MAGNIFICENT, INCREDIBLE BEAUTY BEACHES CAN BE FINDED IN MALDIVES OR SEYCHELLES, HISTORICAL SIGHTS AND PAINTING MOUNTAINS COMPLETELY IN EUROPE, OR THIS IS OUR FAVORITES "ALL" INCLUDED? CORRECTLY IN TURKEY. HOWEVER, I AM READY TO RIDE ALL YEAR ROUND TO GREECE. FOR MENTALITY.
Is the village far?
- Yes, here she is! Nearby completely! Behind the gardens, in the hollow. Nice village, sir. Promised land. There are ceratonia, beans, peas, olive oil, wine.
Nikos Kazantzakis. "Greek Zorba"
Nowhere is it more delicious for me to drink freshly caught, grilled red mullet with local white wine than in a family tavern, the owner of which goes to the sea to fish, and the hostess will cook and serve the guests, and she will also sing and play the most expensive guitar. Or go to the embankment in the morning, at about 10 o’clock, order a double Greek medium coffee for 2 euros, and watch its idle celebrations under its aroma. Greece has a special light. Only here it is so light and comfortable even on the rainy day. Therefore, without a shadow of a doubt, I readily packed my suitcase when Ambotis Tours Air Services offered me to get acquainted with the "autumn" Greece.
How often do I see a dream
Autumn is associated with my favorite song. There is no "yellow leaf carpet" in September in Greece, but the familiar waltz tune already sounds. More than five hundred guests, including well-known artists and me, gathered at the bard song festival "Radio Chanson", at The Westin Resort Costa Navarino, Peloponnese, Ambotis and the organizer of "Radio Chanson". Concerts, breakfasts together, beach games, unobtrusive love affairs and guitar songs until the morning - all this reminded me of a pioneer camp, only in a five-star performance, in an adult way.
Alexander Rosenbaum himself, who never sings in front of a drinking public, strolled between the tables, made toasts and invited to a dance. On the open-air shops, under the talented improvisations of the poet and composer Alexander Shevchenko and the virtuoso violin of Alexander Feldman, the guests and organizers of the festival met the dawn ... For a week, the Peloponnese peninsula plunged into such a soulful atmosphere of "delightful" evenings that you can not often find in Russia.
And we go north
From Kalamata airport, local airlines delivered me to the northern capital of Greece - Thessaloniki. After wandering along the promenade, hoping to see the ex-wife of the diadochus Kassandra and the half-sister of Alexander the Great, and now the mermaid Thessalonica, who named the city, admiring the White Tower, which was once "Bloody", and now, rather sand-colored, I sat down on a sofa in a cafe on Aristotle's square, right under his monument. I had to decently wait until the place is free! Even during the day, at lunchtime on a weekday, people relax with a cup of coffee .... Until the evening. Tavern "Ruga"
Local wines should be written separately, exploring regions with famous wineries, where they are invited to tastings. The Halkidiki Peninsula is famous for its vintage varieties, distributing vineyards among its three "fingers": Sithonia, Kassandra and Mount Athos. The central part, of course, also did not go unnoticed.
Three fingers of Halkidiki
Our first wine treat took place in the city of Pella, where Alexander the Great was born. Wept in tears of tenderness, watching the folklore performance of such not-Greek light-skinned children, the obvious descendants of the great commander, and seeing the sights of the archaeological museum, we tasted the wines of local crops, eating a pomegranate and juicy apples. Then I safely went to spend the night at the nearby Cronwell Platamon Resort, which, as I understand it, is especially popular among Russian family tourists for our beloved all-inclusive system and a prepared animation team.
And the next day, again on the road, to the largest in Greece, over 400 hectares, the Porto Carrras vineyard in Sithonia, one of the "fingers" of the Halkidiki peninsula. Famous Greek grape varieties are cultivated here, and French ones are grown that feel great under the Greek sun. All this can be tried right there at the winery or purchased in a store at the hotel complex with the same name. The five-star Porto Carras Resort was created in the sixties by the Greek shipowner Yannis Karras, having bought the monastery’s ownership, but in the early 2000s the complex became the property of the Olympiaki Technics commercial group. The resort area is simply huge, it can be circled on a rental bike. There are casinos, shops, many restaurants, a golf course, a small port, a sailing and diving school.
And then immediately for dinner, in the tavern "Ruga"! Mistress Elizabeth treats herself with a moussaka of her own and a salad of wild arugula, generously strewn with pomegranate seeds. Accompanied by a feast, of course, local wine. By the way, with wines there is simply expanse: the choice is not bad, it is drunk easily and in large quantities, and the next morning there are no unpleasant consequences. That says, apparently, about the naturalness of the components of the product and the purity of the air.
The summit of Olympus
On the road to Kassandra, another “finger” of Halkidiki, visiting the open-air museum Dion, we stopped in a very cozy, like a Swiss, village of Litochoro. From here, even in winter, athletes set off to conquer the snowy peaks of Olympus, therefore, unlike beach towns, the place does not "die out". Maybe, thanks to these active tourists, the cuisine and restaurant service are at the highest level here. Such delicious saganaki - baked cheese with sesame seeds, poured with pomegranate sauce - I ate only here, in a restaurant with the non-culinary name Erato. All other dishes were also without the slightest flaw, well, there’s simply nothing to complain about!
Having licked out, you can say, all the plates, I went to the next goal, for dinner at the Sani Resort. That's where I would definitely like to return! Surely in spring or early fall, when there are already or not so many guests (and I’m sure that you won’t find places here in the season), the sun is soft and you can enjoy horseback riding around the reserve where the resort is located, play golf or drink coffee on the picturesque promenade with boutiques and sailing yachts. Of course, I didn’t try to get into the third “finger”, Athos Peninsula. There, men need a separate entry permit, to say nothing of women! Instead, I went to the central part of the Halkidiki peninsula, where in the village of Chanioti I acquired excellent wines produced by the Athos monasteries.
Immediately, she stopped for the night at the Elinotel Apolamare 5 * boutique hotel. By the way, the wines I bought there were not useful to me, according to the all-inclusive system we already knew, free drinks from the hotel bar were brought to me even to the beach, whence I enjoyed watching how a cute animator entertained the kids with games.
What is the strength in, brother
They say on TV that the crisis: they are on strike in Athens, the whole world is shouting that the Greeks have nothing to live on and everything is going awry ... But, as Professor Preobrazhensky said, "don’t read the Soviet newspapers before lunch." Greece is a country where nature and man harmoniously coexist. Here, as before, there is everything you need for a full life, because we, in essence, need a little.
“The day was magnificent, the autumn sun was gently warming. We sat in the garden in front of the house, in the shade of an olive tree strewn with fruits. Through the silvery foliage, in the distance the sea sparkled, calm, as if frozen. The light clouds floating over us, then opened, then obscured the sun; it looks like the earth was breathing. "
