Touring in Greece is about making each new place your home for a few days. On our summer tour, this July and August, we discovered a whole bunch of new places and we can honestly say there was something memorable in each one of them. Our tour started in the Peloponnese; from the majestic sunset over the Kalamata bay, to the beautiful coast of Western Peloponnese and from there to the vineyards on the hills surrounding Korinth and the beach clubs close to Patras and Aigion. From there we drove all the way up to Chalkidiki, where beaches interchange with beautiful mountain villages. Then off to Crete for one of our most memorable concerts: set on a virgin coast just outside Ag. Nikolaos that was transformed into an open-air venue in a single day. Nothing but the basics, but what more do you need if you’re playing on a beach facing the sea…
Οne of this summer’s highlights was Iraion, a quiet small village in Samos, very close to the island’s airport. Each year the village hosts one of the islands most interesting music festivals, simply called Iraion Music Festival, and the village gets into a party mode from late afternoon till sunrise. There we met the owner of probably the single best fish and seafood restaurant we’ve ever been to. His own fishing boat, home-grown vegetables, tables on the sand, the whole package. Unfortunately, we were only able to go after our concert was over, and most of the dishes had already gone. Next day we were flying out at 1pm, so there was really no time for a proper meal. Luckily, he sensed our disappointment and pledged to open up for us in the morning earlier than usual. And, indeed at 11am the next day, he was there to greet us with bottles of tsipouro on ice and a table full of delicacies. At some point we started worrying about the flight, and got up to go, but he stopped us, looked at the sky and said: ‘Haven’t seen the plane coming’, and offered us more drinks. Apparently, knowing the airport is so close, the locals never leave before they actually see the plane approaching. And even though both we and he were drunk, his eye was set on the sky, and he prompted us to leave at the exact time. Less than 20 minutes later we were already inside the plane. Drunk and fed like kings.
Nothing but the basics, but what more do you need if you’re playing on a beach facing the sea…
The sight that impressed us the most was probably the sunset from Kastraki, a music venue on the steep hill over the Kalamata Bay.
We often crave a special kind of shellfish, something between a crayfish and a lobster we tasted at Velyka Beach, just to the north of Larissa. The unique sushi-like raw sardines of Lesvos. The smelly but delicious sheep BBQ of Sykourio, and the Tsipouradika (the Greek version of Tapas Bars in Volos).
We always take back with us memories from a whole bunch of places we want to return to either with the band or on our personal time.
We would definitely like to visit again Iraion, for the whole festival-food-nightlife package. Crete and especially the South is always a destination where one can discover new amazing places. And also the Greek mainland. The mainland coast from Larisa all the way up to Katerini is a destination that is not widely known but we were definitely impressed.
