04 – Fanari – A beach town on Greece’s largest fresh water delta

Its an unusually hot and dry summer in Greece so Phil thought it would make sense to investigate where the largest river flows into the sea. We’ve based ourselves in the town of Fanari which is in the Rhodope region of Thrace, not far from the Turkish border.

The hotel we are staying in is just exceptional. The bold architectural statement stands in contrast to the rest of the village. The Orbital Elegant Suites is just two years old and this is their first season. The standard of construction and fit out is exceptional. We were lucky to find accommodation here over the weekend but thanks to booking.com it crossed our radar at late notice.

There were about 20 fishing boats of this class in the harbour

The town has a sizeable harbour full of fishing boats and dozen or so yachts. Fishing is still a traditional one person small boat industry in many places.

To get here we drove around the huge freshwater Lake Vistonida which is part of the protected Nestos Delta. The area was teeming with fish and pink flamingos. The Nestos National Park is one of the largest national parks in Greece filled with waterfalls, lagoons and most importantly wetlands. We took a long bike ride in the searing heat to explore the area.

There are pink flamingoes living in the lake – never seen them anywhere but Florida

Found our deserted beach with a gentle slope, clear and warm water.

The freshwater lake behind us gently spills into the sea at low tide.

We had a great meal at this restaurant “O Faros” and what a position up on the hill.

Fanari is a quiet place in the heat of the day but once dusk comes the place comes alive. There as a concert last night and it was wonderful to see the unique Greek dancing.

An evening ‘Panigiria‘ concert. An ancient tradition that occurs across all of Greece. It’s a key cultural glue that holds their entire society together.

In complete contrast to last summer in Alaska the gardens and orchards in Greece just thrive. Nowhere in the world have we eaten better or more affordably. Roadside stands sell all manner of local produce. In the towns on most days we see pickup trucks laden with freshly picked melons, grapes, cherries, peppers, eggplant, pears and especially peaches parked in the towns openly selling produce. The climate, fertile soil and plentiful fresh water are put to good use by the residents of Fanari. The pictures below are from a single garden / orchard right in the heart of the town.