Pelion, Meteora, Delphi
Sep 22nd, 2008, 08:24 AM
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Pelion, Meteora, Delphi
Trip Report – Pelion Plus
First, thanks to all for planning help. This site and TripAdvisor were my two best sources.
Things to know:
• About 100 degrees F. every day.
• Dinners always around 10 p.m.
• Scarcity of ATMs.
• We only made advance hotel reservations for 1st, 2nd, and last nights.
• Theme of this trip was for DH and I to attempt to recapture our footloose, carefree, childfree days of yore.
• Scenery and views at every turn on Pelion are breathtaking (actually the turns are breathtaking even without the views.)
• This trip was not about fine cuisine or fancy hotels or even fancy beaches. It was about discovering a part of Greece that was new to both of us (have visited Athens, the Cyclades, Crete, and Peloponnese in previous trips).
Flight – Continental from Newark, NJ to Athens. Arrived early, no problems. Picked up car from Avis at airport. (Car was pretty dirty). Serviceable Volvo but in hindsight definitely regret not getting a 4WD.
Day 1. Lunch in Arahova at a wayside tavern. The potato omelet is no tortilla Espanola, but scrambled eggs with a handful of French fries thrown on top and baked into the crust. Arrived in Delphi, checked into Hermes Hotel. A/C. Lovely family-run operation. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...al_Greece.html. View of valley of olives and Bay of Corinth from room balcony. Heat and jet lag does not prevent us from exploring and climbing among the ruins all the way to the top to see the Stadium. Also visit museum, very worthwhile. Because late in afternoon avoided crowds. Pretty awful early dinner at non-descript restaurant.
Day 2. Rise very early. Decent breakfast in hotel, see more of Delphi without crowds. Out of town by 11 a.m.
Arrive in Meteora in time for late lunch in Kastraki, quiet and shady in village plateia (square). Check into Guesthouse Sotirou/Il Petrino. http://www.guesthouse-sotiriou.gr/en/index.asp. Fabulously and meticulously restored inn, room and bathroom are beautiful. A bit out of the way. Perfect view. A/C was a blessing, at least until the owner’s mother stole into our room while we were out and shut it off. Visited Roussanou monastery. Easy to reach and lovely. Good dinner at Paradise Restaurant in Kastraki, which, like all Greek tavernas, has huge-screen TV shouting the evening’s futbol match.
Day 3. Rise early again, adequate breakfast at hotel. Off to visit two more monasteries: Agia Triada and Agios Stefanos . Avoid crowds. Each one well worth it and very different in nature. St. Stefanos has a wonderful little museum with objets including original parchment correspondence from Byzantine Pope, gold embroidered work, antique manuscripts, clothing, etc. Remember to wear my skirt but combined with little red hiking shoes quite the fashion statement. DH greatly amused by the monk atop Agia Triada, with his long gray Orthodox beard, his long black cassock, and his sandals, operating a loud weedwacker and taking his goggles off to sneeze every 5 seconds.
Definitely like the smaller, quiter, more authentic village of Kastraki. Do not like Kalambaka: too commercial, crowded, unfriendly and urban.
Depart for Pelion. Unsuccessfully try to avoid driving through downtown Volos; begin harrowing jouney to eastern coast. Greeks drive like madmen on ostensibly 2-lane road that winds like a slinky and has the breadth of a sidewalk, with large chunks occasionally missing and no guardrails. Check into Diakoumis Hotel in Milopotamos: http://www.diakoumis.com/. Very basic lodging but with A/C and very friendly, helpful owner couple Room has balcony directly over turquoise Aegean sea. Can’t imagine Amalfi coast is any better than this. We check out beach at Milopotamos but are disappointed at the crowds and decide to look for something less popular next morning. Dinner at most happening plateia in Tsangarada. (there are 4). Aghion Taxiarhon Square -- http://www.pelion-paths.gr/Sight.aspx?ID=168. There are two restaurants here; both are great, but the one on the right, under the magnificent Plane tree, run by a Spanish senora who’s married to a local Greek, serves more interesting fare.
Day 4. Stop at local bakery for a picnic breakfast and lunch. Go to beach at Fakistra: http://www.pelion-paths.gr/Sight.aspx?ID=27. Wish I had my hiking shoes for this steep, hot, difficult (for me) descent. Reward is lovely little cove, beautiful waters, very few people present. Beach is rocky; water is rocky. Limited shade. Still well worth the trek. Check out late and head down eastern coast in search of interesting beaches and hamlets. Briefly look down upon beach at Lambidou, decide we should come back here later in trip if we can - looks like a movie set from The Blue Lagoon it is so inviting. Stop at various no-name beaches running down the coast. All very rocky, not particularly clean, not particularly empty or inviting. Get woefully lost with very bad map. Bad map, bad map! Roll-over! So-called road connecting Mourtias and Katigiorgis is better suited for a Humvee the width of a motorcycle, not an urbane Volvo S40 with 2-wheel drive. If you’ve ever driven in Costa Rica you’ll know what I mean; most stressful part of trip. Finally arrive in Katigeorgis. Big letdown for us. Might be a good port if you have a boat. Otherwise, built up bungalows and restaurants with small, rocky, dirty beach/marina. Have iced coffees to fortify ourselves and travel westward to Milina. Check in for two nights at Blue Bay Hotel on edge of town. Balcony with view of bay just in time for spectacular sunset: cordial hosts, quite, almost empty. Dinner at local pizzeria (Called the Capri, I believe) – very good food and service and lovely ambiance along the bay. Hotel is great but you must love stairs.
Day 5. Great breakfast in town along the water, then explore southernmost tip of Pelion Peninsula. Stop for refreshments in Trikeri, a lovely harbor which we enjoy. Stop at unmarked beaches for a few cooling dips; very rocky. Later explore so-called beach resort of Platanias. Again, more a marina than a beach. Rocky beach but with a bit more sand. More people. But the water cannot be beat.
Day 6. Another fab. breakfast along the waterfront. Although this is definitely a tourist town, it is not unpleasantly so. Ample dining and lodging opportunities. No beaches per se in town. We are off to visit the western coast. Stop at a few unmarked beaches which were rocky but lovely. Driving through but not really spending any time to speak of at Horto, Kala Nera (big beach but major tourist center), with lunch at perfectly wonderful restaurant on the water in Kalamos at the Aktaion Hotel: www.aktaionhotel.com. Looks like would have been a nice place to stay. Secluded beach right there. After lunch we decide to head back to the Aegean side. Although sunsets are spectacular and water is calmer on Pagastikos Bay, we prefer the more lush and topographically dramatic east coast. Decide to spend next four nights at The Lost Unicorn Hotel in Tsangarada. No A/C. http://www.lostunicorn.com/. Balcony has small view of gardens. The hotel owners are a Greek/English couple that go to great lengths to be hospitable. Enjoy our first dinner in Greece that is not a Greek menu. Continental cuisine, elegantly served on veranda under grape arbor with view of ostensibly the oldest plane tree in Greece on the plateia. Very romantic.
Day 7. We splurge on traditional English breakfast for a change, then off to Lambidou beach. Couldn’t be more perfect. Small, secluded, empty, wonderful rock pools and grottos to swim by. All this and a gentleman ready to rent you two lounge chairs and an umbrella for 5 Euros for the day, although we were the only takers. Hardly anyone there. We have a picnic lunch with us but the Entrepreneur also has snacks for sale. Dinner back at our favorite plateia in Tsangarada. Spend a full hour in dead of night listening to the racket of dogbarking outside our room.
Day 8. Explore the north end of the east coast; drive to little known beach of Saranda: http://www.thegreektravel.com/pelion/zagora.html. Lunch at great taverna with very friendly and interesting owner right on the beach, which is pretty empty and even has a tad of sand and shade mixed in with the rocks. Dinner yet again at plateia. Barking horrorshow again at night; close balcony doors in order to sleep & sweat despite lack of A/C.
Day 9. Back to beach at Lambidou. Today water is much rougher, and there are many more people. Still lovely. Our hotel restaurant is not technically open today but the owners offer us a limited menu just the two of us and we enjoy the romantic atmosphere of the grape arbor again. Nighttime barking driving DH mad.
Day 10. Off to Portaria and descent to small beach of Elias. There is a taverna on beach but it seems less friendly so we skip it. Very few people. A bit more sand. Very lovely and peaceful. Check into Agnadi Hotel http://www.greeka.com/thessaly/pelio...fto/index.html in Horefto. Nice view from balcony -- hillside down to sea. Authentic gyros at restaurant in town, not the fancy one on the water. This one is on an inside street and patronized by locals.
Day 11. Spend a few hours saying farewell to the Aegean. Wend our way to Volos. Have fabulous last lunch at Plateia in Portaria at Kirsta Restaurant http://www.aroundpelion.com/kritsa-restaurant/, the best Greel meal we have had all trip. Almost manage to avoid downtown. Spend afternoon heading to Athens, to St. Thomas B&B for our last night. http://www.stay-in-athens.com/. It is near the airport but costs less than the Sofitel. Pool in the backyard. A lovely neighborhood (non-tourist) taverna a few doors down. No A/C. Owners helpful, drive us to airport next day.
Day 12. Breakfast at hotel. Quick trip to airport. Flight home uneventful.
Notes: Not all gas stations accept credit cards. Many places on Pelion don’t accept credit cards. Very few ATMs. As you might notice we are not big on crowds. So this trip report really does not explore any night life options or situations where there would be lots of people. Even in the Pelion the US Dollar did not go far. A cup of coffee was typically $5.00 US. On the other hand, those Greek salads make perfect meals unto themselves. Would definitely recommend this part of the world to any and all lovers of natural beauty and the simple life.
First, thanks to all for planning help. This site and TripAdvisor were my two best sources.
Things to know:
• About 100 degrees F. every day.
• Dinners always around 10 p.m.
• Scarcity of ATMs.
• We only made advance hotel reservations for 1st, 2nd, and last nights.
• Theme of this trip was for DH and I to attempt to recapture our footloose, carefree, childfree days of yore.
• Scenery and views at every turn on Pelion are breathtaking (actually the turns are breathtaking even without the views.)
• This trip was not about fine cuisine or fancy hotels or even fancy beaches. It was about discovering a part of Greece that was new to both of us (have visited Athens, the Cyclades, Crete, and Peloponnese in previous trips).
Flight – Continental from Newark, NJ to Athens. Arrived early, no problems. Picked up car from Avis at airport. (Car was pretty dirty). Serviceable Volvo but in hindsight definitely regret not getting a 4WD.
Day 1. Lunch in Arahova at a wayside tavern. The potato omelet is no tortilla Espanola, but scrambled eggs with a handful of French fries thrown on top and baked into the crust. Arrived in Delphi, checked into Hermes Hotel. A/C. Lovely family-run operation. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...al_Greece.html. View of valley of olives and Bay of Corinth from room balcony. Heat and jet lag does not prevent us from exploring and climbing among the ruins all the way to the top to see the Stadium. Also visit museum, very worthwhile. Because late in afternoon avoided crowds. Pretty awful early dinner at non-descript restaurant.
Day 2. Rise very early. Decent breakfast in hotel, see more of Delphi without crowds. Out of town by 11 a.m.
Arrive in Meteora in time for late lunch in Kastraki, quiet and shady in village plateia (square). Check into Guesthouse Sotirou/Il Petrino. http://www.guesthouse-sotiriou.gr/en/index.asp. Fabulously and meticulously restored inn, room and bathroom are beautiful. A bit out of the way. Perfect view. A/C was a blessing, at least until the owner’s mother stole into our room while we were out and shut it off. Visited Roussanou monastery. Easy to reach and lovely. Good dinner at Paradise Restaurant in Kastraki, which, like all Greek tavernas, has huge-screen TV shouting the evening’s futbol match.
Day 3. Rise early again, adequate breakfast at hotel. Off to visit two more monasteries: Agia Triada and Agios Stefanos . Avoid crowds. Each one well worth it and very different in nature. St. Stefanos has a wonderful little museum with objets including original parchment correspondence from Byzantine Pope, gold embroidered work, antique manuscripts, clothing, etc. Remember to wear my skirt but combined with little red hiking shoes quite the fashion statement. DH greatly amused by the monk atop Agia Triada, with his long gray Orthodox beard, his long black cassock, and his sandals, operating a loud weedwacker and taking his goggles off to sneeze every 5 seconds.
Definitely like the smaller, quiter, more authentic village of Kastraki. Do not like Kalambaka: too commercial, crowded, unfriendly and urban.
Depart for Pelion. Unsuccessfully try to avoid driving through downtown Volos; begin harrowing jouney to eastern coast. Greeks drive like madmen on ostensibly 2-lane road that winds like a slinky and has the breadth of a sidewalk, with large chunks occasionally missing and no guardrails. Check into Diakoumis Hotel in Milopotamos: http://www.diakoumis.com/. Very basic lodging but with A/C and very friendly, helpful owner couple Room has balcony directly over turquoise Aegean sea. Can’t imagine Amalfi coast is any better than this. We check out beach at Milopotamos but are disappointed at the crowds and decide to look for something less popular next morning. Dinner at most happening plateia in Tsangarada. (there are 4). Aghion Taxiarhon Square -- http://www.pelion-paths.gr/Sight.aspx?ID=168. There are two restaurants here; both are great, but the one on the right, under the magnificent Plane tree, run by a Spanish senora who’s married to a local Greek, serves more interesting fare.
Day 4. Stop at local bakery for a picnic breakfast and lunch. Go to beach at Fakistra: http://www.pelion-paths.gr/Sight.aspx?ID=27. Wish I had my hiking shoes for this steep, hot, difficult (for me) descent. Reward is lovely little cove, beautiful waters, very few people present. Beach is rocky; water is rocky. Limited shade. Still well worth the trek. Check out late and head down eastern coast in search of interesting beaches and hamlets. Briefly look down upon beach at Lambidou, decide we should come back here later in trip if we can - looks like a movie set from The Blue Lagoon it is so inviting. Stop at various no-name beaches running down the coast. All very rocky, not particularly clean, not particularly empty or inviting. Get woefully lost with very bad map. Bad map, bad map! Roll-over! So-called road connecting Mourtias and Katigiorgis is better suited for a Humvee the width of a motorcycle, not an urbane Volvo S40 with 2-wheel drive. If you’ve ever driven in Costa Rica you’ll know what I mean; most stressful part of trip. Finally arrive in Katigeorgis. Big letdown for us. Might be a good port if you have a boat. Otherwise, built up bungalows and restaurants with small, rocky, dirty beach/marina. Have iced coffees to fortify ourselves and travel westward to Milina. Check in for two nights at Blue Bay Hotel on edge of town. Balcony with view of bay just in time for spectacular sunset: cordial hosts, quite, almost empty. Dinner at local pizzeria (Called the Capri, I believe) – very good food and service and lovely ambiance along the bay. Hotel is great but you must love stairs.
Day 5. Great breakfast in town along the water, then explore southernmost tip of Pelion Peninsula. Stop for refreshments in Trikeri, a lovely harbor which we enjoy. Stop at unmarked beaches for a few cooling dips; very rocky. Later explore so-called beach resort of Platanias. Again, more a marina than a beach. Rocky beach but with a bit more sand. More people. But the water cannot be beat.
Day 6. Another fab. breakfast along the waterfront. Although this is definitely a tourist town, it is not unpleasantly so. Ample dining and lodging opportunities. No beaches per se in town. We are off to visit the western coast. Stop at a few unmarked beaches which were rocky but lovely. Driving through but not really spending any time to speak of at Horto, Kala Nera (big beach but major tourist center), with lunch at perfectly wonderful restaurant on the water in Kalamos at the Aktaion Hotel: www.aktaionhotel.com. Looks like would have been a nice place to stay. Secluded beach right there. After lunch we decide to head back to the Aegean side. Although sunsets are spectacular and water is calmer on Pagastikos Bay, we prefer the more lush and topographically dramatic east coast. Decide to spend next four nights at The Lost Unicorn Hotel in Tsangarada. No A/C. http://www.lostunicorn.com/. Balcony has small view of gardens. The hotel owners are a Greek/English couple that go to great lengths to be hospitable. Enjoy our first dinner in Greece that is not a Greek menu. Continental cuisine, elegantly served on veranda under grape arbor with view of ostensibly the oldest plane tree in Greece on the plateia. Very romantic.
Day 7. We splurge on traditional English breakfast for a change, then off to Lambidou beach. Couldn’t be more perfect. Small, secluded, empty, wonderful rock pools and grottos to swim by. All this and a gentleman ready to rent you two lounge chairs and an umbrella for 5 Euros for the day, although we were the only takers. Hardly anyone there. We have a picnic lunch with us but the Entrepreneur also has snacks for sale. Dinner back at our favorite plateia in Tsangarada. Spend a full hour in dead of night listening to the racket of dogbarking outside our room.
Day 8. Explore the north end of the east coast; drive to little known beach of Saranda: http://www.thegreektravel.com/pelion/zagora.html. Lunch at great taverna with very friendly and interesting owner right on the beach, which is pretty empty and even has a tad of sand and shade mixed in with the rocks. Dinner yet again at plateia. Barking horrorshow again at night; close balcony doors in order to sleep & sweat despite lack of A/C.
Day 9. Back to beach at Lambidou. Today water is much rougher, and there are many more people. Still lovely. Our hotel restaurant is not technically open today but the owners offer us a limited menu just the two of us and we enjoy the romantic atmosphere of the grape arbor again. Nighttime barking driving DH mad.
Day 10. Off to Portaria and descent to small beach of Elias. There is a taverna on beach but it seems less friendly so we skip it. Very few people. A bit more sand. Very lovely and peaceful. Check into Agnadi Hotel http://www.greeka.com/thessaly/pelio...fto/index.html in Horefto. Nice view from balcony -- hillside down to sea. Authentic gyros at restaurant in town, not the fancy one on the water. This one is on an inside street and patronized by locals.
Day 11. Spend a few hours saying farewell to the Aegean. Wend our way to Volos. Have fabulous last lunch at Plateia in Portaria at Kirsta Restaurant http://www.aroundpelion.com/kritsa-restaurant/, the best Greel meal we have had all trip. Almost manage to avoid downtown. Spend afternoon heading to Athens, to St. Thomas B&B for our last night. http://www.stay-in-athens.com/. It is near the airport but costs less than the Sofitel. Pool in the backyard. A lovely neighborhood (non-tourist) taverna a few doors down. No A/C. Owners helpful, drive us to airport next day.
Day 12. Breakfast at hotel. Quick trip to airport. Flight home uneventful.
Notes: Not all gas stations accept credit cards. Many places on Pelion don’t accept credit cards. Very few ATMs. As you might notice we are not big on crowds. So this trip report really does not explore any night life options or situations where there would be lots of people. Even in the Pelion the US Dollar did not go far. A cup of coffee was typically $5.00 US. On the other hand, those Greek salads make perfect meals unto themselves. Would definitely recommend this part of the world to any and all lovers of natural beauty and the simple life.
Sep 22nd, 2008, 04:38 PM
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HI,
I love the Pelion part of Greece. I agree the driving is not for the faint of heart, but I love the challenge. We were only there for 2 days. Taxarhon Sq. is wonderful and we had a fabulous lunch over looking Volos and the harbour. We stayed over night in Agios Ioannis. The water was so clear and the beach consisted of white pebbles. We were there a few years ago in July and it was not crowed. I really enjoyed the food and the herbs that they use in this part of Greece. Also it is different because it is green and there are all those fountains and running water here you fill up your water bottle. I am happy you explored this area as you do not hear a lot about it.
Yipper
I love the Pelion part of Greece. I agree the driving is not for the faint of heart, but I love the challenge. We were only there for 2 days. Taxarhon Sq. is wonderful and we had a fabulous lunch over looking Volos and the harbour. We stayed over night in Agios Ioannis. The water was so clear and the beach consisted of white pebbles. We were there a few years ago in July and it was not crowed. I really enjoyed the food and the herbs that they use in this part of Greece. Also it is different because it is green and there are all those fountains and running water here you fill up your water bottle. I am happy you explored this area as you do not hear a lot about it.
Yipper
Sep 25th, 2008, 02:53 PM
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I'm so glad you enjoyed the Pelio area. We have returned every year for 2-3 weeks, staying at the same hotel every summer. Just received an e-mail from the hotel owner today, it's raining, the hotel is empty and the summer is over. Now we all start making our plans for next year. Angeliki
Sep 29th, 2008, 03:57 PM
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Hi AMV, We stay at the Hotel Anesis in Agios Ioannis. It's a small family run hotel, with many guests who return each year.
The owner of the hotel is an archer. He shoots for Greece in world cup competitions and we've been up early to accompany him on practice rounds.
We like Agios Ioannis even though many people say it's too busy. More restaurant choices, mini markets nearby and three beaches within easy walking distance.
We also stay for 2-3 weeks at the Lefka Ori Hotel in Chora Sfakia Crete.
Our two favorite places in Greece. Perhaps our friend NikolettaG will chime in. She's been to both places. Angeliki
The owner of the hotel is an archer. He shoots for Greece in world cup competitions and we've been up early to accompany him on practice rounds.
We like Agios Ioannis even though many people say it's too busy. More restaurant choices, mini markets nearby and three beaches within easy walking distance.
We also stay for 2-3 weeks at the Lefka Ori Hotel in Chora Sfakia Crete.
Our two favorite places in Greece. Perhaps our friend NikolettaG will chime in. She's been to both places. Angeliki
Nov 4th, 2008, 11:59 PM
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Interesting to read your report, we were in Delphi and Meteora this September and visited the Pelion some years back. In Meteora we stayed in Archontiko Mesohori which was right next door to Guesthouse Sotirou.
We saw the Lost Unicorn when we visited the Pelion and have always fancied staying there. We stayed in an apartment at the tiny bay of Kalamos and explored much of the peninsula over 2 weeks. It was generally very quiet in the week (in June) but much busier over weekends when the locals from Volos arrived. You missed a lovely sandy beach at Platanias which is a 10 minute walk over a headland, making it very peaceful. We also liked the beach at Mourtias. The sea on the east coast was generally too rough for me,as a poor swimmer. We really must return to the Pelion sometime.
We saw the Lost Unicorn when we visited the Pelion and have always fancied staying there. We stayed in an apartment at the tiny bay of Kalamos and explored much of the peninsula over 2 weeks. It was generally very quiet in the week (in June) but much busier over weekends when the locals from Volos arrived. You missed a lovely sandy beach at Platanias which is a 10 minute walk over a headland, making it very peaceful. We also liked the beach at Mourtias. The sea on the east coast was generally too rough for me,as a poor swimmer. We really must return to the Pelion sometime.
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