These were the first words on the lips of myself and my esteemed friend, Mester Craig Sumner, as we strode onto the sandy beach at Karavi in Greece! We were surrounded by around 100 incredibly tanned Greeks all glistening under the brilliant sunshine of a hot Greek day in August, and I have never felt so white! But that was the first day... within a week we sort of blended in a little (apart from both of us having sort of dark blonde hair and a severe lack of Greek fluency!).
So why is this place such a Mecca for the tanned, beautiful and hip? Because the beach is sponsored by surf/skate/ski clothing giants Quiksilver!!!
Situated about 8km from Marathonas, 42km from Athens and just down the road from the large lake that will be used for the rowing events of the Olympic Games in 2004, the 100m stretch of sand, Karavi (or KapaBi as it reads in Greek) has been running as a watersports beach club since 1979. However way back then it was little more than a stretch of sand, nowadays it is a fully-fledged beach resort!
Parking Before you get to the beach you have to park your car or Scooter! (You could arrive by bus but it would be a good hours walk from the nearest bus stop!). The turning for the beach is just off the main road and easily noticeable due to about 10,000 Quiksilver flags billowing all around and also a rather large yellow ship’s mast! As you enter, a funny little man (go there, you’ll see what I mean!) will hand you a card with the number of people you arrived with on, the idea of this is that when you buy something you get the card stamped and your parking is free, if you don’t buy anything you have to pay a small fee when you hand the card over as you leave. You can then proceed to the shaded parking area which has 1600 spaces.
You may notice another funny little man cycling round in a red T-shirt – he’s the parking attendant ho will check you don’t hog two spaces!
Beach 100m of golden sand and beautiful blue sea! There are about 200 sun-loungers (if you ever go please bring one back for me – they are sooo cool!). You will have to pay 1000 Drachma (£2) for the privilege of using them but it’s well worth it – plus you get the bonus of being able to gaze at the EXTREMELY handsome young man who collects the dosh!
Watersports At one end of the beach there is a little watersports hut. Here you can go along and book a session of water-ski-ing, catamaransailing, tubing, windsurfing or wakeboarding! The prices are really reasonable for the amount of fun that you can have! We went tubing twice everyday and paid 2500 Drachma a time (about £5). If sitting in a rubber-ring and clinging on for your life whilst being dragged behind a motorboat is your idea of fun then this is a must for you! It was hilarious! I do recommend you use the sit in tubes though rather than those where you lie down (which cost an extra 500 Drachma), because they require a lot less strength. I could barely cling onto the other rings and falling off all the time wasn’t so much fun! Windsurfing costs £16 for an hour, with ½ hr tuition, I’m not too sure on the other prices, but as I said before they are reasonable.
Beach Volleyball/5-a-side Football In between the beach and the car park is a very impressive volleyball and 5-a-side football area complete with scaffolding stand heavily endowed with Quiksilver flags and banners. There is one dedicated football area, which doubles up as an exhibition volleyball court, plus another four volleyball courts. The sand is carefully kept and you will often see the attendants out watering it and grooming it! It’s free to play and there are nearly always people about inviting you over for a game. On top of this there is a multi-purpose Astroturf pitch!
Beach Aerobics I couldn’t leave this out of a review! On our first visit to the beach, we strode out (feeling white) and looked up and down the beach, to our right we saw what appeared to be a small fishingvillage about a mile away, to our left... A HERD OF PEOPLE IN THE SEA WAVING THEIR ARMS!!!!!!! Yes you guessed it, we’d walked in on a beach aerobics session! Everyday at lunchtime, a lycra clad lady clambers onto her little platform with microphone in hand and waits for her rather muscular chums to come along and roll the platform into the sea. Once there she summons everyone on the beach into the sea for an hour of water aerobics! Half get up and make their way over, the other half look rather bemused and roll over to check out the fuss. The first herd make their way into the sea and before you know it the sea gets very choppy due to about 500 people jumping up and down in the water in time to the music and the bouncy Greek lady on her platform (and she never even gets wet!!!). It’s really good fun to join in and work off your lunch, and even more fun to watch. I’ve never seen anything like this before! For an idea of what I mean, check out the pics on the website!!!
Cafe There is a large open cafeteria here serving loads of different food at extremely reasonable prices! You can get the most gorgeous chicken burgers for 250 Drachma – about 50p, then there are fresh salads, baguettes, chips, hot dogs, pizza, lots and lots of choice. The drinks are really cheap too at approx. 600 Drachma (about £1.20) for a bottle of beer. TIP: Get the freshly squeezed orange juice – it’s lovely, and then you get to watch the coolest machine ever that I really want for my new kitchen, there is a big basket of oranges on top of the juicer and when the lever on it is pulled two oranges roll out of the basket into the juicer, juice comes out of the bottom and the oranges are thrown to the side – it rocks! Also, they serve Carib Beer (the beer of the Caribbean), it’s is the nicest lager ever! For a relaxing lunch sit on the sundeck and enjoy the scenery either on the ocean, on the volleyball court or just in general ;o).
Bar The bar is right on the beach front and serves all types of drinks, cocktails the lot and a small variety of snacks e.g. peanuts and delicious tortilla chips, once again at very reasonable prices. Look out for any special promotions! When we were there the Smirnoff Ice girls where there everyday at around lunchtime. When you bought a bottle (or two ;o)) of Smirnoff Ice the bartender will give you the lid, which you take to the girls. Then, depending on the day you may have to answer a general knowledge question, or get a scratch card and if you’re successful (which I think nearly everyone is!) you will win something. We won, a baseball cap and beachball! Craig said the general knowledge competition must have been the easiest ever... basically because the question was in Greek so we couldn’t read it, so the lady just went, “Well done you won this cap!” Hoorah for us! As you see there are advantages to knot understanding the local lingo! Oh and don’t forget to get that parking ticket of yours stamped!
Shop As you would expect from a sponsored beach there is a Quiksilver shop, the range isn’t huge and if you need to ask the assistant anything, bare with her while she runs off into the cafe to grab her friend who understand English... once she knows what you’re on about she’s very helpful though (I did feel rather ignorant (and guilty – poor girl was worn out by the end of the fortnight hehe) not knowing much Greek though!). The prices aren’t cheap, but anyone who is a huge fan of Quiksilver such as myself, will not mind paying because they will know how excellent the quality is. I haven’t grown since I was 11 (still stuck at a measly 5”2) and now at the age of 19 I can still wear Quiksilver clothes I had bought 8 years ago! The only problem is I have worn some T-shirts so much that the sun has faded them slightly! TIP: Grab some free stickers off the counter! I got a tonne of Quiksilver, Roxy and even a few KAPABI VOLLEYBALL stickers for friends back home lol – they look great in the back of your car... or on your new fridge (where a few of mine are, hehe).
Loos As strange as it may sound the loos, which are situated by the car park, here can be quite fun. The toilets here are impeccably clean, and have flushing water and all that. The ladies loo is a wee bit boring and far too “loo-like” the gents, however, is a completely different kettle of fish! Maybe you are wondering how they say so amazingly clean? WELL... just outside the gents there is a little room, guarded by a strange old lady with a mop. Should anyone attempt to pass her with sandy feet or shoes she will pounce on you and start beating you with her mop – no joke! I stood outside the gents once waiting for Craig when about three men sprinted out with the old lady chasing them and brandishing her mop! Honestly this was even more amusing than the cleaner we had in Spain who boundeds into our room at 6am one morning, take one look at the empty bottles strewn everywhere (it was like an empty version of Thresher’s!), put her hands to her head, scream, “Aye Maria”, then run out and slam the door!
Special Events Being a sponsored area (and with the Rip Curl sponsored beach – which is half way as good – about 100m down the road... or beach depending on which way you walk lol), there are a great number of events happening throughout the year. This past year they have held the Greek beach volleyball and beach soccer champs, the Miss ReefBrazil Bikini Contest (which we saw televised on TV whilst we were in Athens), the Roxy Wakeboard tour and numerous other events. Although we didn’t see an event when we were there, Craig’s father (who lives and works in Greece), told us that they are well worth a visit – great fun, great atmosphere, the possibility of being on TV and of course tonnes of freebies!
HEALTH WARNING: This beach is full of super-tanned, good-looking and topless people! Take a deep breath before entering. There are also a load of older Greeks not afraid to show off there Ouzo-filled bellies and hairy chests, so even if you aren’t super-brown don’t worry, juts get over there and enjoy the fun!
Want more info, want to find out when the next big events are, or just fancy a nose? Check out www.karavi.gr (don’t worry the site is in English!)
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I've been on this beach , but out of season, so didn't see any of the antics you describe. I'll have to visit again in the summer and take a look! Tania
alexandrapontecaille 10.01.2002 21:17
some funny bits in that very well explained and detailed review
Alex
Versatile 05.01.2002 17:07
Wonderful piece ~ Welcome to my C.o.T ~ Thanks Versatile :O)
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Oct 21st, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
