Publicity

With the start of the new season I have to write some publicity. The whole winter through we were discussing new excursions and afterwards it is hard to convince the Greek tour operators that for example Dutch tourists like to walk. Walking excursions are pretty hard to organize because, when you want to go away from where the hotels are, you need to supply transport and that costs a lot of money.

Usually the die hard walkers go their own way buying the several books of walks that are sold on the island. But they also have to travel by taxi or rented car to reach their starting points or where they finish their walk. For the casual walker this spring a beautiful walk with a guide was arranged, going from Vafios to Molyvos, straight through the mountains. But the tour operators still do not believe in these walking tours and the excursion is not on the list.

The good news is that we managed to push through two new excursions which we think are really great. The bad news for the English and German readers is that they are only for Dutch speaking people: Specialities of Molyvos (Culinary Molyvos) and a two day jeep safari. One takes a full morning, the other two days. And they are both worth their price, believe me.

For example: did you know that there are bitter and sweet almonds? Do you know how a pine nut gets from the tree into a plastic bag in the supermarket? Did you know that you can eat the seeds of the lupin? And do you really know how the olive harvest works? This and a lot more you can learn during the excursion Culinary Molyvos. The purpose of the excursion is that you not only get to know the medieval city of Molyvos, part of the walk goes straight through this village, you especially will learn what grows and flowers around Molyvos. And I can go on translating what else this walk is about, but in Dutch we say: do not offer a dead sparrow to make people happy.

The same for the two day safari tour. I cannot take the responsibility of telling you the directions. Suppose you get lost in all those forests and have to fight your way through, or fall off a mountain track. The only thing I will whisper in your ear is that the whole party takes one of its swims at the beautiful beach of Melinda, which is in the South next to Plomari and they are washing the dust off in the Hot Springs of Lisvori. There they also do the sleep over. I am sure that the manager, Lazaros, can offer you drinks and small things to eat and a room for the night, if you fall in love with this place.

The other thing I will tell you is where the excursion Molyvos Culinary ends: in the restaurant of Perikles. This garden restaurant in Molyvos is difficult to find, but once you know where it is, I am sure you will fall under its spell. Especially further on in the season when they have nights where they have a kind of shadow puppet-show, accompanied by a Greek band which plays Greek music in the intervals.

How do you find this restaurant? Follow the road at the back of Molyvos up to the castle. Midway you will see a blue building (apartments) on your left hand side and on the opposite side a road goes down to the right. Follow this road and keep right at the junction. A little bit further you will find an entrance hidden by bushes and trees to a garden with plenty of tables. Welcome to Perikles. It is Perikles' daughter who is serving. She has a beautiful name but very difficult to pronounce or to remember: Thelixiopi. Please practice her name before you go there and I'm sure she will be very pleased at you knowing her name. She speaks very good English and for people who like feta, order the fresh feta cheese, the best you will find around Molyvos.

I'm sorry I let down my English and German readers this week. I promise I will never again write only for the Dutch.

Copyright © Smitaki 2006