On the trail of the awesome Stein (II)

Our original intention had to be to explore anchorages around the first and second fingers of Khalkidhiki. The third finger, Mount Athos, is a holy region with a large number of monasteries. Devout male worshippers can book to stay on retreat at the monasteries, but it needs to be booked six months in advance, and you are not allowed to anchor off the peninsula. Women are not allowed within 1NM of the entire land mass.

Long weekend to Thessaloniki

However, the more I researched the area, the less certain I became about where we could go. The region is famous for its long, sandy beaches. In settled weather you can anchor off these but there are not really many sheltered coves to anchor in. Much of the western coast of the first finger is dominated by fishing fleets, and whilst yachts do venture up there, it just didn’t feel right. Otger than that, there are a few marinas dotted around.

I tentatively suggested to Richard that we could spend a few nights in a marina…

To my surprise, he seemed to agree. But then he thought about it more, and said he’d still like to explore the area with Missy Bear. I emailed the Porto Carass marina (west coast middle finger) to ask about availability and rates for up to three nights. A lovely email came back almost straight away, with rates for one night, three nights and one week. The total price for one week was just 8€ more than for three nights. Plus, water and electricity were included. By this time, Richard had also done his research, and had come to the same conclusion. We agreed to take the offer for a week, and we could always use it as a base for day-sails.

Missy Bear at Porto Carras

But actually, we have loved Porto Carras. It was initiated by the Greek business man Yiannis Carras, with design by the founder of the Bauhaus architectural school, Walter Gropius (he died before construction started.) It’s a huge resort with a marina. Sadly, one of the hotels has fallen into disrepair [Ed – financial crash, Covid etc.] and is no longer used. But the other hotel has an enormous spa, various outdoor pools, restaurants and bars, a golf course and so on. The marina is under separate management, and there as plenty of space at the moment.

This base meant we could explore areas we wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do with Missy Bear. The distances are long, and the two gulfs do not have much wind, certainly not when we were here. Richard wanted to visit Thessaloniki and the river Axios delta nature site with its migratory birds. And, as I had watched Rick Stein’s long-weekend trip to Thessaloniki some years ago, I said to Richard that we should definitely make a visit.

But we certainly wouldn’t want to motor all that way. So, we hired a car instead, and set off to on the Saturday morning. The drive was very easy on good roads, but we arrived to the chaos of Greek city traffic, with cars randomly stopping in the inner of two lanes, with other cars swerving out to avoid them with no indication whatsoever.

The hotel had suggested a nearby car-park, and Google maps got us there very easily. Even better, the staff whisked our car away to park it for us. As we watched it go, we realised it was one of any number of small, white Renaults, and we didn’t even know the registration number. We just hoped we’d see it again.

The day was spent exploring the various historic spaces and monuments around the city. There is a long promenade along the sea front, lined with bars and brasseries, leading along to the famous White Tower (see Richard’s blog ‘Macedonia’). But just up from here is a restaurant called ‘To Elleniko’ (The Greek), where the much-hallowed Mr Stein ate. We went there for lunch, and it was so good, we returned for dinner. And, it was so darned good, that we went back for dinner the next night!

'To Elleniko'

My favourite dish was the stuffed onions: boil an onion, and use the outer layers of the onion to wrap around a stuffing of minced-meat flavoured with cinnamon and pine nuts. The establishment specialised in small plates (‘mezze’), rather than huge meals, so we were able to sample smoked cured king fish, anchovies from Lesbos, grilled cheese from Lesbos, slow-cooked lamb wrapped in a cover of vine leaves and served with a lemon sauce, a small pot of pork with grilled tomatoes and melted cheese, and so on. After our first visit, they recognised us and made us very welcome.

Stuffed baked onions

Rick Stein also visited the city market, and of course, we did as well. If anyone is putting go a production of Lord of the Flies, you could buy a skinned pig’s head. In fact, you could buy several as they were strung up next to the neighbouring stall’s sea sponges.

The market

The following day, we drove out to the Axios river delta. As we left the tarmac road for the rutted dirt tracks, I thought – here we go again, poor little hired car. But generally, the tracks were good as long as you didn’t take any of the criss-crossing agricultural routes, the domain of tractors and 4x4 pick-up trucks. We saw lagoons of flamingos, Bee- eaters, black-headed wagtails with bright yellow bodies like Slazenger tennis balls, and many more besides.

The delta is also known for its mussel-farming, and its rice paddies. And yes, you’ve guessed it, we visited a taverna recommended by Rick, where we were lucky to get a table. We feasted, like he did, on mussels with rice, a type of risotto, but with the local, long-grained rice. We were careful to eat lunch quite early to allow time to go back to ‘To Elleniko’ that evening.

We are now back on Missy Bear, dreaming Thessaloniki fare. Go there – it may surprise and delight you too.