‘There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.’ (Homer)
I don’t think I have ever seen the sea that colour before. We woke up to sunshine after a day of travel to Halkidiki and our arrival the previous evening was in the inky dark of night. After some late breakfast we wandered out to find a local supermarket to get snacks for the room, deciding to take a short detour to see the beach. The sea was so many different shades of blue up to the horizon: from a light sparkling topaz at the shore, to bright turquoise in the middle and then deep navy in the far distance. I immediately took off my sandals and waded into the warm water. A new sea to paddle in and for a week, a new place to discover.
According to the Greeka website “In mythology, Halkidiki was the place where a huge battle took place, opposing Zeus and the other Olympian Gods to the Giants, children of Gaea (Mother Earth) and Uranus. Enceladus, the leader of the Giants, was buried alive in Cassandra. Since he sometimes tries to get free from his tomb, he is the source of earthquakes in the whole region. The prong of Cassandra took its name from Cassandros, the king of Macedonia. Sithonia was named after Sithonia, the son of the god of the sea, Poseidon, and Mount Athos owes its name to the giant Athos, who threw an enormous rock at Zeus but missed him.” With stories such as this, who wouldn’t be seduced?
Unlike my usual precision tours and packed itinerary, I hadn’t planned to do that much when I got here. Reading through the brochure we got on arrival; it emphasized the relaxed vibes, and you can’t really rush about here. Although this is partly for practical reasons too. In this area of Greece there are less public transport options available and to explore into other parts would either required a car or chartering a boat. This did put the kibosh on our hoped-for trip to Thessaloniki, a city I would like to explore at another date as the guides I read spoke of a place buzzing with art, history, gastronomy and culture. What this did mean though was a very gentle yet enforced relaxation and a stay in the immediate vicinity, which lifted the pressure I sometimes feel to do and visit all the things while I am away. This was a return to slow living and after seven days, I was a convert.
As the old legend suggests, Halkidiki consists of three peninsulas or as locals call them ‘legs’ jutting out into the sea, which gives the place a distinctly island feel. We were on Cassandra, the area that’s most populated with tourist resorts, the others are Sithonía that we visited by boat one day and Athos, which is where the famous clifftop monastery is but not open to tourists. Depending on how you feel about crowds, we timed our visit to perfection, as late September heralds the end of the season. The size of some of beach bars we visited demonstrated how busy this place must become in the height of summer, but my inner introvert was secretly delighted to have the place to myself. The busiest place we visited was the sleepy village of Afitos which was mostly restaurants with spectacular views out to sea and a few shops dotted around selling souvenirs. Even then, here were still plenty of tables for lunch available, with the famous Greek cats mooching between your legs, keeping an eye out for a discarded prawn.
Greece is a land of bountiful produce and portions, and we ate some hearty plates that we soon learned were best shared as a few main dishes. Although everyone here takes time over their food, it’s eaten at a very leisurely pace. Salads piled high with dressed leaves, interspersed with giant chunks of salty feta and tomatoes, bread drizzled with fruity olive oil and dusted with oregano (a must have herb in these parts). Smokey chargrilled aubergines, fried courgettes and plates of prawns and squid, gyros stuffed with fries and slathered in tzatziki, and of course plenty of local wine and cold beer to wash it down with. This is perfect summer eating, and the level of cooking was excellent in all the places we ate, which can sometimes be the thing that suffers when you are staying in more touristy places.
On the Saturday, we had our one excursion that we’d planned in advance. A sailing trip to Sithonia, and some sea swimming around the coves of Turtle Island, which sits between the two peninsulas. The weather was perfect, warm and slightly breezy as we stepped onto our boat that would be our home for the day. With Greek pop tunes pumping out of the speakers and some potent, sweet Cuba Libres in hand, we were given a brilliant tour of some of the sights of the area with plenty time given over to swimming and, as is the Greek way, relaxing. The boat dropped us off for a couple of hours in Sithonia for lunch and exploring although we headed straight to a quiet bar with some shaded loungers. This also allowed me to trial my new gadget too, an underwater camera case that I bought for the trip and was really pleased with the results, although it took a bit of perfecting to get the angles right. Later the boat dropped anchor around a couple of bays, the steps lowered, and we plunged ourselves into the Aegean which was so clear and warm it was less like the sea and more like an indoor pool. There’s something so calming about open water swimming and you could see the rocks on the seabed. The water was so clear. It’s moments like this you wish you could bottle to last forever. We returned to the shore, our hair and skin slightly stiff with salt.
Greece was a sweet, jasmine scented delight and was the perfect anecdote to what felt like a particularly glum September back home. A seven-day journey into slow living wading into the deep and sparkling blue of natural beauty. The best kind of blissed-out odyssey.
More information on Halkidiki can be found here and on the juiciest Greek myths here.
the adventurous ethnographer 
As usual your descriptions of Greece are magical as it seems was the whole trip…!
I recall talking about Philip ( The Aldi manager) who said to me once chores are complete I have fun time he saod this whilst strapping his canoe to his roofrack I was green with envy much the same feelings welled up when you described how relaxed Greece felt The answer lies within I now understand ….
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