Written by | Săndulescu Corina Ruxandra
Halkidiki…so hunted by the tourists, so much have been said about it and, however, it is always different. It does not matter how many times you visit Khalkidhiki will surprise you every time! So has happened with our participant from the online Greek language courses who has chosen to tell us a story from her sublime voyage.
Prepare yourself to travel aside her!
Some persons boast themselves that chose to travel in the island of Thasos from over fifteen years. Something similar has happened to me, maybe more fascinating: I have been three times in the same place, the same year, discovering every time other beautiful and interesting things.
It is all about the village Stavros from Central Macedonia, but also about the places from its surroundings.
To my big surprise, I discovered that there are more places named Stavros in Greece. Stavros means “cross” in this melodious Greek language.
You remember the beautiful church in Bucharest named Stavropoleos which send you to this word.
This Stavros for which the local people claim to have hills and valleys that form a cross ( resulting the significance for his denomination) is situated at approximately 80km from Salonica in the north eastern part of the Khalkidhiki peninsula.
Here I have encountered something rare, almost surreal: people happy the way they live, the place they live and their life, unwilling to change anything at all.
People with empathy, sincere like children, but skilled in business and commerce like most of the Greek people. Women are very brave, working in all fields, firm and decided mastering the art of speeches. The people from here, keep their traditions, decency and a Christian life in the ortodox spirit of Agion Oros venerated in this zone.
We have all dreamed at the images on net or in reality, with superb Greek islands, with wonderful beaches isolated from the world, with caves carved in limestone all of a rare beauty.
Stavros has not such things, but impresses with a different type of beauty. Situated in Golful Orfanos, in the east northern part of the Chalkidiki peninsula (when I say north don’t think at cold weather but at the parallel 40), Stavros is surrounded by a high splendid hills horseshoe, with a lot of pine woods, but generously giving place to the sea for beaches and the other localities Vrasna and Asprovalta.
In a spectacular way advances into the sea the mountain of Pangaion impressing with its heights of about 2000m and the island of Thasos just in front of Stavros faraway into the sea but could be seen when the weather is very clear and for those who are waiting with patience.
As in Santorini could be seen the most beautiful sunsets in all Greece, Stavros invites you to admire a spectacular sun rising : in June the sun raises between Pangaion and Thasos and in September from Thassos. Another spectacular phenomenon is the rainbow – Oυράνιο Tόξο- that appears often following the June rains coming menacing from the Pangaion Mount into the form of big arches closing the bay.
The beaches of Stavros are immense and savage with a fine sand and with places where the water isn’t to deep suitable for families with children.
There are also places for house wheels and camper vans for the adventurers ones. The city has also a beautiful port with a small activity from the part of big ships.
In the eastern part of Stavros where the locality ends and Vrasna begins (Vrasna is told to be founded by the spartan general Vrasidas) a big clean river is entering the sea coming from the lake Volvi, this area being a big attraction to the fishermen but not only for them. This is a place worth for visiting.
To the western part of the locality, outside Stavros, along the sea are unending beaches so far as near Olympiada and the famous Stagira where the great Aristotle was born.
The old town Ano Stavros is stretching in the form of a triangle with the top in the hills and the base to the beach, along the hills that are guarding the town. Some beautiful churches are scattered and at the base you can find a Lykeion, a firemen unit.
At the top of the triangle there is a neighborhood were are living many Vlachs, and also the Agnanti restaurant from where you can see the whole beautiful town and also the blue arch of the bay. The silence and flowers caressed by the Thracian Sea are characteristics of the area and the tourists come from all over the world to enjoy them.
It was recommended for me to visit the famous monastery Εικοσιφοίνισσα, whose name means in translation “twenty palm trees”(it is supposed that her founder German, stayed in an oasis next to Jerusalem, oasis where could be founded twenty palm trees, received from the Mother of God angel the vision of raising a monastery).
The monastery with this impressive story is to be found on the Pangaion Mountain, not very high, but it was attacked during the first and the second World War by Bulgarians, the monastery being at that time a monastery of monks. At present the monastery is a nunnery and from the riches attacked one could not recover much, but negotiations are taking place with Bulgaria in order to return some goods belonging to this monastery that are in the History Museum of Sofia.
The life of the people belonging to those lands impressed me because it is calm and lived with daily satiety, not viewed from a distance. Nobody is in a rush, and troubles do not seem to affect them.
I found also sadness and diseases but they are welcomed by the gratitude of the locals for their lives.
The trust in God is powerful for the dwellers of Stavros and I think this place is rewarded for it by living in this paradise that I also discovered in my visits.
Go in Stavros to be happy!
We could not end this voyage better than by these wonderful words! This sort of story raise in us the wish of travelling, and also the curiosity to discover more about this wonderful people and its language ! Th Greek language courses online will offer you the linguistic information you need, as well as all those stories about people, tradition and culture. I eagerly wait for you!
