Greece - Olympic Riviera

Hi guys! Today I want to share with you my experiences pucharsed in Greece. I have a lot to write down so all relation will be posted in three parts. The first one is from land and then one from Santorini island and the last one from Milos island. Hope you will enjoy it.

It wasn't my first time in this beautiful country but deffinitely much bigger adventure than last time. First of all, I want to tell you that you shouldn't be worried with the political situation of the country. During all stay we didin't feel any risk form goverment and the only one sign that crisis really existed were abandoned building along motorway. If you go to any island it's really hard to notice any inconviniences connecded with politics. In my opinion, it is much safer to go to Greece than to countries on Middle East.

How to get there?

We were thinking for a long time what kind of transport to choose but, all in all, we decided to take our own car. Although we spend long hours on seats, I'm happy we went on a roadtrip. Thanks to this we could decide every day where to go and when to stop. We also visited that non-touristic parts of Greece. Deffinitely the best part of the roadtrip was stopping in local cafe in Trikala. Tired with the way to Meteora we simply decided to have a coffee somewhere. Firsty, I was a little bit mad at my dad because he had choosen small cafe in the corner, but to my big surprise, the owner turned out to be the coolest man in the

world. He was so friendly and easy-going. When he gave us his own CDs with traditional greek music I understood how important is to treat other people as your friends. If you once try they will treat you the same way back :) But from the beggining, we drove to Budapest and then with the motorway E75 (connects Budapest with Athens) almost to Thesaloniki, so we have drove through Serbia and Macedonia, then we decided to use country road along seaside, so that we could decide where to stay for night.

Where to sleep?

Along the Olympic Riviera there is no problem with finding free apartaments or rooms to rent. We decided to stay in Olympos Beach camping in Plaka because of the beautiful beach. You can make your own tent there, rent a place for camper or rent small 4-persons bungalow. Price per one bungalow per night is 35 euro. It's not much but if you want to save some money and don't need luxuries, that's a good option. In all camping there are pines planted and you can feel like you were sleeping somewhere in forest. What I would like to share is that we were so lucy to met big herd if dolphins there. Thanks to beautiful beach and Olymp massive view, it was unforgetable experience.

The second place where we slept was small hotel in Kala Nera near Volos. I feel so sorry that we didn't have time enough to drive around.

Where to eat?

Unluckily, I don't know much about any special restaurant due to BBQ every day but in Olymos Beach camping there is cozy restaurant just above the seashore or small bar next to the entry to the camping. In Kala Nera there is street along the seaside with restaurants, bars and cafes. If you are going to Meteora there is also small city Kalambaka full of restaurants.

Every information about "must eat" and other good things to try I will include in next post, when I'll be writing about restaurants worth recomendations.

What to do?

If you are not big fan of lying on a beach all day, don't worry.

- Fresh fruits and vegetables market on every Monday in Litochoro - It's really nice just to be there and talk to local sellers. The village is loated at the foot of Olymp Moutain and it makes even better impression.

- Olymp Moutain hike - You can not go to the highest top on yourself but there is a panorama point on one of the lower tops. I don't know how much does it cost to hire a tourguide but if you are really keen on hiking it is possible, you just need to ask when being in Litochoro.

- Meteora - Seven monasteries are located on the moutains which look almost like metheors. Even if you are not very religious the view is worth going there. If you like sightseeing you can also go inside monasteries and see how monks lived once without contact with other people. Nowadays, in some of them there are still moastics living in and that's why you can not visit all convents.

What want to add is that from Volos there are ferries to Sporades islands and also to Skopelos - the most green island of Greece where "Mamma Mia" was filmed.

From Kala Nera we moved to Athens to take a ferry to Santorini but all information will be included in next post. That's all from now.

Ps. All "interior" photos are from beautiful camping.