Ситония – заповедный уголок Греции Sithonia - a reserved corner of Greece

A story with a photo about the Toroneos 2* hotel in the village of Nikiti can be read here: http:// www.turpravda.ua/gr/sitonija/blog-224767.html

Greece is my late, mature love.

Nikiti surroundings

It used to seem that there is no better place on earth than Crimea, but once I got to Greece, I realized that it was love at first sight and forever. Even on cold winter evenings, looking through photos from Greece somehow warms your soul. Nowhere is there such a blue-blue sea and such a blue-blue sky!

This time I really wanted to see Sithonia. So much read about her, so many photos were reviewed! But not a single review, not a single photo found on the net, gave me the opportunity to imagine this place in reality. Usually I'm good at it. Nothing is impossible for a man of imagination. But not now.

Sithonia turned out to be much more beautiful and better than in all the photos I have seen, it exceeded all my expectations: beautiful, green and smelling amazing! The end of May is good because everything that can bloom and it is impossible to convey in words this mixture of smells of the sea, pines

These are the pines growing everywhere

and flowering plantings! Even when I opened the doors of my room, the first thing that struck me was the smell!

At first I thought, how do they wash the rooms? But the whole village of Nikiti smelled like that, where we spent wonderful 12 days of our vacation.

The village is located at the very beginning of Sithonia, which is a nature reserve in itself: there are no enterprises there.

This is Sithonia

Local Greeks, mostly from Thessaloniki, have villas there. And many of the villas, with their luxury, clearly contradict the Greek crisis. The Bulgarians from the Sofia region fell in love with this place very much, they have to go some 70 km to the border. And now we love this place. We chose Nikiti not by chance, we wanted to visit Meteora and Edessa, and Mouzenidis Travel helped us with this.

The village itself is divided into old and new Nikiti.

The main road runs between them, which is also the main shopping street. The old village is located on a mountain,

and the bottom one is all apartments for rent for vacationers.

Luxury Apartments

They built up the entire village, which is within walking distance to the sea. Apartments for every taste and budget, built in various styles: from classic Macedonian

Vacation Apartments

pre-hi-tech.

High-tech apartments

But all the buildings have one thing in common - this is garden and landscape design.

Vacation Apartments

Perhaps only Greeks can put an old wooden wheel on a mowed lawn so that it looks stylish and elegant.

Landscape Design

The ability to decorate is in their blood. Walking along the embankment along the row of cafes and taverns, you never cease to be amazed at how you can create a unique and unlike anything interior design from simple improvised means

Waterfront cafe design

. You will never mix up these cafes,

Promenade Cafe Design

although they are closely adjacent to each other,

Café on the waterfront

Each of them is unique.

Café on the waterfront

And, of course, flowers!

Cafe Design

Flowers are everywhere! All in colors!

Promenade Cafe Design

Even wild ones are designed in such a way that they fit perfectly among cultivated ones.

Wild Flowers

And the Greeks are a very believing nation, and their church is not separated from the state. In order to demonstrate to everyone the fullness of their faith, they put up such "doll" chapels in every yard as houses for Barbie.

Home chapels

It's very beautiful, among other things.

Home chapels

The village has a beautiful long promenade with shops and taverns on one side and beaches on the other.

Embankment of the village of Nikiti

There is also a marina for yachts. And, I must say, the yachts there are not small.

Marina in Nikiti

There are a lot of Germans and Dutch in the village. They are friendly and smiling. Always ready to ask where you are from and have a short chat.

The very atmosphere of the village is conducive to communication, it is so friendly and calm!

Nikiti is big and fairly long. It has 4 chain supermarkets. Of course, our first excursion was there. From Toroneos Hotel

Swimming pool at Toroneos Hotel

It takes about an hour to walk to the nearest supermarket. Prices for groceries in supermarkets are already in Kiev, but the level of wages varies greatly. Of course, we bought all sorts of olives for ourselves and for gifts to loved ones, Greek coffee and cosmetics based on olive oil. I won't even comment on cosmetics. All over the world, olive oil-based cosmetics belong to the highest price category, and there is no other in Greece. And there it is quite affordable. I wanted to buy something that is authentic, which we do not sell. But, each time something like this becomes less and less. Trade relations between countries are clearly expanding, and with them the range of products. But what we definitely don’t have is fresh orange juice in liter and 1.5 liter bottles.

And in Greece, it is sold in the dairy products department, on refrigerator shelves. A liter bottle costs 2.16 euros, and a one and a half liter bottle costs 3.11 euros. The quality is excellent: not sweetened and not pasteurized, with a very short shelf life.

Here we drank it every day with pleasure, after all, we came to improve our health!

Strawberries have already ripened, the price is 2.50 euros per kilogram, however, like cherries. You can't be in Greece and not eat Greek yogurt! Despite the fact that the hotel had it for breakfast every day, we also bought ourselves some more for lunch at the supermarket.

But they bought Italian wine: they were tempted by the promotional price of 1.78 euros per bottle.

The wine turned out to be very full-bodied, tart, similar to our Cabernet, and paired with their brie cheese, it went with a bang.

Greek goodies

They didn't take it home, they used it on the spot. The next bottle was already Greek, but I liked it a little less.

Another valuable purchase was a large double-sided beach towel made of Greek cotton. Not from a souvenir, but a real one, size 80 by 160 cm, for a promotion for as much as 8 euros. So it is useful to visit supermarkets. One of them even had a promotional sale of bags from Naomi Campbell - minus 60%. Bags are very beautiful design. On the official poster, Naomi herself is pictured with one of her handbags. But, to be honest, I'm not flattered by them anymore, because. I bring a bag with me from every trip. How many do you need! There is also a leather and fur shop on the main shopping street of Nikiti (how could it be without it! ).

Either because the season has not yet begun, or the weather that day was rainy and all the buyers were sitting at home, and we were just walking

Here is such a giant mulberry growing in Greece

shopping in splendid isolation, but leather jackets that day were from 50 to 100 euros, of all kinds of colors and styles, and there’s nothing to say about leather dressing: it’s excellent. So, without planning such purchases at all, we also bought a jacket. This once again confirms my opinion that even if you have no money and you do not plan to buy anything, then you need to go to the shops. At least to conduct market research. And in such unplanned visits, sometimes something is unexpectedly added to the wardrobe.

We had a package tour from Mouzenidis Travel. And I must say that we have not yet seen the best tourist service. Starting from the Ellinair aircraft with the Mouzenidis logo, with comfortable seating distances.

On board for 2 hours of the flight, we were first offered caramels on takeoff, 15 minutes after takeoff they served juices, water and wine of 2 types, and after another 15 minutes lunch, tea and coffee (a separate children's menu for children). And again caramels on landing. Before people had time to eat, they had already landed! And ending with buses

Mouzenidis Car Park

and minibuses (Mouzenidis has a great fleet! )

Mouzenidis Car Park

with leather seats

Leather seats in Mouzenidis minibuses

and again decent distances between them. All the drivers on the buses speak Russian, so a guide is not needed. The entry welcomes you to Greece, talks about the number of services they provide, including tours for buying property and organizing weddings, wish you a pleasant stay, take you to the hotel reception and make an appointment with the guide.

Even at the stage of preparation for the trip, we decided for ourselves which excursions we want to visit. We did not rent a car, because travel very far, and why be stressed behind the wheel when you can be relaxed on the bus. They tried to look for a local travel agency in the village, but did not find it. They have a season since June 1, and no one is working on the 20th of May. So we took excursions from Mouzenidis. The first to the rock monasteries - Meteora, the second to Aridea and Edessa.

By the way, here is the price tag for the 2017 tour from Mouzenidis.

Read the continuation of the story "Sithonia - a reserved corner of Greece" in the 2nd part. http://www.turpravda.ua/gr/sitonija/blog-225477.html