Part 6 (of 12)

Nik’s mom is from the town of Nea Kallikratia, on the Halkidiki peninsula.  Kallikratia is on the main part of the peninsula and then the peninsula has three fingers extending down.  The first “finger” is fairly commercialized and touristy and the third “finger” is only accessible to men because it’s considered sacred in the orthodox faith and only monks and male visitors are allowed.  The second one is called Sithonia and that’s where we drove to spend the day.

We drove clockwise around the peninsula so we started on the east side in the morning.  Our basic plan was to drive to the first beach, snorkel, drive to the next beach, eat lunch and rest, drive to the next beach, snorkel and then drive home, hopefully not running out of energy or daylight!

The first beach was Kavourotrypes Beach- means “crab holes”.  It was a really beautiful beach, particularly once we figured out which parts of the beach were not nude.  That was a little uncomfortable at first!  The water was also incredibly clear.

On the drive to the next beach, we has wonderful views of Mt. Athos, which is the mountain at the very end of the 3rd finger, (the one I couldn’t visit).

Our next beach was Kalamitsi Beach.  I loved the snorkeling at this place.  We swam for a long time and saw these crazy things we called sea dragons (although I think they were really sea cucumbers). 
They were creepy – they were expelling this weird, white stuff from their mouths and waving around.

We also saw lots of goats, running freely wherever they pleased.

The Sithonia Peninsula was really nice – it was a beautiful drive, a nice day trip, and a good change of pace.