знакомство с Грецией acquaintance with Greece

The hotel was offered by an agency, there was little choice, they chose a last-minute tour. There are almost no reviews for this hotel. We went together at the end of September. At this time it is already cold. As soon as the sun sets, you have to wear something with long sleeves. We had to sit in the room for two days because of the rain. Almost got pissed off about this. There is no entertainment in the hotel. The youth will be too bored. Even the promised free WiFi turned out to be cheaper than regular internet by only 1 euro. Price tags in the restaurant are appropriate. Since it was half board, drinks for dinner are all paid, even water. When they decided to take water with them to the restaurant, they didn’t tell us anything, they just removed the glasses from the table. The food is delicious, but especially the breakfast does not shine with variety (eggs every day or scrambled eggs, a small selection of vegetables, I liked pastries and bread, fish). Of the fruits, at first there were watermelons, then apples, oranges, nectarines. There is a very small shop at the hotel.
There is a bigger supermarket nearby in nearby Akratos. You can also get to the town of Ouranoupolis by bus, which runs rarely, and you can also walk for 30 minutes, but uphill, which is not tiring, because passing, you can admire the opening views, see a mouse fox in the thickets, squirrels or a turtle. The only annoyance is the snakes. On the territory of the hotel around the perimeter there are traps and poison is scattered from them. In the advertisement they read about a hotel bus to the city, but they never saw it, although there were always such buses from neighboring hotels. The hotel has 4 buildings: 2 renovated, smaller (they are located higher, and the view from them opens to the sea) and 2 larger (they are older). Our room was located on the second floor of the central building. The view from it was on the roof of the restaurant in the center and the pools. The layout of the central building is such that some rooms rest with windows against the wall or the doors of neighboring rooms.
We arrived just in time for the closing of the hotel, so after a week of rest, the people disappeared abruptly, there were about 20 people left. We wanted a relaxing holiday, but we didn’t expect it to be so calm. So we decided to have fun on our own. There were some unpleasant little things, but overall I liked everything. We arrived at the hotel around 12 noon. The number was promised only by 14, but it was ready in half an hour. At this time, no one was going to feed us. The hotel guide Vitaly brought us to the reception, and no longer bothered us with his "attention"), which surprised us a lot. Subsequently, in order to see him, it was necessary to call by phone, even to find out the time of departure yourself. The hotel belongs to the category "sleep, eat". We didn't need more. Having rented a Ford Focus, we decided to go traveling. The car cost 145 euros for 3 days. Gasoline costs an average of 1.65 euros, it turns out a little expensive.

We drove to Thessaloniki, then to Kalambaki, where the famous Meteora is located. Great spectacle, worth seeing. We got lost a lot on the roads, because the navigator was only in English, with our knowledge it would not help. The policemen were met 2 times, driving about 1800 km. Didn't see an accident. Along the way, there are sections where there are surveillance cameras, marked with signs. There are many inconsistencies on the map. The same goes for road signs. On the federal highway, they gave a detour of almost 50 km due to the fact that they drove the right turn, but there was no opportunity to turn around. There are many posts on barriers that charge tolls in the euro zone. In parallel, there is an excellent track, often marked as a primer. So many impressions left from these trips. We drove along the coast. Found so many secluded places with beautiful beaches.
The beaches are excellent, for different tastes: sandy, with white sand and with sand that looks like golden scales, rocky with large stones and small pebbles. The hotel also has a good beach. Sunset is convenient, sandy, there are a lot of small fish near the shore, which were fed bread directly from the hands. There are 4 swimming pools with sea water on the territory of the hotel, they swam 1 time, they don’t like splashing in the pool on vacation. The audience in the hotel is mostly German, there are Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians. At the reception, they explained with a minimum supply of English words, somehow agreed. There were few kids, apparently due to the fact that September.
In the town of Ouranoupolis, they bought food. Prices are almost the same everywhere. The city is a dead end, the free territory ends here, then there is Athos, the "monastic state", which is allowed into only after receiving a special permit, and only men.
Icons were bought in the town as a gift, there are many of them in special stores. They say that if an icon is painted in Greece, especially in a monastery, it is already considered consecrated.
Despite some unpleasant little things, I liked the rest, we hope to visit Greece again, once to see everything is not enough!