“the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Laozi (Tao Te Ching)

The success and personal enrichment of our Alaska Adventure in July and August 2024 lit a fire in our bellys for further extended travel experiences. It is July 2025 and we decided to venture into Europe, specifically Greece. Over the last 30 years we have spent 3 separate week long trips visiting larger touristed islands like Rhodes, Santorini, Corfu and Crete. Greece and the Greek people have something that captures us, perhaps their unconditional friendliness, the beauty of their diverse landscape spread over a vast area of land and sea, or simply the sweetness of their tomatoes. Nowhere else in the world do tomatoes taste the way they do in Greece!

Our way of traveling is to explore the local history, culture and people. Given July and August are the height of the European holiday season we opted to stay on the mainland and head to Northern Greece. The riches of Macedonian ancient history, Greece’s second city of Thessaloniki and the renowned beauty and less commercially developed coastline of Halkidiki beckoned.

There are frequent direct flights from London and other UK airports (Birmingham and Manchester) and seasonal weekly additions offered by the budget carriers from other locations.

Our first week was spent settling into the new environment we chose as the base for our odyssey. A lucky find, our Greek home for six of our nine weeks, is based in Geoponika which is just next to the larger town of Nea Kalikrateia, some 40 miles south of the airport and 60 miles south of the city of Thessaloniki. It is a small town positioned along the length of coast and beach that stretches down to the three fingered peninsula of Halkidiki. It is a local, authentic, semi rural coastal settlement occupied by Greeks but also attracting holidaymakers who come predominantly by car overland from the Balkan states.

Our home is the ground floor and garden of a traditional Greek home. Many houses have 2 or 3 floors but with each floor being a completely self contained unit with its own separate entrance. It is beautifully maintained by the owners. We have everying we need to be comfortable, relaxed and as self contained as we want to be. Better still the beach is a 4 minute walk away with calm warm water and plenty of space to set up. Alternatively , there are a number of beach bars with loungers. Much to our delight, they do not charge…… only requirement is you buy one of their drinks, the cost of which also pleasantly surprised us. “ Where is the catch we wondered?”

Greece, much like Italy, is what we call the land of the small business. Yes they have chains of supermarkets, car dealers, coffee shops and other suppliers of every day needs but what stands apart is that the towns, large and small, contain small suppliers of everything you could need. From small hardware or cheap kitchen supply shops to vegetable stands to toy shops or bakeries even a lawn mower store you will usually find whatever you need if you walk a town centre. If all else fails there is always the weekly markets which remain a fixture of Greek town life. This encourages a competiton for business. The cost of food is noticeably cheaper than Northern Europe and America. No driving to massive malls or shopping centres here!

We rented our local run around car from one such business close to the airport. We had a choice of about 10 such independent car rentals. Once again good cheap rates that included insurance and extra drivers. Of course the small roads and numerous pot holes mean there is little purpose in renting a fancy top end vehicle. Nimble, reliable and able to squeeze into small places is the name of the game in Greece. It came with numerous scratches and paint chips and 100km mileage but the ac worked and it handled the unpaved and bumpy side roads well. All part of the authentic Greek experience.

As good as always are the Greek Salads which, while all containing tomatoes cucumber olives and feta cheese do manage to somehow all come just a little bit different to the one I ate yesterday. Delicious. Paired up with a half carafe of the local or “bulk” wine as they now call it ( half a carafe cheaper than a glass at home) we are in a good place to continue our exploration.