Yasou Halkidiki!

Kalimera, one and all! When I signed off just over a week ago, we were about to jet off to the Halkidiki peninsula on the Greek mainland on what was to be our first package holiday in years. After walking to the station we caught the train to Birmingham International, dropped off our bag, had our customary pint in Wetherspoons before we boarded our TUI flight. 

Our departure had been delayed for two and half hours and with the two hour time difference by the time we'd passed through arrivals at Thessaloniki airport it was 10.30pm. We were directed to our coach and ninety minutes later the driver came to a halt, pointed out a rough track and told us that our accommodation, Ammos, was at the end of it. After negotiating a series of broken stone steps down a steep cliff in total darkness we discovered, to our dismay, that the hotel was locked up for the night and the sign outside read Amminos not Ammos, it was the wrong bloody one! With no contact details for TUI we turned to our phones discovering that our correct destination was just over two kilometres away. Luckily, only having a small bag between us, Jon & I were able to help carry the luggage of Alan, a widower in his 80s and Carla, a young woman travelling with her two year old son. It was quite a spectacle, a gaggle of tourists dragging suitcases along the main road in the early hours of the morning. The few locals around couldn't resist whipping out their phones to record the sight (after confirming that we were heading in the right direction). Between us we agreed that although it wasn't the greatest start to our holiday it couldn't have been a better way to get to know each other.*

When we reached Ammos we were warmly welcomed by owner Christina and her twin daughters who asked where on earth we'd been, they'd expected us over three hours ago. TUI hadn't even bothered to let them know that our flight had been delayed! Excitement over, we bade our fellow guests (and new friends) goodnight, unpacked our bags and sat on the balcony drinking wine until late into the night. 

Anyway delays and coach cock-ups aside, on to the holiday. Ammos is one of TUI's Small & Friendly destinations and despite only being a two-star it's the top rated place to stay in the area. With 24 self-catering apartments with a swimming pool (not that we used it - who needs a pool when you've got the crystal clear Aegean on your doorstep?) As a base it suited us perfectly - a balcony, a functioning shower, a comfy bed, somewhere to hang our clothes and all we needed to prepare our fruit and yoghurt breakfasts, make tea and keep our rum & cola cold. The rooms were cleaned every day and the beach, tavernas and supermarket were a few minutes walk away.

The Halkidiki peninsula in the prefecture of Macedonia is divided into three prongs, Mount Athos, Sithonia and Kassandra. We stayed on the westernmost peninsula, Kassandra in the town of Polychrono which, in ancient times, was known as Neopolis.

 Surrounded by pine forests, Polychrono has a seven kilometre long, white sand beach. Many of the town's nine hundred residents are also farmers and we met lots of men called Demetrius (named in honour of Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest). Every house in the town seemed to have a tractor parked outside! By law all buildings have to have a terracotta tiled roof and not exceed three storeys making the view very easy on the eye!

We'd been to the Greek mainland twice before, earlier this year when we'd travelled to Athens and over twenty years ago when we'd spent a blissful fortnight in Agios Ionnis in Pelion (but since discovering that Stanley Johnson owns property there we've been put off from ever returning for fear of bumping into BoJo in a pair of budgie smugglers). 

As always I'd spent ages researching Halkidiki before we booked, pouring over travel forums and review sites and giggling at the comments. When I read complaints about the lack of English newspapers & TV channels, nowhere to get a curry and - my favourite - a dreadful place, they wouldn't turn the TV on so we could watch the rugby and it was full of cats - I had a feeling Polychrono was the place for us!

One comment I read was that the beach wasn't up to much. Obviously the annual Blue Flag Award wasn't good enough.

Apparently it was too busy and you couldn't find anywhere to sit...

And the sea was too cold for swimming....

Funny that, we managed quite okay.

The funniest had to be that Halkidiki didn't look very Greek.

Blue shutters, cats galore, olive groves, Orthodox churches, stone houses, pots of geraniums, terracotta tiles, gingham table cloths, painted wicker chairs....what were they expecting, Jason & The Argonauts, Nana Mouskouri and the cast of Mamma Mia? 

I'll be back soon very soon to let you know whether there was any truth in the comment There's nothing to see and nothing to do in Halkidiki.

*As an act of goodwill, as soon as TUI heard about the driver's error they immediately refunded all fifteen of us 12% from the cost of the holiday.