Hello hello! I’m back! Today I want to tell you about Chalkida which is a beautiful city by the sea near Athens, Greece. It is also called the “city of mad waters” so tag along and I’ll explain you why!
After we visited Athens for 3 days back in September, we were heading to Chalkida to spend one more relaxing week at the beach.
First of all, I am pretty sure you’ve never heard of this city until now because it really isn’t such a touristic place. You won’t even find a single magnet to buy as a souvenir, I can guarantee that :)) Also, the menus at the restaurants are mostly written in Greek. But that’s ok, because this way you get to feel the true authenticity of Greece.
Chalkida is very close to Athens – 80 km to be more specific. It’s on the Evia island, therefore you’ll find many super nice beaches. Oh and the water… Ayayayyyy! You’ll really have to see it by yourselves. 🐳⛵
So why the “city of mad waters”? Oh well, Chalkida is particularly famous for the tidal phenomenon. This is super interesting and I’ve never heard of something like this before!
The tidal phenomenon of Chalkida, observed in the famous Evripos Channel, is a very rare phenomenon of a change of direction in the flow of the sea currents. This phenomenon has provoked the admiration and interest of humans from ancient times, not only from an astronomical and geophysical perspective but also a philosophical one.
So let me explain you exactly how it works! The natural flow of the current towards one direction lasts 6 hours. Immediately afterwards follows a time frame of approximately 8 minutes when the waters remain dormant.
After the dormancy of those 8 minutes the waters change their orientation and move in the exact opposite direction for another 6 hours. Say WHATTTT??? This is kind of awesome, right? Also, this interminable process through time has no beginning and end.
In the picture above you can see how the water is practically divided and how one part of the water is heading a different direction from the other part of the water.
Ok, so now that we’ve clarified this important aspect of Chalkida, let me just tell you how we’ve spent one week in this beautiful Greek island!
On our DAY 1 we’ve arrived pretty late in Chalkida… because we stayed in Athens the whole day. We arrived by train (6.50 Euros ticket price) at around 10 PM and our nephew, who is living here, was supposed to expect us at the train station.
However, we had to wait for him because he was at work. He works in the port and transports fish in many cities around. Transports like this take place no matter the time of day or night. Whenever he receives a call, he has to go.
No worries, while we were waiting for him, we decided to eat some gyros at Tupas Grill just near the old bridge in Chalkida. The bridge opens up every night and lets the bigger boats cross from one part of the sea to the other. This makes the place even more interesting, right?
DAY 2. Woke up and went directly TO THE BEAAACH! We stayed at our nephew’s place so we literally didn’t have to pay anything for the accommodation. *cough cough* the best thing of having relatives abroad… YAAAY
This is where he lives and… guess what?! You even have sea views from there because the house is located up on a hill. I wouldn’t bother living here for the rest of my life :))) *sigh*
What I like the most in Chalkida is that there are so many beautiful beaches to choose from. But our favorite one is in Drosia – 10 minutes by car from the city center!
Here you don’t have to pay for a sunbed, you only have to buy something from the many beach bars along the sea. However, you can also bring your own beverages and stay wherever you want. Being September, the beach wasn’t crowded at all, as I’ve seen it before in our previous years when we were there in July or August. And also the weather was absolutely perfect!
We ate daily at our nephew house with my sister in law preparing traditional Greek food. So we were spoiled every day! #OMNOMNOM
By night, there are so many beautiful places to spend your time! Try one of your favorite cocktails or get a custom cocktail at any shop in downtown’s paralia/promenade where locals drink, chat, and dance until 4 AM. We sure know that the Greeks are real party people! Walk along the promenade and embrace the diversity in options for breakfast, lunch, or dinner while taking in breathtaking panoramic views.
DAY 3. Went again TOOO THE BEACH! In fact this is something we did every day but we just found different spots to spend our time.
That night we went into the city center and made some shopping. There are lots of shops there and you won’t get bored, trust me!
DAY 4. On this day we went back in Athens because my sister in law had something to solve there so my cousin and I took advantage of this and went to the Plaka market again. We made a little more shopping cuz that’s just what girls do! As all of you know, I’m pretty sure :))
In the afternoon, we went again in Drosia for the beach and stayed there until the sun went down. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves…
DAY 5. After we woke up and had our breakfast, we went to Chalkida’s citadel which is right up on a hill. From there, you can visualize the entire city and also visit the inside of the citadel + the museum there (no entry fee). You can get there by car so no worries… However, if you would like to climb until the citadel, it’s actually easy peasy.
My advice is to also go round outside the citadel because there are few amazing spots where you can see the city beneath.
We then went down to the Paralia to eat something because it was already noon. No gyros for that particular day. Can you believe it? Hahaha.
I admit, I am a GYROFREAK. I always gain weight while visiting Greece. But that’s a compromise I make and I guess it’s totally worth it! Hmmm… or maybe not?
In the afternoon, we went to the beach AGAAAIN! I am so sorry that I cannot name all the beautiful spots we’ve seen around the city. But it’s always more interesting to discover them by yourselves!
After that, we went to the city center where there is this awesome terrace with awesome sunset views. Here, many young “Chalkidians” are hanging around, drinking beers and having a good time.
DAY 6. We just went again to Drosia because as I told you before, that’s the beach we loved the most. That day the water was super clear! It had the perfect blues…
After that, we went home and prepared ourselves for… a new adventure. Meaning that we decided to go to Limnionas that night and stay awake until the sunrise! My nephew told me that in Limnionas you can spot some of the most beautiful sunrises ever. So I was really excited by this!
We had to wait for our nephew to finish his work that night and I remember it was pretty late when he came back in the city to meet us. We’ve made our shopping earlier that day and bought a lot of beers, a lot of sandwiches, grabbed our freezer bags, filled them up with ice and we then just hit the road!
Limnionas is an extraordinary place on the Evia island which the Greeks like to keep it only for themselves. This is one of their little paradises that they actually don’t want to share with a lot of tourists. Many Greeks go there camping and stay there for many days enjoying perfect sunrises everyday, the beach and the surroundings, the peace and quiet.
The road itself until getting there is in a pretty bad condition, but my nephew told me that they especially don’t rehabilitate the road to keep that place only for themselves, as I already mentioned before. But it’s totally worth it, because I can assure you that once you’ll get there, you will be entirely amazed!
Forgot to tell you that it’s a mountain road and there are a lot of serpentine so it was kind of hard to get there into the night. I guess we made approximately 2 hours until our destination.
But once we’ve got there… OH WOW! I mean… OH WOOOW!!! I hope I can use the proper words to make you feel what I felt. It was so so so quiet… you could even hear your own breath. And the sea was also very calm and still. Oh and the moon… the moon was exactly above the water illuminating the entire sea… it was so serene! I am so sorry I didn’t take a photo of that moment but I guess I was too mesmerized and just wanted to enjoy that feeling and didn’t think of anything else.
DAY 7. The moment has arrived! The sunrise is here! We’ve spent a couple of hours talking and drinking some wine until the first light of dawn. And when the whole place has been enlightened… then the magic happened! We could then see how beautiful the entire place really was.
Being really tired because we didn’t sleep at all that night… we found another place under a tree to have some shadow and we just… slept there :)) zzZZZzzzzZZZzzz
The road back to Chalkida was very surprising because on our way there we couldn’t see how beautiful it was, being night already. Below are some photos we took on the road. Enjoy!
After arriving back in Chalkida, we went to the Paralia and found a place to spend our last night there ;(
Our nephew bought for us some traditional shots that were made from a plum brandy. They were served hot and with honey. Never drank something like this before… I mean, the drink is super hot and you can’t really feel how strong it is because of the honey that melts in your mouth at the end. Pretty cool! Can’t wait to try some of these again!
DAY 8. Time to go back home in Romania! But WHYYYYYY?! ;(
Our nephew had to go to work that morning so he couldn’t take us to the airport in Athens. We took a bus named KTEL, paid 7 Euros each as far as I recall and after 1 hour and 20 minutes we were in Athens at Kato Patisia metro station.
We had our GOODBYE GYRO at a terrace nearby haha and then took the metro to the airport. That was the moment when we finally realized our vacation was over… Arrrgh!
Bye bye Greece! See you soon! PS: I LOVE YOU :))) I DO. I REALLY DO!
Until next time,
Andreea.
- Our stay in Chalkida: 10.09.2017 – 17.09.2017
- Bucharest – Athens and return flight: Ryanair 175 Euros
- Transfer to and from the airport: 30 Euros
- Accommodation: Nephew’s place ❤
- Total: 205 Euros as a couple
PS no 2: If you are using booking.com to find the best accommodations like I do, then you should use the following link to receive 10% of your money back on your next travel! It’s a win-win situation… so why not?
https://www.booking.com/s/34_6/e222dd81
Thank you!
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