Fortune with Mouzenidis Travel (big story)
At the beginning of May in Greece it is “off season”, the water is still cold, there are few tourists, so hotels are pouring discounts like from a cornucopia, which is a sin not to take advantage of, especially if the country has something to do besides wiping sunbeds on the beach /
We spent the first day at the Flegra Palace 4 * hotel, and then we took the car and hit the road. But first, a little about the hotel. Firstly, we were lucky: we bought a ticket from Mouzenides Travel according to the "fortune 3-4 *" system and won a stay at a 4 * hotel - Flegra Palace. Although this hotel is located on the second line and you have to get to the sea across the road, it is still very well located near a small town - Pefkohori, and therefore everything that vacationers need (shops, souvenir shops, taverns and clubs).
The hotel has just been renovated and is very stylishly decorated, and the staff is Russian-speaking.
The food is really close to European cuisine, but if there is a town nearby, this is not a problem, we periodically visited Pefkohori to dine on the embankments in taverns with Greek flavor. Secondly, we were lucky once again when we managed to rent a car with insurance, for relatively little money.
Alena, the representative of Mouzenidis Travel at the hotel, helped us with this. The car for 4 days cost us 30 euros per day. And thanks to the decision and the opportunity to rent, I was able to see much more in Halkidiki than usual. Halkidiki opened up for me from a completely new side, although I have visited this peninsula 4 times already.
On the first day we took the main road to the town of Arnea. A city that is highly recommended by many English-language guidebooks, a city with a peculiar architecture, located on the slopes of the Holoman Mountains, surrounded by a beautiful forest.
At the very beginning of the journey, we RANDOMLY turned the wrong way and instead of the main road we ended up on the forest road of the national park.
Before that, I thought that Halkidiki is exclusively a beach holiday. But no, there are many hotels in the park that welcome travelers, you can also stay with a tent (in specially designated places). Along the road and in the depths of the park there is a myriad of springs with clear spring water. We stopped several times to enjoy the pristine beauty of nature, oak groves and beautiful mountain slopes.
Expectations about Arnea did not let us down, the city is really very original and beautiful, tourists are mostly British, Germans and Spaniards, we did not meet Russians. Having dined in a beautiful tavern at the Alexsandrou Traditional Inn hotel, we moved on to the western coast of the Halkidiki peninsula - the city of Olympias.
The Olympics did not impress us, we bought water and retsina, sat on the seashore and returned to Arnea for the night. We spent the night in the same Alexsandrou Traditional Inn and met the morning with the striking of the clock of the local church.
The payment for the room included breakfast, and after breakfast we went to explore the city, and at the same time the local historical museum. After we returned to the hotel, we drove around the first finger of Halkidik Kassandra on the other hand, admired the beautiful sandy beaches and stopped at the village of Loutra, which is not far from Ageya Paraskevi. In Greece, there are a lot of places with the name of Litra and Litraki, which means that there are or were healing mineral springs in the vicinity.
So in Loutra there is a huge SPA center with a pool filled with healing mineral water with the highest sulfur content in the world. The smell in the area is specific, but for lovers of spa procedures, this is not a problem.
Since we didn’t have time to go to the hotel anyway, on the way we stopped at the EV ZIN Cha villa complex, in which, I knew from my previous travels, there is a wonderful tavern with a wine cellar - Platanos, where they cook delicious meat in a real tandoor.
With all the stops and snacks, and those who have been to Greece know that Greece has the most delicious food in the world, we got to the hotel only in the evening, just in time for dinner. Our guide Alena has already begun to worry, because we did not warn her about the departure (probably after that it was decided to give the Greek Vodafone SIM cards to visiting tourists).
The next day we went on a cruise "St. Athos", for all the times that I was in Greece, I never got to St. Athos. In general, I really like boat trips, so I got a double pleasure from the excursion.
The ship, stylized as antiquity, goes from Sithonia to the city of Ouranopoli, bordering with the monastic republic, along the banks of St. Athos, and guides in three languages tell the history of the Monastic Republic, and give brief historical information.
In Ouranoupoli, tourists have enough time to have a bite to eat, visit a local attraction - a tower, buy souvenirs and icons painted by the monks of St. Athos and just wander around the city. On the way back, tourists are taught to dance sirtaki. We were pretty burned, so we sat on the lower deck and drank frapé.
The next day we again went on a trip to Halkidiki, this time to the Petralona cave, in this cave the remains of an ancient European were found, but apart from the fossils, the cave itself is very beautiful, especially for those who have never been to caves with stalactites and stalagmites. After we visited the city of Thessaloniki by car.
Even for us Muscovites, Thessaloniki seemed like a big traffic jam, and even though I had already been to this city, I couldn’t get my bearings, so I recommend visiting the city with a guided tour, especially since Mouzenidis’ guides are just wonderful, very interesting and not boring.
On the last day we rode on my favorite second finger of Chalkidiki - Sithonia and just enjoyed the views and wonderful Greek cuisine. Where else besides Greece can you enjoy an octopus for only 9 euros a portion and drink retsina under the lulling rustle of the waves.
I love Greece and especially Halkidiki very much, and I will certainly return there again, especially since we have not seen much yet.
At the beginning of May in Greece it is “off season”, the water is still cold, there are few tourists, so hotels are pouring discounts like from a cornucopia, which is a sin not to take advantage of, especially if the country has something to do besides wiping sunbeds on the beach /
We spent the first day at the Flegra Palace 4 * hotel, and then we took the car and hit the road. But first, a little about the hotel. Firstly, we were lucky: we bought a ticket from Mouzenides Travel according to the "fortune 3-4 *" system and won a stay at a 4 * hotel - Flegra Palace. Although this hotel is located on the second line and you have to get to the sea across the road, it is still very well located near a small town - Pefkohori, and therefore everything that vacationers need (shops, souvenir shops, taverns and clubs).
The hotel has just been renovated and is very stylishly decorated, and the staff is Russian-speaking. The food is really close to European cuisine, but if there is a town nearby, this is not a problem, we periodically visited Pefkohori to dine on the embankments in taverns with Greek flavor. Secondly, we were lucky once again when we managed to rent a car with insurance, for relatively little money.
Alena, the representative of Mouzenidis Travel at the hotel, helped us with this.
The car for 4 days cost us 30 euros per day. And thanks to the decision and the opportunity to rent, I was able to see much more in Halkidiki than usual. Halkidiki opened up for me from a completely new side, although I have visited this peninsula 4 times already.
On the first day we took the main road to the town of Arnea. A city that is highly recommended by many English-language guidebooks, a city with a peculiar architecture, located on the slopes of the Holoman Mountains, surrounded by a beautiful forest. At the very beginning of the journey, we RANDOMLY turned the wrong way and instead of the main road we ended up on the forest road of the national park. Before that, I thought that Halkidiki is exclusively a beach holiday.
But no, there are many hotels in the park that welcome travelers, you can also stay with a tent (in specially designated places).
Along the road and in the depths of the park there is a myriad of springs with clear spring water. We stopped several times to enjoy the pristine beauty of nature, oak groves and beautiful mountain slopes.
Expectations about Arnea did not let us down, the city is really very original and beautiful, tourists are mostly British, Germans and Spaniards, we did not meet Russians. Having dined in a beautiful tavern at the Alexsandrou Traditional Inn hotel, we moved on to the western coast of the Halkidiki peninsula - the city of Olympias. The Olympics did not impress us, we bought water and retsina, sat on the seashore and returned to Arnea for the night.
We spent the night in the same Alexsandrou Traditional Inn and met the morning with the striking of the clock of the local church. The payment for the room included breakfast, and after breakfast we went to explore the city, and at the same time the local historical museum.
After we returned to the hotel, we drove around the first finger of Halkidik Kassandra on the other hand, admired the beautiful sandy beaches and stopped at the village of Loutra, which is not far from Ageya Paraskevi. In Greece, there are a lot of places with the name of Litra and Litraki, which means that there are or were healing mineral springs in the vicinity.
So in Loutra there is a huge SPA center with a pool filled with healing mineral water with the highest sulfur content in the world. The smell in the area is specific, but for lovers of spa procedures, this is not a problem. Since we didn’t have time to go to the hotel anyway, on the way we stopped at the EV ZIN villa complex in which, I knew from my previous travels, there is a wonderful tavern with a wine cellar - Platanos, where they cook delicious meat in a real tandoor.
With all the stops and snacks, and those who have been to Greece know that Greece has the most delicious food in the world, we got to the hotel only in the evening, just in time for dinner. Our guide Alena has already begun to worry, because we did not warn her about the departure (probably after that it was decided to give the Greek Vodafone SIM cards to visiting tourists).
The next day we went on a cruise "St. Athos", for all the times that I was in Greece, I never got to St. Athos. In general, I really like boat trips, so I got a double pleasure from the excursion. The ship, stylized as antiquity, goes from Sithonia to the city of Ouranopoli, bordering with the monastic republic, along the banks of St. Athos, and guides in three languages tell the history of the Monastic Republic, and give brief historical information.
In Ouranoupoli, tourists have enough time to have a bite to eat, visit a local attraction - a tower, buy souvenirs and icons painted by the monks of St. Athos and just wander around the city. On the way back, tourists are taught to dance sirtaki. We were pretty burned, so we sat on the lower deck and drank frapé.
The next day we again went on a trip to Halkidiki, this time to the Petralona cave, in this cave the remains of an ancient European were found, but apart from the fossils, the cave itself is very beautiful, especially for those who have never been to caves with stalactites and stalagmites. After we visited the city of Thessaloniki by car.
Even for us Muscovites, Thessaloniki seemed like a big traffic jam, and even though I had already been to this city, I couldn’t get my bearings, so I recommend visiting the city with a guided tour, especially since Mouzenidis’ guides are just wonderful, very interesting and not boring.
On the last day we rode on my favorite second finger of Chalkidiki - Sithonia and just enjoyed the views and wonderful Greek cuisine. Where else besides Greece can you enjoy an octopus for only 9 euros a portion and drink retsina under the lulling rustle of the waves.
I love Greece and especially Halkidiki very much, and I will certainly return there again, especially since we have not seen much yet.
