and had found a dog that had been hit by a car. She was nursing him back to health but couldn't take him to Athens with her and wanted to find him a home. Obviously we couldn't take him but we chatted a bit and wished her luck. For dinner we cooked slyly out the back of the van - we decided that it felt safe to sleep here for a night - and ate on the beach. When we'd finished eating the same lady from earlier came over and asked if we had any plans for the evening. She invited us for a drink at her holiday home five minutes walk from here. We thought she seemed nice and said yes and before taking us back to her flat she drove to Lidl and bought three bottles of wine. Back at her flat we met the very cute dog called Jose and got comfy on the balcony. It was slightly hectic as she needed to bandage the dog and have a shower and wanted to cook and it was getting quite late. The only problem was that we were worried about the van so in the end Pete ran down to get it and parked up outside the flat. Mary - the lady - was very lovely and very hospitable. She made us all a big traditional Greek salad to eat with our wine and Pete helped bandage Jose's leg. We ended up staying up drinking wine and talking until half two in the morning! Very unexpected but enjoyable evening. Mary offered a bed in the spare room but we felt bad and went out to sleep in the van.
Nea Fokea. ^
Mary, Pete and Jose. ^
