Travelogues

I will tell you about a different trip to Greece. Unlike the annual tour of Halkidiki in search of a slightly more secluded beach, a slightly calmer tavern and a slightly cheaper, but still affordable hotel. Because yes, Greece is mostly beaches, azure sea and great food, but it is also Greece of antiquity, Greece of Byzantium, dotted with decent-sized mountain ranges and isolated from civilization villages filled with stone towers, frozen somewhere in the middle of the 19th century.

After a lot of planning, I decide to spend our first night in Volos. It is located about halfway from Sofia to Athens, a large port city, with a good selection of hotels, you can see some of the landmarks in a few hours – especially churches, most of which are within walking distance from the center.

After a quick breakfast in the bakery opposite the hotel with the typical Greek pie (the local hybrid between croissant and pie, most often stuffed with yellow cheese or ham + yellow cheese) and double espresso (everywhere espresso in Greece is very good) we are ready to travel to the capital, without suspecting what a surprise the car is preparing for us.

The precise timing and the nervous rush to the exit are worth it. Now is the best time to take pictures – both of the Parthenon and Erechtheion, and the panorama of the city. From the lowlands below, chants, music, and the beating of drums can be heard, but we cannot tell whether it is a football match or protests against compulsory vaccination. They seem to be protests, a lot of military helicopters are flying over.

Of course, the working hours in typical Greek are until 15:30, and at the moment it is 14:45. We have exactly half an hour to see the fortress, because it is necessary to provide time for descent, so that at 15:30 the gates to slapped behind our backs. It’s a terrible heat, there is no shadow, the climb is almost straight up. Well, it was built with the idea of ​​being an impregnable fortress.

It is very clear to me that our trip can not pass without sunbathing. After all, we are in Greece in July. So I decide that the fifth day will be dedicated to touring small, romantic, not very popular beaches. Those that are usually included in the rankings of the “10 TOP beaches of the Peloponnese that you should not miss” are located mostly around Kalamata, in the Gulf of Messenia. But we are too far from there and will be satisfied with the local, still undiscovered, pearls.

The plateau is dotted with ruins, but I prefer to stick to the paths, because in the chapter on Monemvasia Rick Steves explicitly warns of the danger of falling into an ancient cistern or just weathered rocks on the periphery of the plateau, which can be quite unpleasant and fatal. consequences. The sun has already set very low and bathes the ruins of the Upper Town in a perfect light for photos.