 boat for tailor-made excursions. Ouranoupolis (00 30 23770 31047; www. eaglespalace.gr). Doubles from €88 EkiesAllSensesResort Funky and fresh, Ekies is like a sampler of contemporary under �€11 Greek design, with three wings designed by different architects. Rooms vary wildly in size and style, from attic lofts with frosted-glass bathrooms and all-white paeans to minimalism to quirky digs with tin buckets for sinks and towelling armchairs. A pool table and giant bed in the lobby create an instant buzz. In the cabana spa, Yorgos Rodafinos gives miraculous, tension-releasing massages. Vourvourou bay is calm and toddler-friendly, as well as a convenient base for mountain biking and boat trips. Vourvourou (00 30 23750 91000; www. ekies.gr). Doubles from €80 SaniResort Most guests don’t bother to leave this immaculate resort. There’s under �€11 a crèche club so frazzled parents can make the most of a dozen HALKIDIKI restaurants, three spas and sandy beaches. Families favour the uncluttered bungalows LOWDOWN BY rACHeL HOWArd of Sani Beach Club; couples prefer the WHERE TO STAY in HAlkidiki ritzier Asterias Suites, overlooking a marina Alexandrou Traditional inn In the foothills where Salonika’s socialites come for sushi of Mount Holomontas (great hiking at Sea You Up or seafood at Alexis. 00 30 under €100 territory), Arnea is a well-preserved 23740 99500; www.saniresort.gr; Sani town where architects Vassilis and Beach Club from €74 half board; Asterias Dimitris Alexandrou have converted their Suites from €124 family home into a snug guesthouse. Antique Skites A laidback retreat in the shadow of armoires, kilims, and brass beds complement Mount Athos. Owner Karin Bohn’s bohemian original wooden floors and hand-painted personality is reflected in the driftwood ceilings. Freshly baked pies and cakes are sculptures, ecclesiastical candelabra and served at breakfast, with delicious antique lace curtains. The 25 bedrooms set in Macedonian dishes for lunch. Arnea (00 30 pretty gardens are pared down to the essentials 23720 23210; www.oikia-alexandrou.gr). so the setting takes centre stage. If you don’t Doubles from €75 stay, come for the lovely food (especially the danai Beach Resort This is an exclusive spinach soufflé). Across the dirt road is a 62-suite resort. Behind the security gates, pebble beach and pool bar for spectacular tanned blondes and oligarchs putter through sunsets. Ouranoupolis (00 30 23770 71140; manicured gardens on their golf carts. www.skites.gr). Doubles from €100 T he charms of halkidiki, the three-fingered peninsula below There are 15 different room types, all with bathroom and billowing curtains that get caught in the sliding door. Outside, a private VillaGalini Galini means serenity but in its Thessaloniki in northern Greece, are at first glance easy to bypass. Its critics will tell you aspirational interiors: Missoni drapes, Fendi 1970s heyday, ship-owner Yiannis Carras’ garden leads through a low gate to a communal pool and the falsettos of splashing the public sites are nothing, there are no fresh discoveries to be made, it looks just like the pillows, Bulgari toiletries. The St Barth’s spa hilltop villa hosted riotous parties for Salvador children. Bobbing beyond are the toothpick masts of a marina where the Thessaloniki Algarve; that Halkidiki, in short, has been sifted by archaeologists, brutalised by developers is decorated with marble deities. The best of Dalí and Yves St Laurent (each designed a rich berth their yachts, one vessel sporting (so I’m told by someone who has trodden on the five restaurants is Squirrel, where the and is overrun by tourists from the Balkans, Britain and Germany who converge here in bathroom), and classical pianist Gina Bachauer it) a white shag-pile carpet in the engine room. molecular menu features nitrogen foam with (whose piano adorns the salon). Modelled on the summer months to enjoy what the place does best: sea, sand, sex and sun. lime and green tea and ‘Pina Colada the austere architecture of Athos and stuffed The Sani Resort is the sort of place where Chris de Burgh stays. (He once gave an But Halkidiki, with no traffic, and easy to get to and drive around, does possess deconstruction’. Nikiti (00 30 23750 20400; with original antiques and artworks, Villa Galini impromptu concert here.) It is a fine and private place to bring your family: comfortable, authentic attractions, even if the locals have not found a way to market these: to seize you www.dbr.gr). Doubles from €385 is now a 17-bedroom hotel. Staggering views, with long beaches and good eating (the Water Restaurant has a Michelin star). At by the shoulders and say this is Aristotle’s birthplace; that you must, whatever you do, Eagles Palace When Dinos Tournivoukas’ wine from the surrounding vineyards, and a dinner in the excellent Japanese restaurant, I invite the Asterias’ Canadian-Greek visit his statue in Stagira or sit in the old village of Nikiti and taste a fresh coffee father built this ambitious resort pool in the clouds are part of the package. manager Kevin Kainz to answer my question over an incomparable meal of sushi, sea under 4km from Mount Athos in the early overlooking the pine forests of Mount Itamos, which conceal the world’s ‘oldest living €100 Guests also have access to the spas, tennis bass, duck and melon: ‘Why Halkidiki? It’s a short flight from anywhere in Europe; 1970s, the area was so remote courts and golf courses of the Porto Carras tree’, or take a walk along Tristinika beach behind Porto Carras, or see the ruins of old there’s great food; it’s safe; it’s not over-congested – and it’s overlooked. A lot of people there was no road. Camouflaged by palm complex. Porto Carras (00 30 210 3640441; Lerissos or Xerxes’s canal. These are pleasures you must seek out for yourself. and pine trees on a 1km sandy beach, it still www.yadeshotels.gr). Doubles from €170 don’t want others to know about it. They say to me, ‘I’m not going to tell my friends I arrived in Halkidiki with a personal and specific mission, the culmination of a journey feels secluded. The cosmopolitan flair of because I don’t want to see them here.’” embarked upon two decades ago when I started writing Bruce Chatwin’s biography. Tournivoukas and his wife Lena is evident WHERETOEAT&DRINK After following his footsteps through 27 countries, there remained one place I had yet to in the glamorous Elemis spa, walk-in wine Domata Chef Chrysanthos Karamolegos n hour’s drive from sani through sudden green pines and wooded slopes visit. In May 1985, Chatwin had arrived on Mount Athos, the third of Halkidiki’s fingers, cellar, and unaffected decor. All 165 rooms, is the godfather of modern Greek cuisine. brings you into the isthmus of Sithonia. Pine and olive trees yield to vines suites and bungalows were renovated which he assumed would be just ‘another atavistic wonder’. Up until that moment he had His signature dishes include feta fritters with beyond the little fishing port of Marmoras, and then to close-growing thorn in 2006-8. There are activities galore: watermelon sauce, grilled sardines stuffed A not struck friends as religious. His religious faith had become subsumed in his nomadic  bushes and rock. The second finger of Halkidiki is more protected and watersports, art classes, and a sailing with haloumi and peppermint, and  theory: he believed that movement made religion redundant and only when people secretive than Kassandra. It is a place to bring your lover rather than your family. More Greeks come here. The sea is a different shade, grainy blue. Hunting is forbidden and at settled did they need it. But over the next few days something unexpected happened to Above, from left: statue of Aristotle in The pool at Ekies All Senses Resort, in convince him of the existence of God. In the autumn of 1988, during a brief period of Stagira; ocean-side shrine; grilled vegetables Vourvourou; owner Alexandra Efstathiadou. night foxes sneak into villages such as Vourvourou. remission from a mysterious illness that was later confirmed as AIDS related, Chatwin at Sani Resort. Opposite, on Sithonia, the Opposite, view from the boat between On the beach at Vourvourou, the boutique hotel of Ekies (Greek for ‘many mansions’) planned to return to Mount Athos where Bishop Kallistos Ware had arranged for him to middle finger of the Halkidiki peninsula Ouranoupolis and Athos; a bedroom at Ekies is composed of three grey buildings, each designed by a different architect. My room (one

110

TR32853.indd 4 15/7/10 14:55:09 TR32854.indd 7 14/7/10 11:32:05  fried calamari on polenta with three- mustard vinaigrette. His desserts are legendary: try bitter chocolate croquettes with mango sorbet. Sani Marina (00 30 23740 99465) Koutsomilos After dinner at Sousourada (below), head to this hilltop bar with moonlit tables high above the sea. Afytos, Kassandra (00 30 23740 91050) Kohi Sexy young things sip mango Daiquiris as the sun sets at this stylish beach bar. Porto Carras O Kritikos The amazing taramosalata, stewed octopus, and steamed bass in lemon sauce make up for the grumpy waiters and indifferent location. Ouranoupolis (00 30 23770 71222; www.okritikos.com) Sousourada Nikos Katsanis toyed with becoming a monk, but thankfully opened this restaurant instead. The seasonal menu is reassuringly short and refreshingly different: fennel pie, buckwheat risotto with wild mushrooms, roast pork with pumpkin mash. Afytos, Kassandra (00 30 23740 91594)  Avenue (00 30 2310 269421; www. WHAT TO DO excelsiorhotel.gr). Doubles from €195 Ammouliani island is a five-minute ferry ride The Met This sensational new 212-room from the mainland and has great beaches. hotel overlooking the docks has instantly Rent a motor boat from Ouranoupolis (Christos revitalised the tired Chandris group. Top & Akis: 00 30 6976 487873) and explore marks for the rooftop pool bar, cutting-edge quieter coves on the surrounding islets. art collection, and Chan, an Asian restaurant Diaporo island (opposite Ekies) is a summer masterminded by Oliver Peyton. 48 26th retreat for Thessaloniki’s elite, with wonderful, October St (00 30 2310 017000; www. tropical-looking beaches themethotel.gr). Doubles from €345 Swim at Karydi, Sykia, or at any of the quiet bays between Porto Carras and Porto GETTING To NorThErN GrEEcE Koufo. The tavernas are fairly mediocre, but Exsus (020 7337 9000; www.exsus.com) the setting is glorious. offers a week’s holiday in Halkidiki, with four Buy honey from the village of Palia Nikiti nights at Sani Asterias Suites, in a Junior Suite, and three nights at Ekies All Senses THESSALONIKI Resort in a Luxury Loft Double; from £1,059 WHERE TO EAT per person based on two sharing. Price .Es This buzzing tapas bar has it all: a includes accommodation, breakfast, flights secret garden, witty design, sultry music and and car hire. A permit for Athos can be outstanding food. Order the grilled razor arranged by the Ekies All Senses Resort (see of 64) has white-painted floorboards and a bathroom provided with Apivita oils clams, herb-crusted lamb with minted melon, above). British Airways (www.ba.com) flies There are never more than 500 visitors on the Holy Mountain at one time. I am one of (Harmony body milk, gel, and camomile and honey shampoo), as well as a shower fitted and Ab Fab, chef Fabrizio Builiani’s mystery direct from Gatwick to Thessaloniki daily. 10 non-Orthodox permitted to land each day. My yellow permit, supplied in Ouranoupolis with a gigantic Brevetto head. Laid on the bed are complimentary white flip-flops. dessert. Frangon 2-4 (00 30 2310 532503; EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) flies from and arranged by Ekies, allows me ‘to visit the holy relics and venerate the holy places of I slip them on and walk to the beach. www.puntoes.gr) Gatwick to Thessaloniki four times a week. our faith’ and to be received as a pilgrim wherever I go – for up to four nights. There is no road to cross between hotel and sea. The tides here are minimal, a matter B The Byzantine Museum is an architectural It is an afternoon’s walk to my billet at Vatopedi. A cobbled track leads past a ruined landmark. After dark, it’s an elegant backdrop SUGGESTED rEADING of inches, making the water safe and shallow. Standing up to their knees a hundred yards for Mediterranean fare such as octopus The Station by Robert Byron (Tauris Parke, stone fountain through woods of maple and Spanish chestnut. The knobbly grey path is out, a nose-pink English couple gaze back across the rain-dampened bay like a pair of carpaccio and prawn and fennel ravioli. 2010); A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick like an elephant’s knee covered in moss; the only sound, the rustle of lizards in the dead bewildered flamingos. 23rd September St (00 30 2310 869695) Leigh Fermor (John Murray, 2004); Mount leaves. Unchanged since the first monks arrived in the ninth century, the vegetation is the This family-owned hotel is the creation of Alexandra Efstathiadou, a young woman Inglis It’s hard to find, but you’ll be rewarded Athos: Renewal in Paradise by Graham closest you will find to a natural landscape anywhere in southern Europe. At night, whose improbable and irrational dream is to end her days in Africa – which part of with exceptional mezze and a taste of bygone Speake (Yale, 2002). There are few detailed jackals are sometimes seen. Africa, she doesn’t yet know. Meanwhile, having studied interior design in London, Greece at this taverna in Ano Poli, maps of Mount Athos. The best is by Austrian Vatopedi, founded in 972, is the second oldest of Athos’s 20 monasteries and has been Thessaloniki’s charming old town. Irodotou 32 she spent nine years transforming the Ekies, a hotel she used to visit with her parents publisher Reinhold Zwerger and Klaus compared to a medieval walled village. Father Theano at the gate comes from Brisbane. (00 30 2310 206725) Schopfleuther. You can download the relevant as a child, into a showpiece for her own culture. ‘I want to present Greece through walking paths from the Friends of Mount Does he miss Australia? ‘The grace of God sustains you. You forget the past and keep an design and fabric. I want a history behind it, but in a modern way.’ She conveys the WHERE TO STAY Athos website (http://abacus.bates.edu). eye on the future.’ His Gold Coast accent filtered through his beard, he suggests I keep impression that she has become an adult trying to realise her childhood vision; also, Excelsior On a neo-classical corner site my passport and money on me. that she would like me to stay a week and never venture outside. And indeed you could smack in the centre of town, this has been WEAThEr To Go My room – two low beds, bare wood floor, fudge-coloured plastic slippers – is directly sensitively restored by the owners of Eagles Summer is sweltering; go between happily idle away the time at Ekies All Senses Resort, reading the latest Sebastian ? below the grander quarters where Prince Charles likes to stay. The window looks out on Faulks beneath the bullrush umbrellas; submitting to a massage in the spa cabana; Palace. Take breakfast on the roof terrace September and November; the sea a sloping stone courtyard in which are planted lemon and almond trees, the inner or mingle with fashionable locals in the is still warm and temperatures can reach sampling the local fish – grilled in the à la carte Spoon restaurant – and drinking Two balconies of the monastery buildings, painted blue and ox-blood (after the martyrs), and ground-floor bistro. 23 Mitropoleos  the high 20˚Cs. Olives red wine, from a small and exquisite vineyard whose owner lives on one of the over enclosed windows in which monks are busy mending shoes or door latches. On my

wind-nibbled islands opposite. Above left: on the ferry to Mount Athos; Opposite, the Chapel of the Holy Girdle second night I share with an elderly Greek who doesn’t speak English and snores. But impatience is scratching me. Over the top of some white plastic chairs, I have fortified tower at Ouranoupolis. Opposite:, at Vatopedi on Mount Athos, said to house Roused by a monk striking a wooden paddle, I go downstairs and into the main church

caught my first glimpse – as a pale outline in the haze – of the patriarchal shape of Mount St Panteleimon, the Russian monastery; neil gower a relic of the Virgin Mary; above, a visitors’ for vespers.

Athos, Halkidiki’s third finger. Father Matthew at Vatopedi monastery map: dormitory at the monastery Continued on page 145

116 119

TR32856.indd 10 15/7/10 11:48:26 TR32857_V3.indd 13 19/7/10 12:30:42