Peloponnese (Greece)

...lovely little town in the Peloponnese called Tolo, or Tolon depending on which map your looking at.

To be honest I wasn't sure we would enjoy ourselves. My last 2 holidays have been all inclusive and we were going B & B to Tolo, which meant we had to fend for ourselves. My main concern was - did we have enough money? I had no idea of the prices over there or anything.

The holiday was originally planned to be a birthday ...
...see, Corinth Canal divides the Peloponnese from Mainland Greece and so bus loads of tourists cross this road every day - and night.

We were soon on the road again, and I was soon asleep. As dawn loomed I started to wake up, just as we were driving through Nafplion. The first thing I saw was the ruin of a castle overlooking the city - a spectacular sight! As dawn drew closer, more and more of the scenery started to appear - mountains ... more

As some of you already know, I got married last year in the Bahamas. To celebrate our 1st wedding anniversary we went to a lovely little town in the Peloponnese called Tolo, or Tolon depending on which map your looking at.

To be honest I wasn't sure we would enjoy ourselves. My last 2 holidays have been all inclusive and we were going B & B to Tolo, which meant we had to fend for ourselves. My main concern was - did we have enough money? I had no idea of the prices over there or anything.

The holiday was originally planned to be a birthday present for my husbands brother Dave, but because it fell over our anniversary we decided it could be a joint celebration.

So off the three of us trotted to Greece.

As soon as we landed in Athens I was surprised by the size of the Airport - it was huge and actually really nice. I know that sounds a little strange of me to say, but the airports in the Bahamas and in Morocco were really basic, so it made a nice change.

We were greeted by our rep from Kosmar as soon as we got our bags and directed outside to the coaches were another rep made sure we got on the right bus.

Its a three hour transfer to Tolo from Athens and as we landed at 3.30am local time everyone on the bus was soon asleep. We stopped off halfway through the journey for a coffee break. I thought this a bit bizarre - after all who would be open at 4.30 in the morning? But the place we stopped at was Corinth Canal, a major tourist spot and the ideal location for a cafe to be open 24 hours. You see, Corinth Canal divides the Peloponnese from Mainland Greece and so bus loads of tourists cross this road every day - and night.

We were soon on the road again, and I was soon asleep. As dawn loomed I started to wake up, just as we were driving through Nafplion. The first thing I saw was the ruin of a castle overlooking the city - a spectacular sight! As dawn drew closer, more and more of the scenery started to appear - mountains everywhere, lovely houses and ruins dotted all over.

About 15 minutes later we were in Tolo. The bus started to pull up to Hotels and let guests off. The Rep actually went in to your Hotel with you, which I thought was a nice touch. Soon it was our turn. We got our luggage and followed the rep down a big slope to The Hotel Aris - our home for the next two weeks. We all headed up to our rooms. It was about 7am by this point and we were understandably very tired.

The first thing I always do is go staight to the window and check out the view. Pulling open the french doors and throwing back the shutters I stood there literally stunned at what I saw. It was breathtaking. The hotel was right on the beach and our room was a side seaview. The mountains curved round to the left and followed the horizon as far as we could see. Islands dotted the blue water, and the sun was rising right in front of us, and as it was a bit misty, the colours were just amazing. We ran to Daves room to see his view. His was a front seaview and it was just brilliant.

*** INTRODUCTION TO TOLO ***

After a few hours sleep we decided to explore a bit of the town. There is only one main road in Tolo which works on a one way system so you don't have to worry too much about traffic, but the road isn't that busy anyway. There are little streets leading off but all the shops are mainly on that one road. At one end we have the Harbour, our hotel was five minutes walk from there. Cars turn right here up a very steep hill and go around Tolo and back down to the Beach, you get some beautiful views of Tolo from up there. As Tolo was originally a fishing town Boats are dotted all along the seafront and bigger boats are moored at the Harbour. If you walk down the road back through Tolo you come to the other end, a lovely sandy beach were there are plenty of sunlounges available, but at a price. I would say that from the Harbour to the Beach is less than 1 mile, so its all within easy walking distance and compact.

The beach runs right along the front from the Harbour to the big beach, but its not very wide, however it is solid so it doesn't get into your shoes! What I found really fun was that this strip of beach was like another main road. Hotels, including ours, actually had their front on the beach and the way in from the road was the back of the hotel. Aslo, mopeds sometimes used the beach to dart from one end to the other. As I said before the beach wasn't very wide in some places as it is being eroded quite badly, but you can always find somewhere to sunbathe and most hotels like ours had free sunbeds for you to use anyway (that is if you can get up early enough to beat the Germans to them)lol.

*** EATING OUT ***

You would never go hungry in Tolo. There are lots of Taverna's and Restaurants dotted all over. There are plenty down the main road, but if you fancied a romantic stroll down the beach, there are also loads down there. You really are spoilt for choice. We were there for 2 weeks and we barely scratched the surface lol.

We found a few taverna's/restaurants that we really liked though.

The first one was on the main road as you left our hotel, just on the right. I can't remember the name of it but it was really cosy. You could eat inside, outside but under a wooden roof, or outside completley on the rooftop. Prices there were fantastic and the quality of food was really good. A litre of white wine was about 3 euros 50 cents. Dishes ranged from about 4 euros 50 cents to about 9 euros - depending on what you wanted. I always went for the Carbonara as it was lovely!

Another place we really liked was called The Romvi, after one of the islets nearby. This place was very similar in price to the other, but the drink was cheaper. This was a taverna on the beach so you could eat either upstairs looking out over the sea or on the beach itself. All open air but they did put the wind shields up if it got a bit blustery! Another reason why I loved this place was they gave you a customary free shot of brandy after your meal - apparently its a Greek Tradition but its the only place we found that did it. So as you can imagine we ate there a few times :)

The place I loved was called Maria's Restaurant. It was quite expensive compared to the other places we ate at but worth every penny. It was in the middle of Tolo on the corner of a tight bend. Part of the restaurant was overlooking the sea and the other was on the opposite side of the road. It was here we chose to eat, sat on the veranda with vines wrapped around the poles and in candle light. Very romantic. The food was fantastic. It was about 10 euros each for our meal plus 11 euros for our bottle of wine.

One thing you should know, incase you ever go there or anywhere in Greece, is that they bring out a bowl of bread and butter for you - but this is not free. Its about 1 euro to 1 euro 50 depending on where you eat.

*** NIGHTLIFE ***

Now, unlike the islands in Greece, Tolo isn't renowned for its lively nightlife. There is one nightclub in the town called Gorilla's and thats it. Although, the bars and taverna's are all open late so you do have a choice depending on what kind of night you're after. I never actually made it to Gorilla's because we'd get comfy in one of the bars and stay there all night, so I can't tell you what it was like or how expensive it was, but I did hear that it was about 5 euros in and you got a free drink. Then, if you started dancing straight away you got more free drinks - which I think is pretty good.

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Here's a good tip for you - tip the barman on your first drink and he'll see you right the rest of the night!
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*** SHOPPING ***

There are lots of souvenier shops on the main road, all selling beautiful little things - which we stocked up on before we came home :) They have bakery's, supermarkets, ice cream shops and a couple of clothes shops - but nothing special. If you want to go shopping I'd recommend you go to Nafplion - much more choice, its really beautiful and the old town is really quaint.

*** WATERSPORTS ***

We went down to the sandy beach one day and got talking to an american guy who ran the watersports there. We were really interested in renting a motorboat for a couple of hours on our anniversary and he said that he knew a guy further up the beach who rented boats and that he'd do us a deal. So on our anniversary we went back and we got 5 euro's off. It was great fun. You could go anywhere as long as you stayed within a three mile radius - which was plenty. So we went and explored the little islets. You could tie up your boat as well on some islands and sunbathe, snorkell or explore. One of the islands had a church on top and you could go see it. It was a big climb mind you! The only island you couldn't go on was Romvi as it is off bounds to absolutley everyone.

You could also hire Pedalos, or go windsurfing. There was also a couple of banana boats and those rubber tires that got pulled by a speed boat. Great fun to watch! You could also do Parascending if the wind was right. There is something for everyone there. The only thing they didn't have was jetski's but I think thats just because it would be too dangerous as there was no designated areas for people to swim in.

*** ACTIVITIES ***

Tolo is in a perfect position to view all the ancient sites. Trips included:

- Mycenea, Nemea, Tiryns
- Epidavros, Corinth Canal
- Hydra, Spetses
- Athens

But you could also do:

- Beach BBQ
- Napflion by night (a former capitol of Greece and only 15 minutes away by bus, or 30 minutes by boat - which is how you get there on this trip)

We managed to do most of the trips which was fantastic.

The one I enjoyed the most was going to Epidavros and Corinth. Standing in the ampitheatre was amazing and watching people demonstrate how the sound worked was pretty cool. The structure itself is really impressive and the view from the top is beautiful. The cruise down Corinth was really great. I would have been happy just looking down at the amazing piece of work but to actually go through it was brilliant.

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Did you know it took 6000 workers 12 years to complete it and it is now 100 years old?
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The other trip I enjoyed was Mycenea and Nemea as it included a wine tasting which was great fun. We bought 8 bottles for a bargain 6 euros each! It would easily retail here for more then £10per bottle and it only cost us about £4.30 a bottle!

The day we came home we did the trip to Athens - you have to really. I was awestruck when I saw the Acropolis! Under reconstruction at the moment for the Olympics next year it still looked impressive and dominating. The view you get from the top is spectacular. You can see all of Athens - and even the sea which is about 5 miles away.

I don't really want to go into too much detail about the trips and the history of the place but they are amazing - to visit a place thousands of years old - you really get a sense of history.

If you don't fancy going on a guided tour you can always hire a car, and there are several places in Tolo where you can do that. Some also hire out mopeds and push bikes.

*** GREEK PHRASES ***

I found that if we spoke Greek to the locals they were more welcoming to you as you've tried to meet them half way and they really appreciate it. Some ask if you can speak english though to them - just so they can practise themselves.

Here are some to help you get by (done phonetically) lol:

Yammas - Cheers
Efcaristo - Thank you
Paracalo - Please
Yassas - Hello and Goodbye
Beera - Beer
Meera beera paracalo - a beer please
Malacka - wanker

*** CONCLUSION ***

Tolo is a beautiful little town with friendly locals and spectacular breath taking views. Its within easy reach of all the major sites, although Dephi is too far to organise a trip too. Its surrounded by history, culture and a love of life.

Its a perfect place to go either as a family or as a couple as it has things to suit all needs. You feel safe walking alone at night and the need for police presence is none existent. In fact, there isn't even a police station in Tolo any more as they are not needed. They are now based in nearby Nafplion.

The weather is good, the food is great, the drink is cheap and the atmosphere is casual and homely. The locals will do anything for you which is amazing, and I was really upset when I had to leave.

If you've read my op on Airtours you would know that we had a horrible time with their reps, but the company we came out here with was Kosmar and they were fantastic. They planned everything down to the last detail and really went out of their way to make sure you were happy and having a great time. They even tried to remember your names!

One thing I feel I must warn you about is the mosquitos. Go well prepared. I didn't and I got really nasty bites as a result. But I didn't let it stop me having a wonderful time.

I plan to go back there next year as for me, it really was a perfect holiday.

Thanks for reading,
Take care, Sarah xx

 

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