Greece – well finally I’ve found where future sunshine mini breaks will be!!
Yes – Greece in October is fine and dandy
I’ve only ever heard about the party islands or the gilded resorts on Santorini and so had crossed these off the preferred visit list. I wanted to enjoy the real and rustic country, in luxurious surroundings! Thankfully Mr P knew of the Peloponnese and this is where we headed…
Getting there was easy and whilst I can’t say I’m impressed with the reduced leg room the new BA Club Europe cabin affords, it did look and smell very nice and the cabin service seemed more akin to Club World which was good.
Flying into Athens we thought it silly not to at least spend one evening and night exploring!! We cashed in a reasonable amount of Starwood points for a junior suite at the sumptuous Grande Bretagne, a good plan! As a gold member we enjoyed an upgrade to the ‘butler floor’ and a beautiful deluxe suite! Massive treat! The hotel has a lovely rooftop pool which we spent some time at drinking obligatory ‘we’re on holiday’ fizz and splashing around in the sunshine!
Hotel Grande Bretagne – if it is good enough for Mrs Clooney…
As the day cooled into the evening we thought we had better take in some culture – heading up to the Acropolis and Parthenon. These afford stunning views across the city and also make you wonder how they were built without the help of cranes and helicopters!!
Acropolis, Parthenon and Plaka
We had supper in Plaka after ambling the streets of bars and gift shops, a lovely area of the city to visit! Mr P really knows how to spoil me – he took me for a kebab with decidedly dubious red wine… In any other country I would have been unimpressed but in a quaint Greek taverna with charming waiters, we loved if!! Unsurprisingly I didn’t manage to drink my litre of beer and I happily avoided the ouzo!! The ‘house’ red wine wasn’t actually too bad… I shut my eyes and it tasted just like rose!
Back at the hotel and a nightcap on the roof terrace looking over to the acropolis was of course called for. We were back there for breakfast too – our room number was acknowledged on arrival and got us a prime spot with a stunning view, sat in the sunshine with a lovely cooling breeze!
After breakfast we set off in our Corrado (thanks Avis – lovely car) for the Peloponnese and the real reason we’d come – to stay at the beautiful Kinsterna hotel. This is a gorgeous part of the world – we saw farmers still using donkeys in the area and there are olive trees as far as the horizon! The mountains are of an incredible size and the drive was thankfully easy and uneventful!!
The most loveliest of luxury boutique hotels
We visited the Kinsterna on behalf of The Lux Traveller and had the most wonderful time (click the link to enjoy a glowing review), the pictures almost do justice to it – stunning property and views, amazing service and food and incredible smells from all the plants that are grown! This hotel is basically ‘the’ hotel that I seek everywhere we go – the hunt will continue for more across the world!
When we weren’t languishing in our ‘residence‘ (a magnificent upgrade) or by the pool or drinking their fantastic wine (the rosé was gorgeous) we did actually do some exploring too!!
Exploring Monemvasia
The hotel has bicycles that are free to borrow and we enjoyed the 8km cycle down (remember that – down) to Monemvasia. It’s an easy ride (down) to Monemvasia and the views across to the rock are great. All cars and bicycles must be left outside the town walls which are about half way out along the rock. Then our real exploring began. We have visited lots of the ‘villages perche’ in the south of France and this was very much like that. Winding alley ways, stunning views between buildings and gorgeous architecture and little churches. There are also (happily) many little bars and tavernas and some have great sea views. We climbed as high as we could, up to a tiny little church built into the cliff – this gave us a great view of the town on the rock as well as building up a great appetite for another kebab and some dodgy local wine! The cycle back to the hotel was slower as it was uphill and even powered by wine it is still a slog, in some parts it was just easier to walk!
Monemvasia is very unique and stunning
On one day we drove further south to visit a prehistoric fossil forest – we didn’t really research this apart from its general location, and we almost missed it! Thankfully my geography degree prompted me to remember that the funny looking rock out-crops didn’t actually look like trees, and so we called up google images to helps us find what we were really looking for! Fascinating! One happy geographer and one happy Mr P who would have suffered from me being grumpy if we’d missed what we’d been looking for.
Fossils and beaches
Since we were down south and the skies were blue, we headed over to the beach island of Elefanosis. As it was the end of season it was very quiet and so there were only a few places open for lunch. After lunch of rose and pasta we headed for the beach and read our books in the sunshine. The weather did start to turn and so we headed back to the ferry and were inside the car when the heavens opened, making way for gorgeous blue skies that evening and the next day.
The hotel’s location is great for hiking – either strolling around the grounds, which include vineyards and olive groves or heading up the hills behind the hotel for better views. A great way to work up an appetite!
We were very sad to leave the Kinsterna – we really enjoyed everything about it and whilst we didn’t have unbroken blue skies throughout all of our stay, there was rarely a time when we couldn’t sit by the pool or on our balcony. Thankfully it being out of season that also meant the temperatures were perfect for energetic outings too!
Flying back home we had old Club Europe in the 2-2-2 formation – phew, plenty of leg room! Sadly there had been what we have assumed to be a large banker or traders conference in Athens and so the cabin was full of attendees jockeying for position of top dog (sigh)… The cabin crew managed their arrogant behaviour well, I went to sleep with happy holiday thoughts!
Gorgeous pool and views at the Kinsterna hotel
Awesome trip, a stunning place to visit and always reassuring to know I picked a career that is full of people I enjoy working with!!
Lovely shots =)
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Thank you! They don’t really do it justice!!
If you’re falling for Greece, then can I recommend my own blog “Ramblings From Rhodes”? I have lived on Rhodes for 9 years and counting.
Greece is one of my favorite places to visit. You should have tried the ouzo. It isn’t that bad as long as you like black licorice since that is what it taste like.
Author
Oh gosh, I couldn’t abide the smell and I don’t even like fennel! Mr P wanted to have a glass in the distillery, and they had a lovely wine menu too, but I couldn’t cope!! I need to man up!!
I am glad that you liked Greece and especially that you visited not the “obvious” touristic places.. Without being ibjective, because I am coming from Greece, I would say that this small country is very beautiful even during autumn and winter…Hope you will come to Greece again!!
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We will certainly be back, looking for more hidden gems! Autumn is perfect – still plenty of sunshine
I have been to Greece many times but only to the islands. I hope to go to the mainland at some point! Your pictures are beautiful!
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Thank you, highly recommend spending time here, we want to head further north too, so much to see
Super post Anna. I have Greece very much in my heart and mind, Paul is also there right now …and as I started going to the islands aged 13, and then did a season in Crete when I was 22…well the rest is history. I haven’t been to that amazing spot …and it looks heavenly. Your photos are especially good this time. 🙂
I loved reading about this post. Does anyone have any recommendations for a traveler on a budget? I want to visit Greece for about 5 weeks and backpack around, but I would accommodations that do require me to charge anything. Would love suggestions!
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Thanks Terea. I expect there is lots in this area as it isnt a well trod tourist one? Hope you find something…
What a lovely (work) vacation you had! We stayed at the Hotel Grand Bretagne when we were in Athens for a wedding. It was hotter than the hubs and unfortunately the pool was under construction. Looks like they finished it off beautifully. I read the review on the Kinsterna Hotel on the Lux Traveller. Wow, what a beautiful destination. I’m glad you two got to enjoy it together, it and the surrounding area exudes romance!
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The kinsterna was quite incredible!! Weather could have been warmer but then we would have missed cycling and hiking!!
I adore Greece and it’s great to hear you saw some different sides to her. However, I can’t believe you’ve written off Santorini! It’s an amazing little island with so much to offer from Oia, the gilded village you refer to, which is without doubt very beautiful to the much more rustic, authentic villages plus ancient ruins and lovely hikes through the country. And the food of course is fantastic but I’ve loved everywhere I’ve been to in Greece.
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I am sure we will visit Santorini one day 🙂 but liked the rustic piece we found for a first visit!! I think now we have seen greece it is easier to find the authentic places you know!!
I’ve never been to Greece and was really hoping to go this month for TBEX but it was just too much! Looks like you had a lovely time 🙂
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I hope you get another chance soon, there really is so much to explore, we only scraped the surface – but i was glad we went away from the usual areas. Stunning!!
Great pics! Did you guys go to Crete? We visited Crete and loved the quiet and scenic beaches around Matala – http://battlemountain.co/2014/10/14/photophiles-volume-iv-the-crete-edition/#comments
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Crete is on the list… all the islands are! This was just the mainland which was gorgeous as it is largely untouched by tourism!