Random Notes on BEACHES, FERRIES, DAILY BUDGET, TURTLES, TRAVELING WITH A DOG, ACCOMMODATIONS AND ROADS IN GREECE
OUR ROUTE AROUND GREECE AND MORE ABOUT THE EXPENSES – SEE HERE.
MORE ABOUT THE DOCUMENTS FOR ENTERING GREECE BY CAR, AS WELL AS ROAD FINES – READ IN THE ARTICLE HERE.
EXPLORATORY TOUR
Due to its proximity to Bulgaria, Greece has remained an overlooked destination for us. That is why in 2017 we decided to take a big tour of the Greek islands and see the most famous and beautiful Greek beaches. I had also set myself the goal to investigate whether indeed in our southern neighbor we would find somewhere a beach that closely resembles the scenery of the Similan Islands in Thailand, which we had visited a year earlier. The beaches of Similan had crystal blue and clean water, full of tropical fish and white velvety sand on the shore. Above all, the beaches were extremely gently sloping, which made them perfect for a family holiday. And since Greek beaches are quite famous all over the world, I set myself the goal to prove that there is no need to go to the other end of the world just and only to see the same beaches that you can see just half a day's drive away.
To cut a long story short, I will share the conclusions from my personal research: After touring the 20 most famous beaches located on the islands of Corfu, Lefkada, Cephalonia, and Zakynthos, I did not find an exact match. We saw quite a few WOW beaches with incredible blue and emerald water or with beautiful white and steep cliffs around, but these beaches either had a stony shore or were very steep, which made them extremely unsuitable for children. These are our brief conclusions from our exploratory tour of Greece. 🙂
Here is where you can read more about the beaches we passed through:
ITINERARY FOR CORFU IS. TRAVELOGUE FOR ISLAND OF LEFKADA
ITINERARY FOR CEPHALONIA IS. TRAVELOGUE FOR ISLAND OF ZAKYNTHOS
DAILY BUDGET
And so, let's start from the very beginning… Since our trip was shaping up to be around 20 days and from a financial point of view, we were faced with the choice of whether to shorten the days and places to visit or rather set ourselves some exact budget that we wouldn't exceed. The budget we set for two adults + two children + a dog was barely 25 euros a day… And now I can already picture your reaction and your super open, unbelieving eyes. 🙂
The truth is that we managed to fit into this budget, as 80% of the time we cooked in the apartment, and the remaining 20% we got something like gyros or sat at a restaurant. We managed to stick to this budget with the caveat that it happened, for example, one day to spend more than the daily budget at the expense of the following day, when the spent amount was less.
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FERRIES IN GREECE
It was expected along our route through the Greek Ionian Islands to board as many as 5 ferries. The average price for two adults + two children + the dog and the car was about 120 levs per ferry.
The tickets for the Igoumenitsa (Greece) – Lefkimmi (Corfu) ferry could be bought in advance no earlier than 20 days before departure. There was no problem buying them on the spot at the port, since there are enough ferries from Igoumenitsa to Lefkimmi, and to the capital of Corfu – Kerkyra.
The tickets for the Nydri (Lefkada) – Fiscardo (Kefalonia) ferry were confirmed in advance by email, but we paid for them on the spot before departure, as there was no option to buy them in advance. Keep in mind that the ferries are small and it's good not to leave buying tickets for the last moment.
The tickets for the Pessada (Kefalonia) – Agios Nikolaos (Zakynthos) ferry were paid entirely online, as well as the last ferry from Zante (Zakynthos) to Kyllini (Greece). Generally speaking, we looked at what we could pay in advance to do so, in order to carry less cash with us.
We also had one unpleasant incident with the last ferry – the one from Zakynthos island to Kyllini. Just as we had boarded the ferry, along with all other passengers and vehicles, and at the minute when the ferry was supposed to depart, an announcement was made over the loudspeaker that due to a technical problem this ship was not going to travel today and we had to move to the neighboring one! Imagine what a crowd of people and cars formed in front of the second ship, as it had to accommodate passengers from both ships, not to mention the delay with which we arrived in Kyllini…
LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLES (CARETTA-CARETTA)
From the Caretta-Caretta loggerhead sea turtles on the islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos, thousands of euros are earned annually. The interesting thing about the turtles is that they live in the sea, but lay their eggs on certain beaches on the islands of Kefalonia and Zakynthos. Even more interesting, however, is that when baby turtles hatch from these eggs, they go to live in the water, and when the time comes for them themselves to lay their eggs, they do it right on the same beach where they hatched. Nowadays, all this thing about turtles is very commercialized and often they become victims of pushy tourists. Therefore, access to the beaches where they lay their eggs is restricted and entering the beach is prohibited from sunset to sunrise, so that they can undisturbed lay their eggs without anyone distracting, scaring, or photographing them. Another interesting fact about these turtles is that after laying their eggs, they dig a hole in another place, hoping in this way to confuse predators.
ACCOMMODATION IN GREECE
Something we insisted on regarding the accommodation was the availability of a kitchen or kitchenette inside the room/apartment. The average price of apartments along our route was about 40 euros/night for everyone. I booked the hotels through Booking.com and Hotels.com. Another mandatory condition when choosing a hotel was the free admission of pets, because we were traveling with a dog, after all. Traveling with a dog, no one gave us a problem about him, they just gave us slightly more tucked away and remote rooms. What, however, disappointed me in all apartments during our Trip around the Ionian Islands was that in the description of the hotels it said there is a kitchen. And in fact, when you get there and start cooking some basic dishes and something is missing – if there is a hotplate, then a frying pan will be missing; if there is an oven, then a baking pan will be missing or there will be a baking pan, but there won't be an oven; or you will have all this, but then there won't be utensils to stir or eat with. We will certainly take this into account for future vacations in Greece.
–> Browse and book with discount a budget hotel on the island of Corfu. See HERE!
WITH A DOG IN GREECE
First we had decided to take our dog Charlie with us – a medium-sized white fluffy ball who likes to eat plasticine and hates beans J After that, however, we got mad at him and refused to take him… And literally on the last day, on the day we were leaving, we decided we would take him and had to quickly get him an international passport and give him internal and external deworming, without which there was no way to leave the country's borders. The truth is, however, that at no border – neither the Bulgarian nor the Greek one, anyone looked at the dog's passport or even cared what this is, why we are taking it out and whether it has all the necessary vaccinations, etc. Regarding the ferries, I had read in advance that dogs had to wear a muzzle. Our Charlie got so scared of these ferries that I had to drag him through the whole ferry. The dog didn't cause us any problems, except that when we let him run freely on the beach, we later found him on the neighboring beach, barking at another dog..:)
WEATHER IN JUNE
The weather during our entire trip was wonderful. Only two days it rained and that for a short time. The remaining days it was sunny and even – hot. The water temperature from the very beginning was completely suitable for swimming and not a single one of us four was cold.
ROADS IN GREECE
Greece has a well-organized transport system – all major cities are connected by highways. The highways in Greece are wide, calm regarding traffic and in many places there are series of tunnels. The roads on the Greek islands, however, are a different story. They are mostly single-lane. Since the islands are more mountainous than flat, the situation with the roads is complicated even more – very sharp turns and very narrow roads. Several times we drove on such, where only and exclusively one car can pass and at the turns it was necessary to beep to make sure there is no one from the other end.
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