WHAT GOOD FELLOWS THESE GREEKS!!!
Greece, Chalkidiki, Sithonia, Porto Karras, Sithonia Thalasso&SPA Hotel 5* from 14.06 to 28.06. 2009
Why Greece? Due to the fact that a two-year-old baby was traveling with us, we needed a country
civilized, with a close flight, if possible inexpensive and located at a latitude of about Sochi-Anapa, so that there would be no long acclimatization. Having studied the map
it became clear that there are few suitable countries. In terms of latitude, these are Italy, France (a little expensive), Bulgaria, Montenegro (something reluctant), Croatia, Greece and Spain. Croatia has disappeared due to the lack of normal beaches, and we will go to Spain next time. Mother Russia only fit the definition of a short flight. Having learned the prices for the sanatoriums of Anapa and Sochi, we decided in horror that let someone else rest there.
It began for us with a visit to the tourist exhibition on Krasnaya Presnya. And the very first pavilion at the entrance turned out to be the pavilion of the hotel, which had previously been looked after on the Internet (see above).
We asked around, looked, but the hotel representatives refused to book rooms, sending us to a number of pavilions of Tour Operators. There were also Vilar with Ambotis and Mouzenidis with Zeus, but somehow things didn’t go further than selling postcards, everyone said come to the office and we’ll figure it out. The only conversation started with representatives of the travel company RENA. This is a tour operator that works only in northern Greece, but as it says it does it with brilliance. I am also a supporter of narrow specialists in all areas. Let it work better in Northern Greece, we decided, than in 20 countries and 1500 hotels, if we are going to Northern Greece. We spoke with the director of the company and not with Vasya Pupkin, who distributes brochures. So and so, 2 families, named the dates, immediately received the price of the tour and a 20% discount if we choose them all the same. The price suited us absolutely, we expected more.
Just pay an advance, the rest a week before the trip.
It is worth noting that at that moment no one knew the prices. Everyone was waiting for how the crisis would affect demand. Nobody wanted to be cheap. looking ahead, let's say that we really underpaid 30-35 percent, compared to what we would have started to twitch a month before the trip.
Then a pleasant woman came up, introduced herself as the director of the company OLGA TOURS, the host of Rena. Oh, how she painted us, how we will be received))))) Well, it's impossible not to believe. We decided okay let's check)
Arrived a couple of days later at the office. The office was hard to find. Did not impress. Several rooms on Presnya. Everything is simple. Well, we think okay, this is not a tour shop, but a Tour Operator. So what? The price is different. As the pleasant girl Natasha said, this particular hotel is very willingly bought up after the exhibition and there were no doubts about the sale of the room stock. We—how can we be a director…. Oh director?? ? Well director on the carpet.
very pleasant person. I did not refuse and the price remained old (as in words) and the discount remained 20% as promised. All the time, as the spell was repeated for what you paid, then you will get no more no less (literally) It was a little annoying), given that we paid much less than we should have. A week later they brought all the documents for visas, an advance payment. They began to wait. soon they called and said visas are ready, if you want to take everything, or wait for a ticket 5-6 days before departure. For 6 days they call, come take everything. Everything is clear on time, everything with a smile, without queues. Well, well done, let's see who this OLGA TOURS is)).
Domodedovo, Vim-Avia.
Reception: We arrived 3 hours in advance to beg in the front rows for a better seat. A child in her arms, even if 3 and a half hours, is still not sugar. Please. The girl at the registration to us. And why are you twitching, the company has already reserved specific places for you. Precisely because you are with a child.
Excellent, but the parents who flew with us next to the place was not found. But we flew perfectly, the Child was sitting on a separate seat with us, although the plane was completely full. I slept all the way)) I don’t know to whom thanks)) Thank you Rena, Thank you Wim Avia. We took off on schedule, feeding was so-so, we landed softly.
Thessaloniki: Struck by an empty airport. It was 9 am. Looking for meeters. Nope, they've taken everyone, we're the only ones standing around. I see the tables of tour operators, I go up and ask Olga Tours, they haven’t seen))) And then the girl with the sign comes up at last. Let's get on the bus. The bus at the exit, the name of the company is written in meter letters (where did we look? ) Surprise. You need to wait for the next flight to land (1 hour approximately). Well, the weather is fine, the mood too. We waited. A total of 15 people in a huge Merce set off.
An hour and a half on a good road and we are there.
I won’t write much about the hotel, I wrote a full review of the hotel in the hotel reviews. In a nutshell. It's certainly a huge area. Everything is neat, clean. Magnificent air. A sort of infernal mixture of smells of pine needles, the sea and freshly cut grass (in front of the golf course hotel). The beach is blue flag and that says it all. There are plenty of sunbeds, the beach is huge, the sand is clean, if you don’t look for cigarette butts on purpose, then they aren’t there, and it’s quite possible to dig up, and not one. Sea song. Clean, sweet, cool. There is life, but not much. Rooms are average but clean. The food is good, solid, there are always several types of meat, delicious juices, standard vegetables, salads, fruits: watermelons, plums, kiwi delicious, the rest are peaches, nectarines, etc. etc. Everything, as we have on the collapse. Delicious fruits can be bought at local stalls along the roads or in a nearby town. Just keep in mind there is one shop in the town, it is open after 6 pm, and the market is open only on Thursday. The pastries are really delicious.
Cakes, pastries - you will lick your fingers. Sometimes something delicious comes across, but rarely. It is impossible to die of hunger, everything is sound, tasty, but somehow without frills. I also saw people who grimace and say there is nothing. I don’t know whether to feel sorry for such people or envy them. The staff is excellent. Well done to everyone: from the maid to the director of the restaurant. Almost everyone understands Russian, which is not surprising. Half of the guests are from Russia. Mostly adult families or families with children. Cultural contingent. There are few young people. There is little animation. Basically something is done for children. Adults animate yourself. If the hotel had 4 stars, I would write - It's super. Excellent four, but there are 5 of them and this is a little untrue. But we drove like a foursome, we had no illusions. A ton of information was rummaged through, the wheat was separated from the chaff, and that's exactly what we were waiting for, and then we saw. There is a desire to return, although we do not like to rest in the same places.
It's nice to discover something new.
There are a number of tables of the main tour operators in the lobby of the hotel. Vilar, Mouzenidis, Olga, Ambotis. There is always someone during the day. Olga has two girls Maya and Julia. We contacted them often, answered and helped always without fail and with a smile. But judging by what we observed, the rest worked just as well and were just as accommodating. It seemed that one team in different jerseys was just working there.
Suggested tours. No pressure. Everyone told. They didn't even ask about fur coats. By the way, I completely forgot. Among other things, the director of Rena promised a free tour to choose from or a spa treatment. He promised to issue a certificate, but then he just promised in words. We naturally thought, well, it's unlikely now. But no, the girls called back to the Greek office and we had an excursion for four to Meteora in our pocket. We also took a boat trip to Mount Athos and the monasteries of Athos.
And also booked a car for the second week.
Excursion to Meteora:
Check out early, before breakfast. There are 10 people from our hotel. All with a bunch of food packages from the hotel. then we remember that we were told to go order breakfast to go tomorrow. They spoke, but did not remind, did not follow. We damage. Half an hour drive, transfer to a big bus. After a couple of hours drive, breakfast in a tavern. A crowd of hungry tourists line up in a long line of something reminiscent of the canteen of the 80s. The price tags are all collected and thrown into the corner on the manager's desk. The bus will leave them and hang them in their places, otherwise, God forbid, the Greeks will drop in or just independent tourists. Prices are called crazy by Greek standards. It's a shame they take you for fools. They didn't eat out of principle. Yes, and not hungry yet. This despite the fact that the bus passed hundreds of wonderful taverns, where for this money you could eat octopus with shrimp and drink fine wine. Well figs with him.
This is the standard unfortunately for everyone now. Both in Russia and abroad. Another 2 hours drive and the first stop. Byzantine icon painting workshop.
At the workshop, a couple of buses drive everyone inside, along the way offering an accelerated tasting of Ouzo (vodka) and wine for free. Well, we know what this tasting is for. Then a lecture on the traditions of the Byzantine style and so on and so forth. Tales about how certain icons can heal, and so on and so forth. With you, the master is sitting carving a frame for the icon with a chisel. Before entering, everyone is given tickets. you leave half at the checkout if you bought something, for the second half a small lottery with penny garbage on the bus. Tickets are most likely needed to know how much money was left from which bus. Spirituality in those icons is no more and no less than those that will be bought in the same Marmaras five times cheaper.
Gave a lot of advice on Greece, a lot came in handy. I'm sorry I didn't remember the name. I would like to express my personal gratitude. The trip back was almost the same. We listened to the guide all the way, which surprised us. Usually on the way back they are laconic. They also brought us to some shabby canteen with terrible-looking food and unthinkable prices. 3 buses were serviced at the same time. Workers at lightning speed threw all sorts of food into plastic plates and threw them back into the crowd. Two terrible black cutlets with a spoon of some crap and a couple of lettuce leaves with a bottle of water cost, for example, 20 euros. I took kefir at exorbitant prices with factory cookies. I immediately remembered our hotel))) And I remembered those who said)) Here again there is nothing to eat. Make them eat these cutlets))). Initially, we planned to go to Meteora in a rented car, but having received this excursion for free, we changed our minds.
Although, of course: we would visit all the monasteries and not just 2, we would eat incomparably better and cheaper, We would not almost run from hall to hall from room to room. The time allotted for visiting the workshop of icons is comparable to the time for visiting both monasteries. One minus would be without a guide. But there are wonderful guides to the monasteries that cost 3-7 euros.
Second excursion: Boat trip to the mountain and the Monasteries of Athos.
Half an hour drive, loading on a ship, going to sea. Very strong wind. Take something warm, especially for children. Morning breeze. The ship is large, cool, stylized as a pirate. There will be an opportunity to take bread or rolls from the shore with you. It's a lot of fun to feed the seagulls, which snatch food right out of outstretched hands or catch it in the air like dogs. Seagulls will accompany the ship back and forth.
The monasteries are beautiful, the story about them is interesting, only the ship, unfortunately, does not approach the shore closer than 400 meters because of the women on board. A woman who sets foot on the land of Athos will go to jail for a couple of years and pay a huge fine. No one wants to try.
The end point of the route is the town of Ouranoupoli. Small fishing village with a couple of streets. Colorful, but apart from how to eat there is nothing to do. There was entertainment on the way back. Dances, competitions, etc. The child pulled away. And we adults loved it too. In general, I liked it. 50 euros for this tour we were not sorry.
The next trip was already on a rented car. It was a Citroen C4. A day of rental cost 60 euros with no mileage limit and with a small deductible of 150 euros. Basically AUTOCASCO. Plus a child seat. And already after the registration of the filkin's diploma, I said that I want insurance in full. To which approximately the answer was such and will be so.
They took the money and promised that if something happened, they would sort it out. I think that the money went into the employee's pocket because nothing happened to the car. Usually I don't do that. I always demand papers, etc. , but here it’s just like a sucker. Greece relaxed. I don't know what would have happened if we had an accident. So it's best to document everything. The Greeks observe the rules, as we understood from the concepts, they seem to comply, but if it is necessary to break anyone, they will not torment the pangs of conscience. The fines are huge. The usual violation is from 300 to 800 euros. This doesn't bother anyone. We ran into one and a half thousand kilometers The police were seen only twice, and even then with a radar 1 time in total.
Such a jackal as we do not have. But no one will take a bribe. With all this, for example, no one will honk and swear if the car is driving, for example, along a serpentine of 30 kilometers per hour. The whole cavalcade will patiently overtake.
In Thessaloniki or other towns, you can easily stop, go to the store, and so on. even if one lane is free. Everyone will wait quietly. And no screaming etc. Everyone understands that parking is unrealistic. Thessaloniki: a colorful city. White houses, narrow streets. Well, just a film about a foreign country from the 70s. We went and walked not on tourist routes. The guide was a classmate who moved here for permanent residence 20 years ago. I liked it very much. I really liked non-touristic Greece. Greeks themselves. And what is remembered. They themselves can scold their country, government, taxes, customs as much as they like, but God forbid, some foreigner will allow himself this.
There are two different cities. One Thessaloniki when the shops are closed (In Greece, manufactured goods stores are open a couple of days a week and only a few hours a day) and very different when they are open. We saw both cities.
We stopped on a hillock above one of the lagoons in some rural area. And then I realized that I see the lagoon from one of the avenues in Greece. I remember. That's how I imagined Vourvourou. And here we are, with my wife and child, standing 100 meters from this miracle. Ecstasy. running down and bummer. The coast is polluted in the best traditions. it is disgusting to approach the water, it is unrealistic to enter the water. There is so much rubbish lying around. And it becomes clear why there is not a single person in this heavenly place, which caused surprise at first. We saw a couple more beautiful lagoons and beaches in Vourvourou, but they were on the territory of hotels. Very beautiful road around Sithonia. The farther the more beautiful. But the real culture shock and one of the most powerful impressions of Greece is, of course, the town of Sarti. It is located almost at the very tip of the peninsula. So neat, so clean. it's so beautiful and so comforting. There are no words.
Few tourists (far off the beaten path, excursions, etc. ), no large hotels. You can rent a room or an apartment in a house.
Low prices compared to the mainland. A separate topic is the local beach.
If in a nutshell ; then you can say that. If you have seen a couple of beaches more beautiful than in Sarti, then I envy you with black envy. It is something. The wide 50 meters beach is covered in a semicircle on both sides by the most beautiful mountains, and on the contrary, Mount Athos rises directly across the bay. Everything is as in the picture, it seems you can touch it with your hands. The picture is incredibly beautiful. A more romantic place is hard to imagine. My wife and I decided that if we get to Greece again. Let there be hotels and so on. but for a week we will rent a hut here and just go crazy.
We went to Neos Marmaras a couple of times. very nice town near the hotel. Comes alive after 8pm. All sorts of taverns, entertainment and shops. It's very nice to take a walk.
A few words about Greek cuisine.
In short, not impressed. The impression was that it was a hodgepodge of styles from Italian to Ottoman. There seems to be fish, but it is simply fried without raisins, the same thing as octopuses, squids. Just grilled and that's it. Kebabs are fried, but they are not as tasty as even on the Rostov-Baku highway. The famous Greek salad is just tomatoes, cucumbers and olives chopped into huge pieces and feta in a ton of olive oil. We would say: the hostess is lazy. And so in everything. Everything seems to be there, everything seems to be of high quality, but there is no zest. Even coffee, which is called Turkish all over the world, is called here Elliniko (Greek). And try to say coffee in Turkish in a cafe. It's good if you haven't been kicked out yet. By the way, the Greeks, to put it mildly, hate the Turks with a quiet hatred. God forbid you tell the Greek, but for example in Turkey ......at least a bad attitude is guaranteed.
Thus ended the fun part of our trip.
This is all good, but another epic has begun. Finding out relations with the insurance company, finding out how to extend visas, etc. , etc. Insurance was standard. Covered in 30.000 euros, but with a bunch of exceptions. If you wish, you can always pull some kind of fad by the ears. Either we pay, or we don’t pay for housing for her husband who remains in Greece, then we pay for the tickets, then we don’t pay back for everyone. Either we will pay for first aid only, which, according to the DOCTOR (this is the finish), was to open the abdominal cavity and establish a diagnosis, then we will pay for the operation. Basically, they got on my nerves. To requests instead of housing to pay for a return ticket, zero emotions. As a result, the doctors did their job, arguing that they would do it anyway. And who will pay, we will figure it out later, but now it is important to raise a person. All this time, we mercilessly exploited Yulia and Maya, as well as the hotel doctor Dionysus. God bless you.
My wife and child and I had to leave, leaving our parents alone. Upon arrival in Moscow, he was also a madhouse. They called from the insurance company, then they were interested in how things were going, then they threatened not to pay, then they said that we would make a decision, and so on. This is all against the background of constant inconsistencies with Greek doctors, the local representative office and the main branch of the company. Some will require a certificate. Hurt yourself, find a doctor on Saturday night. then the next day they will say, but this certificate was not needed, etc. , etc. A mess and a broken phone. Meanwhile, the mother-in-law was on the mend, but she needed a second operation, the logical conclusion of the first. then we realized that no one would pay us for this, because it was definitely not first aid, and so on. And yes, the limit is over. We decided to take them to Moscow. Another epic with tickets. We will pay, we will not pay, there is no. You will pay your husband no, and so on and so forth.
As a result, by some miracle, we agreed that the insurance company, as the accompanying person, would also pay for a ticket worth 16.200 rubles for the husband. And it seems like the company turned to face us. As a result, the mother-in-law flew safely to Moscow yesterday. From insurance silence, they only called and asked to notify that they had flown well, they say they are worried, after all, they are not flying with a doctor. Here we sit and think this is the calm before the storm and we will soon have to fend off the insurance company, or they have paid everything and we owe them nothing but thanks. if the second option, then thank you very much to the insurance company GUTA-insurance. Still, you did not abandon us and somehow helped organize hospitalization, treatment and flight. And how much money was saved is not to say. There were overlays, but it would have been much worse, if not without insurance at all. By the way, in the future we will take an extended version.
All the way from the Airport, the mother-in-law repeated a spell like a spell. Still, what good fellows these Greeks are.
Special thanks to Olge Tours for the way they organized the flight. Both to and from the airport. Past all the queues, past all the customs officers. They handed over their luggage. Passed at the Airport from hand to hand until they were put directly into a chair. I don’t know what magic words they know there, but they did their work in such a way that there are simply no words. Rarely do you come across something like this. By the way, I remembered how we flew with my wife and child.
A girl from Olga, we saw her for the first time. She went with us, dragged us everywhere without a queue, arranging with customs officers, and with registration and tax free, etc. , etc. Led us to the drive literally by the handle. Because of the child, of course. The other 10 people who came with us flew away in the general order. But this does not detract from the merits of such work. Thank you stranger too.
I recalled the Greek customs officer upon arrival in Thessaloniki, who got out of his booth and organized the passage of the first passengers with children, on whom the rest of the crowd of our tourists rushed. Like where are we standing. etc. Very ours. Shame. I am not writing because they themselves were with the child, although the child immediately began to scream and ah and drink, and the water ran out. Well, how to explain to a child that the evil uncles, who one hell will not leave anywhere before everyone gets together, must definitely go ahead of you. Out of principle. There are no words. The same thing happened upon arrival in Moscow. only there was no Greek customs officer who did not let anyone through until all the children had passed. And our muzzles were like bricks, looking for something in passports for half an hour, and gathering people from 3-4 flights in a small room. Someone was rocking, but it became clear immediately where we flew. We didn't even try.
Summary. Greece is a must visit.
This is what the doctor ordered for relaxation. We were lucky. It just so happened that they communicated only with good, benevolent people. (except for the Airport of course) Beautiful country, great people. What else is needed. Someday we will definitely return. Thanks again to RENA travel agency, OLGA TOURS, Maya, Julia, Dionis, Olya (special thanks to the Russian surgeon in Poligiro), GUTA insurance company, Sithonia hotel staff, VIM AVIA airlines.
I want to finish with the words of my mother-in-law:
WHAT GOOD FELLOWS THESE GREEKS!! !
