Rewind #1 of 2014 - Greece(I) - 27092014

Greece(I) - 27092014

In this post, I'm bringing everyone back to the year 2014! Reason? I have a few interesting articles to post! Teehee~ Anyway, I'm bringing all of you with me to an extremely awesome place called Halkidiki. In Greek, it's Χαλκιδική.

Take a look at the map and it is shaped like Poseidon's trident, sticking out into the Aegean Sea. Halkidiki is on the first of the three "legs". Fly in to Thessaloniki airport to get to this magnificent place! I do not include any links for the flights because I believe you probably prefer to do your own search. Nonetheless, drop me a message should you need me to help find a flight for you :)

Soon enough, YOU will be there :)

I travel to quite a few places and I do not prefer touristy and congested tourist spots. I get headache just by looking at the crowd. Thus, this place was perfect for my kinda vacation. For those of you who like to relax and chill while experiencing the local culture, this is purr-fect for you! All I did was eat, sleep, chill, repeat, eat, sleep, chill, repeat (in reference to this song).

We flew in to Thessaloniki from Malaysia and we took Turkish Airlines for only USD 2,770 for 2 adults. Of course, we had an overlay in Istanbul but hey, I'm not complaining because I got to see what Istanbul is like. At least the airport. Lol.. Flight to Istanbul took us 11 hours and 20 minutes but from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, it was only another 1 hour and 20 minutes. We reached at about 09:00 and our car rental gentleman was already waiting for us.

Malaysians vs Greek - car rental was about USD300 for 4 adults (not too bad)

Now, fast forward to our hotel! Yes, we couldn't wait to get to the hotel because we need to change and refresh. We got an 8D7N package at THE Aegean Melathron Thalasso Spa Hotel, a five-star hotel for only USD700 including daily breakfast and dinner. The selection of food was crazyyyyy I didn't know how to start; it's buffet style! Gotta love their food! From pretzels to desserts, they're all very very..... very scrumptious.

No, this is not Megatron from the movie Transformer. It's Aegean Melathron

We got a room with sea view, on the first floor and yes, we had a nice balcony overlooking the sunset in the evening. There were certain nights we slept in the room with the balcony doors open. Just for the heck of listening to the therapeutic sea waves.

View from our balcony

Sunset view from our balcony

Another pool in the hotel

Asians like to take pictures of their food before digging in. Yeah haaaa....I'm an Asian too, so here are my shots of the comida deliciosa (delicious food) after we've checked in. Here we go...

Not very Asian after all - one already ended up in my tummy before the shot was taken :-p

Penne carbonara - very very filling 

The ever-so-mouth-watering pizza 

Vino tinto

Big bowl of spaghetti 

Since we had the car, we decided to drive around. We drove to a small but beautiful town, Afytos. Honestly speaking, all of the scenery pictures that I've posted here do not do the justice. Nothing beats viewing the landscape with your own eyes! Not even the expensive good camera that you have, trust me! Anyhow, these are some shots of Afytos. 

Quint town

Walk and explore in Afytos

Food is relatively cheap in Halkidiki. As off today, 1€ is MYR4.06 and even after conversion (which we usually do consciously/subconsciously when we travel to another country), everything was still cheap! A pint of Mythos, a local beer cost only 1€! In Malaysia, you will never ever ever ever ever get a pint of beer with that price. Cheapest we can get in Malaysia is 2.5€ which converts to about MYR11. Not only the beer is cheap in Halkidiki, the food is pretty cheap too. A big plate of grilled meat platter comprising of 2 pieces of beef, 2 chicken skewers, 2 pieces of pork, 2 pieces of lamb meat and a generous amount of fries cost us only 4€! In Malaysia, the minimum price for that is RM60 and the pieces are pequeño (tiny)! At that point, noone bothered to whip out the camera nomore. We WALLOPED!

Food is always gooooooooooodddd.....

We met some really awesome people during our trip. So, we decided to have a drink or two in a nearby town called Kalithea; just 5 minutes drive from Aegean Melathron hotel. We were there from 20:00 till about 0300 the next morning. One thing we noticed about the businesses here in Halkidiki is that they will not close their business until the last customer leaves. In fact, we had a chat with the owner of a few restaurants and bars and they all said the same thing. Even if the customers stay until the next morning, they will remain open. Life is tough in Halkidiki - a working adult typically have a few jobs to make a living. So what did we do? We tipped them :) Not much but that's the least we could do to help them. P.E.A.C.E.

Great time with great people

The cheeky folks

It didn't just stop here... The experience in Greece was indeed the benchmark for the rest of my future trips. From my visits (after Halkidiki), nothing beats Halkidiki anymore. We were pampered with great food and great people, we did not want to leave the place. For now, I shall leave you with the panoramic view of Afytos till I meet you again in my next post - part two of Halkidiki.

A panoramic view of Afytos's blue and green

Halkidiki has set the benchmark for my trips.

What about you? Which place has set the benchmark for your trips?