I have been back at work for some weeks after a great holiday in Greece. We visited Halkidiki, a peninsula 80 kilometers from Thessaloniki. A beautiful area with lots of olive cultivation. As I described in one of my previous posts, we were at a resort by the sea. The resort was great, but it was really in the middle of nowhere, so if we wanted to go to a town or village we had a long taxi ride ahead of us, so we didn't do that.
We spent a day with 'our' personal guide to (among others) Avintos, a nice idyllic village on the coast. What struck me were the many shops where people sold jewelry and paintings that she made there herself, a creative village :).
We have been to Greece before, but mainly to the islands, never on the mainland. So this was our first time :) Actually it was a peninsula, as shown in the picture there are two legs. We rented a car for a day and then drove around the entire middle leg, which was almost 100 kilometers.
We passed many small villages where, of course, they also had beautiful beaches. The views were amazing, the landscape in Greece is very beautiful. What we did notice was that there were enormous amounts of dirt along the roads and in the bushes. Later we understood from the employees at the resort that no matters have yet been arranged in Greece regarding deposits on plastic, etc. The Greeks are an easy-going people, they (apparently) throw everything out the window. It's a shame because they have such a beautiful country and it is overshadowed by so much dirt.
Some Pictures of Avintos
We also sat on the beach every day, and then you got a bit bored, at least I did ;) So every day I made a word with stones. My wife thought it was a kind of occupational therapy :), I would display small stones on the table and make a different word out of them every day.
Nea Moudania
George, our beach manager, lives in Nea Moudania. One of the buildings there, which has caused quite a stir, the church has been completely renovated while the space (which was needed for this) could also have been used for housing for local residents. There, as in many places, there is a huge housing shortage. The costs involved with the church are obvious. Despite that background information, it is a very beautiful building.
One evening we didn't feel like going to the restaurant so we had room service come :) Just because it's possible ;) , you could order your dishes in an app and they would deliver them promptly. It was delicious and fun :)
All in all, we had a wonderful holiday, wonderfully rested and we can go again until February (then we have planned the next holiday).
Have great day !!
Peter