We left Belgrade on
the 18th June at about 6am. Had breakfast in Belgrade, lunch in
Macedonia and dinner in Thessaloniki. Approximately
653km and a little under 12hours later we finally stopped driving for the day
in Thessaloniki. I drove our beast of a motor vehicle through the centre
of Thessaloniki in hope of finding an open car park in order for us to stop for
the night and rest. Unfortunately we weren’t in
luck. Once I decided to keep
travelling forward on to Chalkidiki I
spotted an open car park at a huge
shopping mall. The mall is called Mediteranean Cosmos. Cosmotic it wasn’t but a place to rest it was. Personally I am not comfortable with parking
in open parking areas in Greece , with
such a big vehicle but when the going gets tough you just have to stop. At the start of the trip over 3 months ago , I
said I wouldn’t do more than 250kilometres in one day. This was three times my
quota in one day so a restful night in a
shopping centre open car park was a dream come true. The literature I have read says free camping is forbidden in Greece but that there are tolerated places.
I assume that this was a tolerated space plus I was exhausted and just wanted to stop and sleep.
The next morning after a restful sleep we had a lovely coffee
in one of the cafes in the mall. I logged onto the internet to touch base with
family and friends and dismally read news of my best friends sons accident on a
motor cycle while sightseeing on a Greek island. The same day she was headed for the island of
Crete. Unfortunately he didn’t make it through the accident and a week
later he was officially confirmed
deceased. This was tragic news for us as young Pedja was in his mid thirty and
in the prime of his life. His mother has warm heartedly consented to the
transplant of his organs so we all now
live with the thought that he has given life to other young people on the
continent. Pedja will forever remain in
our hearts and souls.
Moving on with our travel plans, as difficult as it was for us we headed for
Kassandra. The signs on the road
seemed to take us everywhere except for where we wanted to go and it was a hot
day to do any exploring. So we finally found a camp site in the town of
Kryopigi. English is spoken with hand
signals at the best of times and we managed to communicate with one of the
workers in Macedonian or Bulgarian. The tariffs were far too high for the
amenities provided. The pitches are on dirt but are not divided in any way.
Despite all factors we parked our home and went for a dip in the sea. Considering all the surroundings we firmly decided to move on in the crack of dawn. As we checked out the lady at reception attempted to charge me
10Euros more than agreed upon. Once I explained to her that she was over
charging me and that her arithmetic was incorrect she was profusely apologetic . I accepted the apology and put
the mistake down to a mere lack of schooling. She waved us farewell and kept apologising
until she could no longer see us in sight. It was steep road but we managed to get to the
main road without any difficulties. Not a suggested camp site if you don’t have
a 4 wheel drive. Later on we found out
that this was formerly under government ownership and now it seems to be going
through some form of rehabilitation. Its got a long way to go yet.
About 30km north we found the camp site that we passed when we drove into the peninsula
yesterday . As we drove through the gate at 8am we were greeted by Dimitrios, otherwise the
camp owner. The business is
family run with the owner Mr Ouzouni at
the mast of the ship and his lovely English wife Paula right beside him. It is evident that Dimitrios is passionate
about his business as he is a hands on
guy greeting his guests or levelling the
beach to be perfect for his guests. His
lovely smile and readiness to chat is
always a sure thing.
The campsite itself is extremely well maintained. It is
situated only metres from the beach. The sanitary facilities are as clean as
they can get. Water in the showers is
only available if you put a token in the box before you
shower, otherwise there is no free flowing
hot or cold shower water. A nuisance really but that’s the way they
operate. There is a communal kitchen
with a large refrigerator and deep freezer. Electric stoves and dish washing
basins. There are laundry facilities
with washing machines and dryers. For a small price of 6Euro you can do a load
of washing. At that price I will do my
own by hand. As Dimitrios put it to me in his Greek English accent “you are young,
you can do it by hand”. The little grocery
shop or mini market on site stocks the necessities. There are no fruit and
vegetables but you can order your bread
the day before and the pleasant shop assistant will hold it for you until you
come back the next day. If you forget your loaf in the morning it will still be
there waiting for you in the evening. The shop is open from 8am - 21:30. It is a great convenience store with most
supplies available until you are ready to stock up. There is a huge supermarket about 2km down
the road towards Nea Moudania and has everything that you could possibly
need. Trying to find Ouzouni on a map is a little difficult as I found it
doesn’t exist. Maybe because the camp site is named after Mr Ouzouni itself. At Ouzouni we met a lovely couple and their
daughter camping there from Bulgaria. They told us that this is the second year
that they have come to this site and found it a safe , pleasant and secure
place to vacate.
Chalkidiki - otherwise known as Aristotles birth place is
considered to be an ideal place for a holiday as it has everything that a Greek
island is but without being one. The
Serbs call the three parts of the penninsulas "fingers" where as the
Greeks refer to them as legs. There are three in total. Kassandra
- where camp Ouzouni is located is the first one and is about 70km South
of Thessaloniki. The second leg is called Sithonia and the 3rd Agios Oros or
Mt Athos is where the monastaries are located. Mt Athos is not a resort area and only men
with special permits are allowed to visit Mt Athos. Women are not allowed onto Mt Athos.
History buffs will
know that the oldest human skeleton was found on Chalkidiki dating back 700
000. Thats right seven hundred thousand
years ago. The settlement was found in
1960 in the cave of Petralona and is open to visitors. In Greek mythology Chalkidiki has also been
described as a place of origin where the
giants or titans revolted against the Gods.
The gods won and some of the titans were buried under the three peninsulas
of chalkidiki hence the names of Kassandra and
Sithonia. Mt Athos was named
after the giant Atho. There is so much more to be said about Chalkidiki but the
best way to learn is come and explore it for yourself. It's great when you see
it for yourself and can put the pieces of the puzzle together. It has certainly
been an eye opener for me.
We made our next destination the second finger or leg –
Sithonia. Travelling the coastline we followed the road and passed through the
towns of Neas Marmaras and Porto Karas. Porto Karas was
lovely and looked like an interesting place to shop and enjoy the cafes and
tavernas. Irrespective we travelled on
to our target destination Thalatta camping ground in Kalamitsi where we stayed for a total of
one week. The camp site is located just before you turn into the village itself. The turn into the camp can be easily missed
but the flags and signage ensures that you know its there. So take care not to
travel on to the village the turn off is before the village itself. The village
of Kalamitsi can only be accessed by foot via the main road from the camp site.
Unfortunately there is no path from the camp site to the village which is a
shame. The services at Thalatta camping were
fabulous so we had no need to go
into the village except to see what the locals were up to.
Campers congregate at the gelataria in the morning where you
will find them drinking their café frappe and smoking their cigarettes as they
plan their day.
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| The Gelateria in the morning |
We were most fortunate
to have been at the site when the European football (soccer) final against Spain and Italy was being played. Sport is always something that brings
people of all nations together. On
Satuday nights the tavern comes alive with a small trio playing traditional
Greek music. You will also find
fascinating the hanging octopus tentacles.
They cure them in the sun for a total of 12hours and then they grill
them for their guests. This is a speciality and is highly recommended.
The swimming pool is
pristine clear and is well managed by a
young man called Savas. He will ensure that the chlorine levels are correct and
that you shower before you enter “his pool”.
The same ritual of cleaning the pool is done in the afternoon and the
morning.
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| This is Savas pool |
Farewelling Kalamitsi we moved further along the peninsula
to Sarti. We free camped for 2 nights along the shoreline at Sarti. It is a
lovely town where everyone comes alive
in the evening. Most swimming is done in
the morning until 13:00. There after everyone goes back to their camp
sites or apartments or hotels to eat and
then ritually rest from 2-5pm. After 5pm
the water is filled with bathers and people sunbathing on the coastline. This ritual of afternoon rest is practised by the Italians, Croats and Greeks. We noticed
it in Italy where the shops were closed from 2-5 and then in Istria and now in
Greece. I wish we had "siesta time" in Australia. Its a great
re-charger. We found the shoreline of Sarti
quite windy but enjoyed walking through the town and being amongst people for a
change. As we purchased our groceries at
one of the local supermarkets the man at
the checkout asked me where I was from. I told him I was from Belgrade but he
distinctly knew that I was an Aussie. My accent always gives me away. In this
instance the gentleman was very sentimental and nostalgic and despite the
customers waiting in line all he wanted to do was talk to us and exchange
stories about Australia. He farewelled us with tears and hoped to see us again.
The giros as they call it here vary in price from 2.50Euro to 7Euro. It depends on whether you
eat in or takeaway. They are made from chicken, beef or lamb. Make sure you don’t miss out when you come to
Greece. The best place to buy a giros is from a shop which is over crowed with
customers as this generally means that
they are good. We walked the shoreline
and found a lovely little monument that represented a church. It was a very pleasant spot and had a lovely view of Sarti and Mt Athos.
Moving on further along the coastline of the peninsula of
Sithonia our next stop was mapped as Armenistis. This was to be our last stop
on the peninsula and in Greece. We were so pleased with this camping ground and
definitely recommend it to anyone visiting this part of the world. The ground offers plenty of sporting activities
and the two main ones of interest are beach
volley ball or beach ball. There is a
lovely grassed area next to the café and tavern where keen couples , friends and groups hit
tennis balls with their wooden
bats. Its like playing table tennis but without the table and with a
tennis ball. Its fabulous watching the balls flying through the air. We were
inspired and now also own our own wooden bat and tennis ball. Its not as easy
as you think. We can barely hit a total of 4 balls. Practise makes perfect.
The café is the only
spot where you can use the internet. You need to get a ticket so that you can
use the internet and the ticket is only valid for one hour. You can get as many
tickets as you like but you are restricted by sitting in the café. There is a
boutique that stocks clothing as well as beach accessories. The supermarket has everything that your
heart desires and is reasonably priced
for the convenience. There is plenty of
fresh bread and lovely croissants filled
with a creamy chocolate and hazelnut sauce. Fruit and vegetables, charcoal, BBQ
needs as well as a BBQ if you need one. There is also a creperie and sandwich
shop. The restaurant or tavern serves traditional Greek meals but the
portions are rather disappointing. When we ordered some octopus I asked if one serving would be enough for
two people and the waiter proudly said “ne” meaning yes of course. When I got
back to the motorhome I was surprised to see one tentacle of the octopus which
was meant to be enough for the two of
us. Lucky for the large bowl of tomato and cucumber salad we made with lots of
bread. Irrespective we enjoyed the tentacle it was lovely and tender.
The nightlife is vibrant here. Music from the beach café can be heard until 3am so
if you are coming here with children ask for a pitch which is furthest from the
beach café. The sun sets at about 9pm in
the summer months and dawns at 5am. You will smell charcoal from about 7pm and
a lot of the campers are still preparing their chargrilled
meats and eating their dinner at 10pm. At least they sleep in until 9am so you
have the beach to yourself until they crawl out of bed. Breakfast
on the beach was a lovely ritual that we practised daily with freshly
brewed illy coffee and chocolate filled croissants.
We swim in the morning and afternoon and during the day we
find a shady spot under a tree. Camp Armenistis is certainly a lovely place to
start or end your holiday in Greece. Two
days before we were due to leave the site a lovely English couple Adrian and Jackie parked their motorhome next
to ours. When I saw the English number plate I quickly ran over to introduce
myself , just the thought of the wheel on the right hand side made me feel
nostalgic. To this point I hadn’t felt an inch of home sickness but at this
moment it was evident. Adrian and Jackie had been travelling Europe since February.
It was a pleasure to have them as company.
That’s what this whole experience is about – meeting lovely people on
the way.
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