My whole life is a journey, over mountains and valleys, through familiar and not-so-familiar lands!
At the beginning of this summer, we wanted something very nice, but at the same time, something very unpopular, something about which we had no preconceptions and about which people had little information.
It turns out there are still such places on this planet, and right here in Europe. And that is the island of Evia, in Greece, which you can visit in cooperation with the tour operator Itaka.lv, but even they didn't really have information about this island, so we agreed that we would be the ones to tell them about this island and shoot a video.
So, in June, at two in the morning, we boarded a direct flight to Athens, arrived early in the morning, met the guide, and told them we wouldn't be going to the hotel with them, but would rent a car and, enjoying the Greek sun, slowly make our way towards the island of Evia, and after a little over an hour, we were at the hotel, called Palmariva Beach Hotel. As it was still early, we couldn't get into our rooms yet, but we were given wristbands and could enjoy our first Greek breakfast. We chose to sit outside by the pool, with a view of the sea and mountains, and even though we were tired from the overnight flight, we enjoyed this breakfast and were already planning our first day.
Crossing the bridge that connects the mainland to the island, and which is the thinnest bridge in Europe, only 30 cm, we realized that everything here was burnt, yellowish-brown, and there was nothing to catch our attention. Evita and I looked at each other and I asked her, what will we film here if the whole island is like this? We decided not to worry yet until we started exploring the island, time would tell.
The first day was spent relaxing by the pool and by the sea, right after 12:00 we got into our room, and in the evening, we met with Lithuanian guides, Kristina Rinkeviciute and Vaida Monkeviciute, who spent more than an hour telling us about the island, about the most beautiful beaches and the most interesting places to see.
Having made a week's plan, on Sunday we decided to go to Athens, see the main tourist attractions, the Acropolis, the first Olympic stadium, climb a hill to see the illuminated city in the evening. Athens is good to see and enjoy on a holiday, because then all the city dwellers have gone to enjoy the sea and many people come to relax right on the island of Evia. Even though the day is hot, we enjoy this day and help the Greek capital maintain its reputation as one of the most visited cities in the world.
On Monday, we woke up early, and our goal for the day was to head to the east coast of the island, to find the most beautiful beaches, the ones we would like the most, not necessarily those recommended by guidebooks or guides. As soon as we left the hotel, after just 15 minutes, we had to pull over to the side of the road, into a parking lot right by the sea, because Evita wanted to see the blue-green sea and still couldn't believe that the water was such a turquoise color. We experienced our first tears of joy and excitement, continued our journey, and realized that our initial impressions of this island were wrong, and the further we drove, the more beautiful the island became. Every turn and every bend was like a cartoon for a child, awaited with great enthusiasm; similarly, after every bend, we stopped, took photos, and rejoiced.
Our first beach is Kalamos Beach, and it certainly does not disappoint, but since we want to see several beaches this day, we don't linger long at one and head north along the sea, looking for new gems.
The day passed quickly, we had flown all 6 drone batteries, seen fantastic beaches, had a real Greek lunch in a small beach restaurant, swam in big waves and found a crazy dirt road that leads to one beach and where a normal person would certainly not go, but we are Latvians, we have to try, what if it works? And it did, we found a great beach, without a single person and all this was for us, just the two of us.
I could write on and on, but such long articles are unlikely to be read, so I'll just say that in the following days, we found several fantastic beaches, once again risked driving on a crazy dirt and stone road, but it definitely paid off, we took a day trip to the islands, but saw the capital of Evia island, Halkida, illuminated in the evening.
In a word, this was a magical and fantastically beautiful adventure that I would gladly experience again, because the island is large enough that it's impossible to see it all in one week.
If you're interested in what those great drone shots and beautiful beaches looked like, you can see them on our YouTube channel, Gold Barbell, where there are 3 colorful series about Evia island.
May you have colorful and adventurous travels, see you very soon in Romania!
