Halkidiki

Halkidiki – or Chalkidiki – was a huge charterdestination when I started to work at the travel agency many years ago. We waited a guest flying in to Thessaloniki, so Halkidiki was a perfect place to explore both before and while we had the guest onboard.

Halkidiki has three “fingers”, så I will call them the left – mid and right finger, it is the easiest way to explain where we are at the moment.

We sailed from northwest side of Skiathos and up to the left finger of Halkidiki.

Agios Nikolaos Bay – on the left finger

Agios Nikolaos bay was a quiet and nice place to have our first stop on Halkidiki. There were only one boat together with us. It was first hard to find a sand spot, but after trying a couple of times we manage to dig in.

The next morning we woke up early and went ashore to have a walk around the peninsula. Here is our boat from the hill.

Further up the hill and we could see both boats.

It was not marked or anything, we just checked google maps and followed the gravel road around.

It was nice to walk around.

There were a lot of roads to choose from, but we didn`t take the longest one. It is too hot to walk too long.

We came back to the sea and followed the road to the small church – The Orthodox Church of St. Nicholaos.

Along the beach we could see some glamping and normal camping.

The church was build at the end of a small peninsula and it was a nice place to sit down and enjoy the view!

This is a very small place, so you will not find any supermarket here. It is a kind of a beach, but it was not nice, a lot of stones, and also a lot of garbage. It seems like it was a popular place to camp.

Nikiti – on the mid finger

From Agios Nicholaos we sailed over to the mid finger. We knew that our friends from Relax and Wahoo was there so we sailed to the town Nikiti to join them.

They asked if we wanted to join them for dinner that evening, so we went ashore to find a pita gyros.

The next day was Astor`s birthday and our friends came over singing happy birthday. That was fun 🙂

Happy birthday!

In the evening we went ashore to have dinner together and celebrate Astor`s birthday.

Nikiti is a nice place and there were a lot of people in the evening.

You have all kinds of restaurants, and then you have the beach in front.

He got a bottle of wine from my mother so I had to take a photo and send it to her. He shared the bottle with me 🙂

All together; me, Houkje, Tuula, Pekka, Hank and Astor.

A beautiful sunset from the restaurant.

Azapiko Beach – mid finger

We sailed south on the same finger and had a nice day in a beautiful bay, but unfortunately I don`t have any photo from there. The next day the wind changed and we had to escape to another bay. We stayed there only for a night but had a sup ride to the beach in the morning. Very quiet that early.

But we made a short video from the place:

Possidi Cape – left finger

Possidi Cape is the perfect Instagram spot. It is hard to anchor there, but a really stunning place!

It was wind from one direction, stream from one direction, and swell from another direction, so it was the most uncomfortable place we have ever been to. We tried to sleep outside on deck, but I guess I slept only a couple of hours.

Only we were anchoring here this night.

It is a camping ground in the forrest, but it was still nice and quiet.

Looks like it is nice sand, but it is perfect to use bathing shoes here.

On the end of the peninsula it is popular to play with the waves ao a lot of people were there. But you need to watch out for the big ferries passing by, because the create huge waves and we all had to run (you can see people to the left in the photo). Some people were sunbathing here and I guess everything got wet… We had to run as well, because the big waves took our dinghy… but Astor manage to pick it up again.

An amazing sunset here.

It was almost dark before the last people went home from the beach.

Felizia in the sunset.

Isn`t it beautiful??

A video from this amazing beach!

Nea Kalikrateia – left finger

We sailed further north to find a place to stay for a couple of days until our guest arrived. We stopped in Nea Kalikrateia, where we found a spot in the fishing harbour. It was free to stay here and no facilities, only water from a tap on the wall. The harbour is on the end of the beach so it took us only a couple of minutes to go for a swim.

A long beach in front of the town. Here you could find everything you need, and it is less than one hour to drive to Thessaloniki.

A lot of sunbeds and umbrellas, and some restaurants.

It was not many guest boats in the harbour, and the harbour is in use for fishing for the local people, sitting here for hours in the evening/through the night. There were 3 fishingboats going out in the evening and coming back early in the morning. They made some noise, but it was okay, we stayed here for free!

There is a main street only for walking, and shops and restaurants.

I really believed I should have eat more salad on this journey. The main reason is that a good salad is perfect in warm weather. Of course we often have greek salad on a restaurant, but it is not often we make salad in the boat, like “only” salad.

It was some nice sunsets in the harbour.

Thessaloniki

Before our guest should come we had some erand to do in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is the second biggest city, after Athens, and offer all you can think of. The city also have a huge shoppingcenter, and that is perfect for warm days.

You could see outside that this is an expencive shoppingcenter.

We had lunch at Fridays. I love Fridays but we haven`t tried them since we visit Fridays in Athens to eat pancakes and the chef mixed sugar with salt… This dinner was very good, but too much, so I had lunch for the next day as well!

And after shopping we needed an icecream. Astor is economic so he decided to buy a package with 4 instead of two single one…

The next day we went back to Thessaloniki to pick up our laundry. It was not finished so we went to the beach close to the laundry to have lunch.

***

And finally our guest arrived at the airport! Miriam is our fosterdaugther, and if you been following us for a while you know she came with us for a month last summer when we started our journey. It was so lovely to see her again! She became 18 in october so now we could have a glas of wine together. She also got her Norwegian citienship so we had absolutely something to celebrate!

Miriam hasn`t been traveling that much so we were so happy that she could travel together with our Greek friends, Georgia and Alex from Oslo to Thessaloniki. They come from Thessaloniki but are now living in Florø with their two sons. The day after they arrived we had a nice dinner together at Tavern Moustakas, a bit outside Thessaloniki.

My friend Georgia and I. It looks like we don`t like each other, but it was a bit of covid in the air…

Nea Moudania – left finger

It was time to move, and we sailed south to nea Moudania. There were also a harbour for free, but it was hard to find a good spot. We found a place on the outermost quay.

A nice small town.

Sardine-festival!

We realized that something was going on, and I started to google. I found the Sardine-festival! I got in touch with a person who could tell me more about what was happening. This was on Friday evening and it should be consert and dancing later, and a marketplace.

Greek music and dance

And food

All the restaurants along the harbour was full.

A lot of nice things to taste.

Just like home, but in Greek.

A video from the festival:

If we waited in this town until Sunday, there would be free sardines and vine. But after voting, we decided to sail further south.

The worst thing living in the boat is how to keep fruit and vegetable fresh… I bought theese avocadoes some days ago and wanted to use them. But to late… Had just enough to make guacemole to our tacoes next day.

Look at the watertemperatur: 31 degrees!!

Possidi Cape – left finger

So we sailed back to Possidi Cape, where Astor and I stayed earlier. Now we anchored on the northern side of the peninsula and that was much better. It was so lovely to have a swim and play with the ball.

And in the sunset we had an apple cider.

After sunset Miriam and I decided to swim back to the boat. It was a lot of stream so it was hard…

Alina Beach – Porto Koufo – mid finger

After a good night of sleep we sailed further south and over to the mid finger where we anchored in the beautiful bay of Koufo.

First time I made fish soup in this boat! It was sooo good!

Nice sunsets in this bay.

We needed some stuff at the supermarket so we had a evening walk to Koufo. Nice little place, some hotels and restaurants. It is a small marina here, but we liked to anchor in the bay.

And we also got an even better sunset.

The view back to the bay where we anchor.

Small, nice bay with a small supermarket and some restaurants.

And a lot of boats.

The weather is warm and the seatemperatur is perfect, over 30 degrees…. So most of the days we are swimming, padling, snorkling and just relaxing. Just across the bay there is a lake, so we had to check if it was possible to walk around. We took a walk late in the evening.

Some old buildings. We were not sure what it has been…

Some old houses.

Nice gravel road along the farm.

First, the lake, and then the bay where we are anchoring.

It was nice to have a short walk in the evening.

It is always interesting what we can see under water (wait for the end):

Some Greek inspirated dinner made in the boat.

It was time to say goodbye to this lovely bay and sail to the other side.

Paralia Kalamitsi – mid finger

It was time to sail further on, and we sailed around the finger to the east side. We stopped in Kalamitsaki Bay, but that is a naturist bay so no photos. (we just stayed around the boat). We took the dinghy around the corner to Kalamitsi to do some shopping. .But it is small places with small supermarkets, so it is not always we find what we are looking for.

This is also a nice, quiet place with a lot of tourists. Many people is coming from Thessaloniki to Halkidiki to spend their weekends.

In Thessaloniki we found an Omnia-oven. You can use this oven directly on gas. And it is amazing. I made this bread and it was perfect!

Diaporos Island – mid finger – Diaporos Sud

When we started to look at Halkidiki I first saw Diaporos Island. Because if you see google photos you can see all the amazing beaches around the island. Our first stop was in the southern part of the island. Amazing bay with crystal clear water and a nice beach.

It looks nice to go ashore for a walk, but first we moved the boat to the other side of the bay, on the mainland, to go ut for dinner. It was a bit long for our dinghy…

Vourvourou – restaurant Gorgona or Pullman

We went to Gorgona or Pullman and the food was really good. And the view was perfect!

Astor had moussaka and I had some baked aubergine with alost the same meat as for the moussaka. It wa very good.

Diaporos island – Diaporos North

Back to the island and now we sailed to the northern side. It is no name on the map, so we called it Diaporos North. On NoForeignland you will see where we are at this point.

Astor and me (or was it only me?) wanted to go ashore to have a walk on the island. The road started from the beach.

A really nice forrest on the island. A lot of different trees and plants.

A little bit overgrown if you walked offroad, but it was a nice challenge.

This could have been in Norway….

It was nice with some shadow…

There is a lot of roads and trails on this island so you can choose where to go.

And many old pinetrees.

A huge pinetree.

Walking on the road to the other side of the island.

And here is the view down to the bay where we stayed a couple of days ago.

And here we are to the bay and can see Felizia anchoring there.

And of course, when we came back to the beach I was swimming back to the boat. That is a perfect ending on a hike!

A video from this hike:

We bought a package with cinnamon buns from Lidl (I thought they were just to heat up) and putted them in the omnia oven.

And it went very well! They were so good! (this is the bottom, it is more brown than the top.

And icing on the top… I am so glad that I still have one more package of theese, and we are going to Lidl this week!

After staying at anchor for some days we were empty of bread. Okay, I had to bake! It was perfect! I love my omnia oven!

Not normal sizes on the slices, but perfect in the boat 🙂

And warm homebaked bread with Norwegian brown cheese.. nmmm…

Not the perfect spot for a sunset, but nice colours anyway!

We sailed to town to fill up the watertanks and then we sailed to this privat island. Amazing place! We also got the “mayday mayday” message on our VHF, and it was a boat nearby which had some problem. We contacted the coastgard and sailed in the direction where the boat should be. When we came there, the woman was not responding to us, just sat there… a smaller boat with three guys came from the marina, so we were sure she got help. But we tried. And it was very windy so it was a bit exciting.

Look at this colour!

Agios Nicholaos – Restaurant Marathos Gastro Tavern

Miriams last day together with us was a bit cloudy so we decided to go to Thessaloniki to do some shopping. We needed to rent a car for at least two days, so we had the car anyway. On the way back we were talking about where to have our last dinner together. Astor suggested Agios Nicholaos, he had been reading about this village. I checked it out on google maps, and found Marathos Gastro Tavern with a lot of feedback. And what a nice village! We should absolutely have had more time here. But luckily we were hungry and found a table, because 30 minuts later it was full!

It was a square with many restaurants, so many people were together there this evening. The food on this taverna was amazing, one of the best ever in this year we have been travelling. And they opened in June this year!!

A little bit touristic thing, but a photographer went around and took photos of everyone. Because it was our last evening with Miriam it was perfect for us.

I guess it is the first time someone told Astor to do that and do that 🙂

Beautiful Miriam and I.

And all of us together. We paid 5 eur each photo. It is not every day…

A video from this awesome place:

Then it was time for Miriam to fly back to Norway, also this time together with our Greek friends. We will miss her so much, hope to see you soon!!

It was time for us to leave Halkidiki, so next time we will sail over to the right finger, and we saw some awesome monasteries. We sailed further on to Skiathos and the bay of Volos to pick up a secondhand dieselheater. Check us out next week!