We leave behind us Karystos in search of our next destination. We first check out the nearby beaches of the west coast which I rate ‘average’. Nothing to complain nor to get excited about! Not our taste anyway, so we head to the east coast for which we have already heard words of praise. They are right! If you are looking for scenic spots with crystal clear waters and you don’t mind staying in the total wilderness, this is the place to be…
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Our first stop after leaving Karystos is Marmari, a small, quite and ‘typical’ seaside town with shops and tavernas along the coastal road and a family-oriented beach nearby. Hoping that we’ll find something more exciting or at least noteworthy further north, we take the road to Porto Lafia. Nothing but decent-style beaches with kids swimming and screaming in the shallow waters, clusters of holiday homes and almost no space for parking. A little disappointed but still in great mood we arrive at Porto Lafia where somehowe we manage to find the way (unpaved of course and uphill) to return to the main road. We turn back to Marmari until the big intersection where we take the road to Agios Dimitrios village. We pass by this village and a few kilometres further on a dirt road that follows the gorge we finally see the eastern coast of the island and this spectacular beach below, called Agios Dimitrios too [38.14185,24.4477].
We turn left to reach the beach but as we get closer, we realize that the last kilometer of the dirt road, already in poor condition, is rather impassable to our motorhome. So we deciide, in a rare moment of wisdom, to turn back to the ‘main’ dirt road and to go to Kallianou beach to spend the night. Is this road passable? Who knows… We’ll have the great opoprtunity to find it out!
With a heavy heart we say farewell to this wonderful beach that we leave behind us and we get prepared for the new adventure ahead. Fortunately the road is not as bad as we feared. In fact, and that definitely encouraged us, there were trucks and road rollers compacting the ground which means that probably this summer the road will be paved! In short we managed to arrive at this equally spectacular beach (photo below), called Kallianou [38.14006,24.48033] without any trouble. Sometimes fortune favours the bold!
As one may expect, this remote beach is used almost exclusively by campers, naturists who enjoy free camping and hikers who crossed the 10 km Dimosari gorge which ends up here. The seawater is great, clear and warm, but it is rather suited to experienced swimmers as the seafloor deepens quite sharply. There is no village nearby only a tavern which, according its hand made advertising sign (photo on the left), offers food delivery on the beach!
After this spectacular sunset we had the pleasure of enjoying a refreshing night’s sleep.as a cool breeze was blowing through the gorge. Kallianou beach is a blissful place not to be missed, if you like secluded areas. As we were leaving, a horse approaced us asking for cuddles!
We take the road towards Giannitsi village and beach [38.15787,24.39667] recommended by the Italian couple we met in Kastri. The road to the beach is paved although a little narrow.in places, with a few hairpin turns as we approach the coast. In any case this is the most easily accessible of the eastern beaches that we’ve visited so far and it’s quite wonderful too! As you can see, it’s huge and extremely quite, frequented by few people, mostly families from the village and campers.
There is plenty of parking space next to the beach. The only disadvantage here, comparing to Kallianou beach, is the sand dune which stands between the parking area and the shore blocking the view to the sea.
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