Kriopigi, Skendos Hotel

This hotel has a beautiful sweet dog chained up to a barrel,no fresh water or food no human contact,

Very very sad,

This hotel keeps a dog outside, chained to a barrel, he has no fresh food and no clean water.. the hotel owner has been known to empty his ashtray in the dogs space..

Until this dog is taken proper care of I will not visit this place !

Whilst holidaying in Kriopigi this year I became aware of a hunting dog, tied up 24 7 a few hundred yards from this hotel. I visited this dog every day. She was fed, but had no contact, no fuss. Her water bowl was an absolute disgrace full of mould and dirt with hardly any water. The owner of this hotel, her owner, even emptied his car ashtray out in front of her

We had a fantastic time in Halkidki, we packed a lot into our holiday, we went on 3 trips, should have been 4 but it rained hard that morning till 10am, so we gave it a miss as we didn't have coats.

The Alexander Trail, Royal Tomb of King Philip 2 Of Macedonia, Pella to see the Mosaics and Eddas Waterfall more later it was a 12hr round trip .

The Mount Athos Boat trip, (To see the monasteries)

And Kassandra tour ( villages, market). we did want to go on the sunset cruise but it clashed with the Mount Athos trip, and there wouldn't have been enough turnaround time in between.

We met a young couple, Jeff proposed to his girlfriend Tori (Victoria) on the sunset trip she accepted and they get married at Manchester City football club on the 24th May 2003. (He made it very romantic, he had already made all the arrangements for their wedding in secret)

Our Hotel was the Skendos Hotel in Kriopigi, (all the info we had it was called different names Skentos, Skento), our apartment was spacious and very clean the maid came every day, it is situated in the center of Kriopigi , all the staff were very friendly and helpful, it has a limited bar food menu serving snacks , toasted sandwiches, English Breakfast and the like.

There are about 12 tavernas in the village we tried 3, Nikos (twice), Anogi and the Acropolis (the portions here are massive)

The beach has beautiful golden sand and turquoise water it's a 15 mins stroll from our hotel down hill, it's a fairly steep walk up the hill, on the way back but there's a free council bus that goes to and from the beach also a yellow train bus, but the times vary as they all run GMT ( Greek Maybe Time) (HA-HA) maybe they'll come or maybe they wont, one day it didn't and we had to walk back up the hill.

We met an old lady, she was called Maria we spoke to her and her son who translated for us, she was crocheting a bedspread out of very fine cotton thread it had taken her 4 months to make so far and it was nowhere near finished, she was working on it every time we passed so I've no idea how many hours she must have spent on it, the detail on it was fantastic, flowers, leafs and a decorative border with a scalloped edge, what patients she must have.

Tavernas we tried

The day we arrived we tried Nikos taverna, I had pork meatballs and Julie had sword fish, when Julie ordered her sword fish a young woman came out of the back of the restaurant, got on a motor bike and rode off, when she returned a few mins later with a bag in her hand, she gave it to the chef, she had been out and got it from the local fishmonger down the road, fresh or what. Both meals were very nice, the chef sent us a complimentary sweet at the end of our meal it was very nice. The second time we visited this taverna, I quite liked my meal but Julie had meatballs and didn't care for them very much, there were two kinds of meatballs on the menu, pork meatballs and just meatballs Julie had the latter, during the meal a cat sat under my seat when a dog came over the cat attacked the dog they were fighting under my seat and I got grazed on my ankle.

The Anogi taverna is up in the old part of the village , up hill but easy going, The taverna was quite full when we left, but has more tables outside and in the village square. The waiter there was very funny making jokes all the time, he was having a laugh with us and all his customers, some had eaten there quite a few times, he kept chasing the cats away joking that if he caught one it would be on the menu, look out for 3 legged cats, (HA-HA) the meal was very good, I had lamb and Julie had a pasta dish and we had a bottle of wine, or did we ? or had the waiter been lucky that day, well we never saw any 3 legged cats, although we did see a 3 legged dog, no just kidding (HA-HA)

The Acropolis taverna was always full, the portions there are absolutely massive I had 2 very big bread crumbed pork steaks, served with chips, rice, carrots, peas, aubergine and corn, along with a Greek salad, all for 4.50 Euros, Julie had a 12" quatroni pizza with 4 different meats, mushrooms, tomatoes and onions, I had to take a doggy bag back to the hotel with me as there was so much. The waiter gave us a large ouzo each free at the end of our meal. Well worth a visit. They hold a Greek night there on Thursdays.

Our Trips Out

Our first trip out 7-15 am start was on the Alexander the great trail; we visited the wonderful mosaics and museum of the old city of Pella, 4 century BC, the birthplace of Alexander the great.

The palace complex is on the northernmost hill and consists of 3 units each containing several buildings arranged around a central court.

The Agora. Lies at the center of the city, includes an open central square surrounded by a stoa (portico and at one time had a colonnaded and roof), behind which, 4 rooms were organized in a row, probably shops or workshops for various products (food, clothes & vases). the north wing of the Agora had a more official, administrative character for the city council. At the southwest end of the complex are the archive of the city where the clay ceilings of papyri were discovered.

The mosaics are really detailed; in the house with the mosaic floors mosaics which depict the abduction of Helen, and another large mosaic of a stag hunt.

Our guide, she was fantastically knowledgeable on the history of the place explaining the complex water systems, streets and about life in those times, across the road we visited the museum where the center pieces of the mosaics from the royal palace that have been removed are on display, you are permitted to take photos in the museum but without a flash.

After seeing Pella we visited Eddas to see the waterfall, the water falls 75 ft, we went down some steps, it's easy walk back up as there's steps with flat in in between to the viewpoint. there you can go down a few more steps and walk underneath the waterfall. I took a photo of a young couple who were in the same hotel as ourselves, and also took a photo of Alan whom we met the night we arrived, Alan took the photo of Julie and I. we all went shopping in the bustling market place there.

Eddas is on the top of a hill so you can see panoramic views of the surrounding countryside

Next we went to Vergina, first we had lunch in a self service taverna, take what you want and when you want the bill the owner comes over and sits with you to discuss what you had to eat and drink then he wrote the bill out.

There we saw the tomb of King Philip 2 of Macedonia, there are 4 tombs in total, and again our guide was a fountain of knowledge, the site was excavated during the last century up until the present day, when the mound was fully excavated a roof was erected and the earth replaced, the whole mound is now an underground museum. Containing artifacts that where recovered during the excavations, including a gold box in which the body of Philip 2 was discovered ,also 2 gold head wreaths and other sacrificial remains such as chariots, horses, weapons and other personal belongings. No photos can be taken inside.

Our Mount Athos trip (Women or female animals haven't been allowed there for over 1000 years, men can apply to go there but it could take up to 3 years to get a permit from the Republic Of Mount Athos)

It was interesting to see the monasteries clinging to the hillsides, the boat we sailed in was a catamaran, it was a lot larger than we imagined, holding up to 1000 people, every time there was something to see everyone rushed over, it was very crowded and chaotic in the end we found ourselves a good place and stayed there until we started to sail to Ouranoupolis, we saw 10 or 12 monasteries as we passed one, a monk had something shinny and was flashing it in the sun as to say hello, we waved back, a small boat passed the 500 meter mark that you are allowed to go as close to the shore and they were towed off by the coastguard.

During our stop off at a village port Ouranoupolis, we went to a taverna we sat down and chose what we wanted, I went to the bar area to order our meal, there was a young girl who was getting drinks for customers, I asked her if you order food at the bar she said "yes", then I saw lots of people who came with us on the boat walking past me through the bar area and into the kitchen. After a while I noticed that the lady who was welcoming people into the taverna was speaking in German and pointing to the kitchen,( Halkidiki is a popular destination for German tourists) I joined the queue it was like queuing for school dinners again, when I got to the front of the queue I asked the man for what we had chosen the man said "meat or fish fixed menu", you had to slice your own bread on the way out of the kitchen, there was no price for this meal and it tuned out to be expensive compared to everywhere else we'd eaten almost twice as much although saying that the meal was okay, the taverna is up the hill and it's the first taverna on the left, I'd try somewhere else.

We went into a shop for cigarettes, there was a man trying to get some cigarettes he kept asking a very old man about 90 ish (who was looking after the shop for the shop keeper, as we left the shop the shop keeper returned) for what he wanted but the man spoke no English although he did speak German to the people who got served after us. I said to the man point to what you want, when it was my turn I went behind the counter and severed myself it was much easier (HA-HA-HA) the old man was having trouble with Euros too, so I gave him the right money. The man who was buying cigarettes, wife laughed with Julie, your husband had the right idea serve himself we all laughed and went back to the boat, (HA-HA).

When we where coming back on the boat we had good seats sat at the back of the boat on the top deck, as we got on the boat early. From there we watched the dolphins jumping out of the water as they followed the boat out to sea.

On our tour of Kassandra we visited lots of small unspoiled villages, Afitos was very nice ( in fact we are asking the price of property there). Along the way we saw fields and fields of cotton plantations, tobacco fields and drying sheds, and countless fruit trees, peaches, lemons, limes, pomegranates, kiwi fruit, grapes, apples, pears, tomatoes and many more, also we watched eagles circling in the sky.

We had a traditional Greek lunch in a taverna in a little fishing port, Nea Skioni the driver had his work cut out to get us into the little village as the streets were very narrow, the coach was inches away from the buildings.

After lunch we visited the church of miracles. We also went to Nea Fokea where there is a very small church Agios Pavlos, that was the place where Apostle Paul was reputed to have hidden, inside it was very small about 5 ft by 6 ft and about 6 ft high, go down a few steps and there is a narrow tunnel about 3 ft 6 inches high and about the same width it got narrower as we progressed along the passageway so you have almost crawl. At the end of the tunnel there's a well, turn right and you enter a cavern about 10 ft by 10 ft and 8 ft high, that was were the Apostle Paul is said to have taken refuge, it has icons and flickering candles, it's also lit with electricity now. It's a natural cave not manmade. The tunnel was originally connected by another tunnel that's now blocked to the the Byzantine tower which sits on the hilltop across the road, a beacon that a fire would be lit to warn locals that pirates and other such invaders, were approaching, then make their escape through the tunnel and into the cavern.

We also went o a beautiful beach with golden sand and clear water and had a swim for a hour. Then we went to a market town, but the market wasn't on that day as the local farmers where on strike, because the government had told them to have tills on their stalls and they didn't want them ! So we wandered around through the village finding all those little hidden streets and alleyways. We sat in a little taverna and had a coffee and watched the hustle and bustle of people passing by.

A couple of days we made up a hamper from the local super market and bakery, and went down to the beach and swam in the beautiful warm turquoise sea. One of the days we walked down the hill form the hotel, the other day (when we were on a coach trip) we saw a little path just outside Kriopigi, so we decided to give it a go, it took us down the hill through a pine forest to the beach, we walked back along the beach to Kriopigi about a mile. (that's the day the bus didn't come (GMT) (HA-HA), and we had to walk back up the hill to the hotel, it wasn't as hard as it looked or what people had said it was, it took us around, just over 20 mins at a leisurely stroll.

One young fellow who had been on the beach that day practicing his violin playing, kindly offered to send a taxi (there's no phone down there) down the hill to pick a lady up who couldn't have walked back up the hill, on the way up the hill we saw the taxi go down, what a nice guy !!!

Later that night we saw the lady in a taverna we were talking to her, we commented on how kind and thoughtful the young man had been, she agreed and said with relieve, she would buy him a drink or two when she saw him. He was on the same flight as us on our return home.

3 cheers for that man !!!