By the Aegean

The Aegean Sea is amazing - more beautiful than I had imagined!  

Thursday (June 7th) we headed off in our rented car with a little cheese brioche from the bakery and coffee in hand about 8:30 in the morning.  The drive out of town, heading for the middle peninsula south of Thessaloniki that stretches into the Aegean.  It’s called Sinthonia.



It took us a little over an hour to reach Kalogria Beach (The Mango Beach Bar.). The beach was set with large tropical looking umbrellas under which sat two blue beach chairs and a small table. These were neatly set up in about five rows all along the beach.  We were told to pick our spot and “the waiter” would be down to collect our fee for use of the chairs and to take any food or drink orders.  The waiter waited until we were settled and then came up behind to take our drink orders and then returned to place them on the table between the two chairs.  Luxury!

The sea was incredible.  We struggled to describe the color of the water.  In places it was turquoise. 

Some of it was a sea green and some of it a deep sky blue azure.  It was crystal clear.  You could see right to the bottom and there was barely a ripple on it.  At one point I ventured into the water which was a bit cold for me, but I got about waist deep and watched a small school of silver fish (about 3 inches long) circle around my feet.  Every once in a while one of them would nibble on my toes.  Too much fun!


Somewhere around 1:30 we decided we were beginning to get hot.  (It actually was cooler on the beach with the breeze blowing off the sea.)  Still, we got in the car and went to a restaurant Elke had recommended called Boukadoura.  It was about 10 minutes from the beach.

The restaurant was beautiful.  It was stone and white plaster with dark wood trim and furniture.  It was situated on a point reaching into the sea, and we were only feet from the water.  After lunch we walked out on the point and looked at the huge rocks around the point in the sea. For lunch we had a wonderful salad – mixed greens with orange slices, hazelnuts, and figs with and orange balsamic.  The rest of lunch was average, but the view and the sea breeze were amazing!

Last night we had a second “sea excursion.”  This time we wandered down to the end of our street and went east once we hit the sea shore.  We were looking for a Trip Advisor recommended restaurant called Hamodrakas Seafood Restaurant.  I was feeling very Greek, or at least as Greek as one can feel with white blond hair!

I was wearing a silky blue pant suit I had just bought.  The Rick Steve’s tour information said that Europeans are very casual in their dress, but I have not found this to be true of the women, particularly in Greece.  The women are mostly in dresses and skirts or dressy pants and tops with dressy sandals, many with high heels.  They particularly like maxi dresses with spaghetti strap tops or pant suits that are similar except that instead of a long skirt there are flowing pant legs.  Clothing is cheap here, so I bought a pant suit.

So off we went to Hamodrakas for some sea food.  The food was delicious.  We had roasted vegetables instead of a salad.  Then I had an herb crusted salmon steak on mashed potatoes with a cream sauce.  Mike had a grilled sea bass and what looked like sea weed accompaniment.  Both were delicious.  We had a half liter of the house wine.  Most places here just purchase the locally made wines and they are terrific!  We were about to order desert when they brought us two pieces of a dark chocolate torte that I think had cookie chunks baked into it.  Great food!

The best part of the night, however, was the location.  the restaurant is 90 years old and we ate out on the extension over the water.  We could see the bay all around us.

We watched the sun set in the west and the lights of Thessaloniki come on and twinkle over the water in the east.  Greece is an amazing place.