Our experiences
This is the second edition of the post I wanted to upload here about our road trip in Greece. Later, I have decided, instead of writing a traditional travel blog post – what you can find and read everywhere -, rather I write about what we experienced and what only a few people mentions (if you are not on one of the picturesque island).
Following our road trip in Serbia and North Macedonia in 2021, then later our attempt to travel in the Baltic countries (Covid made it impossible), we are back again with a road trip in Europe! In March, 2024, we drove to Greece from Hungary with big hopes and excitements. Our plan was to stay abroad in Greece for a good two months.
As we were traveling from one EU country to an other, our dog did not need special documents, only her usual Pet passport, de-worming tablets and a general health-check. Our car did not need a so called ‘green card’ either. We were hopeful and changed our winter tyres to summer ones as we were hoping, temperatures will not drop below 7 Celsius degrees 1000 kms down from Hungary, in March – or at least daytime, when we planned to travel.
First, we crossed the Hungarian-Serbian border control. They asked where we are going and looked into the car, checked the passport and car documents. Good to know that Balkan countries in general, are not Schengen-members and stopping at borders is mandatory. We had a little hick-up after we arrived to Serbia. Both our O2 UK and Telekom HUN mobile SIM-s data connection disconnected, shortly after we arrived to Serbia. We noticed this only after about an hour after we crossed the border because Google Maps probably cached the route until that point. Then in a town we lost access to the map and we did not have a traditional map in the car either… after the first panic what to do now (it started to get dark), we drove to a petrol station in a hope, they may sell a map or a local SIM card there. They had neither of them and they suggested to visit a Lukoil petrol station nearby, who may have either of them. When I asked a map, the shop assistant was just smiling. Appears, in 2024 no one uses a traditional map any more! I thought it was just us. Luckily, they sold here a Vettel SIM for EUR 6, which came with 15GB data. After a quick activation (needed to call any number with the card), we could continue our trip. Through Serbia the Motorway is excellent quality and you drive through Toll gates. We paid 470+ 1050 + 580 +180 RSD (~ EUR 20) for toll fees until we reached our hotel, next to Nis.
We stayed over for a night in a small country-side hotel, called Gore Dole. This place was recommended by a hotel in Nis – where we booked first -, because they could not accommodate us due to a technical problem. Official check-in is until 10pm and we arrived 30 mins before 10, however our host messaged me earlier, even if we come late, they will wait for us. Later I got informed, the owner of the small hotel lives just next to the hotel, on the same plot. In Donji Matejevac, the host, Petar welcomed us in the car park.
The check-in was very smooth, under a minute we got our keys and Petar showed us our room. After we settled in our room, we went down to the bar to have a local drink, called Rakia (in Hungary we call it Palinka, in Germany and Austria Schnaps). We asked some snacks and we got a bunch of very delicious nuts. We loved the style of the place, the decoration and the customer service of this family-owned hotel. Petar was an excellent host and very polite. We had a good night sleep, the bed was comfy. We stayed in room 4, which was the last one in the corridor. It is a small studio with a kitchenette. Parking was spacious for all guests. A big bonus that Gore Dole is dog friendly too! In the morning, Petar and his mom prepared us a very delicious plant based breakfast for our request, from mostly local vegetables and local ingredients. It was very nicely presented too. This was one of our best vegan breakfast we ever had in a hotel for sure! Later, on our trip back to Hungary, we stayed over night here again and the owner welcomed us with a beautiful plant-based dinner and next morning with an other, amazing breakfast. Whenever you are crossing Serbia, I recommend this place very much.
After our night in Serbia, we continued our trip towards Greece. We crossed North Macedonia and paid 60 + 80 + 60 + 120 MKD (~ EUR 5.20) for toll fees. Roads were less good quality than in Serbia but the landscape was breathtaking all the way. The border control in North Macedonia and in Greece was a similar experience to the Serbian one; passport and car documents check. In Greece, the officer only asked if our dog has a pet passport but that was all. We reached our next accommodation in Nicopolis costing us EUR 7.45 toll fees.
In the beginning of of March, we had a nice weather in Nicopolis, daily 16-18 degrees but over night, temperatures dropped to low as 5 Celsius degrees. Our first Air B&B had no formal heating, only single air conditioner units fitted in each room, that made the air really dry but did not give a nice, warm feeling – like a central heating. We chose our apartment’s location randomly in the country but it turned out, we stayed at one of the most ancient historical site of Greece, with so much to see. Before work weekdays and at the first weekend, we visited an enormous theatre, a stadium, an auditorium and many remains of a once prosperous city. Nicopolis is a charming little gem, very green and in many gardens there were clementine and lemon trees already ripen. Until I started working (at 11am = 9am UK Time), we chilled at the balcony and absorbed the sunshine. The flat was most of the time damp and cold, so we enjoyed the natural heat source outside.
After our first week in Greece, on Sunday we were ready to move to our next destination, to Kalampaki, that is the closest settlement at the World famous Meteoras. When we set off to our trip in Nicopolis, we noticed, our windscreen washer stopped working, also the fog light. When we opened the bonnet, we shocked to see, a big part of the windscreen washer tube was missing and some wires were chewed and cut. Locals said, it must have been a rat. We think it was a marten. Who knows, but we were grateful nothing else was chewed and we could continue our trip towards the Meteoras.
At Kalampaki, we experienced to stay at one of the best Air B&B accommodation we have ever stayed at so far (Harmony House). The house was insulated, warmth was provided by central heating, amazing bathroom and shower. Spacious and modern kitchen with a long dining table. Coconut layered mattress in the bedrooms. One room was a yoga room, which we used daily. The only disappointment was the slow internet, same experience as at our first booking – below 1 mbit/sec upload speed! The owner said, Greece has one of the slowest internet in the EU – what we experienced and struggled with. For work, we mostly used our O2 (UK) SIM card and the included 25 GB data roaming allowance. We had an amazing time in this town, from our garden we daily looked at the mountains. The owner, Dimitrios recommended some local restaurants that have vegan options. His opinion was that the best in town is Restaurant Vale Calda but we did not tried it. The owners are vegan too and yoga gurus, so we had a lot common. We had twice a Vegan pizza from Pizzaland (4 minutes walk from the house), which was delicious and with amazing Italian-style dough. The owner of our Air B&B accommodation lives on the same plot in a separate house and their family member above the property on floor 1, so you share the garden with them. However, I do recommend the town (walking distance to the Meteoras) and this Air B&B if you ever come to visit this magical place that hosts the most unique Orthodox monasteries.
The Meteoras did not disappoint us, we visited the 6 monasteries that are still functioning. We did not have time to visit the other dozen monasteries which have ruins only and need more hiking and time. I was a little anxious about what driving skill is required for driving up to the monasteries. Once we got there, I relaxed, the roads are wide and not too cranky. Bear in mind, at high season and weekends, there are many tourists and buses and there aren’t many car parks. We were happy both days we arrived there for opening time and once the places got busy (after 1pm), we were already heading home. If you can, visit the Meteoras, one of the best experience I had in my life. It is a spiritual and magical trip, with beautiful nature all around. After our week in Kalampaka, we were excited to drive to our next destination to Athens, where we booked a flat for one entire month.
The driving to Athens took us about 4 hours. Our pre-booked apartment had a fenced drive way, reserved for our car, which was one of the main reason we chose this place. In some reviews guests complained about the cleanliness of the property but it was such a huge flat and we got an amazing deal from the owner too, so some dusting off did not dissuade us. The first shock was after we entered to the flat through the kitchen, which was the most dirtiest place of the whole apartment. It was a spacious kitchen but I had a feeling, I would rather not touch anything and would not drink/eat from anything. Grease, yellow dirt on everything, it was not cleaned like for 10 years. Then the state of the other rooms, the amount of dust on the furniture, the state of the balconies and the bathrooms…then the neighbourhood…all was so shocking, we were just staring the floor for an hour in shock. We were thinking what to do now? I have not done this before (after staying over 100 apartments before) but contacted the host and explained our issue. He was understanding but I could sense some resentment. He suggested to contact Air B&B customer service and he did the same. Soon we got back a full refund. I think, this was not the first time the host experienced this with some of his guests. Quickly, we booked an other apartment and the owner allowed us to stay over night. The neighbourhood (very close to the main railway station of Athens) was dirty and looked unsafe with many dodgy looking people, so we did not mind we move on much sooner. On the pavements I have never seen this many dog poo and dirt, I did not even let our dog walk on it.
Next morning, we drove a few miles closer to the central and I worked from a coffee shop. The Acropolis was only about 20 minutes walk from here, so we hoped, this neighbourhood is better. We were allowed to check-in earlier, at 1pm. We soon realised, from the most dirtiest place we moved in to the most noisiest. Car parking was a nightmare on the street but luckily we found a spot close. The flat was on the 5 floor, again with air conditioning only as the owner explained, the central heating was switched off centrally (in the city). During night the temperature often drops below 5 degrees in March! We got the recommendation to heat with the air conditioning again. We experienced, why Athen is called “the city that never sleeps”. Old cars (well over 20-30 years old in average) and motorcycles were revving their engines all day and night long, using their horn without any care about residents. Usually between 2am and 5am when we could had some proper deep sleep. We counted back our time here to be honest, could not wait to leave Athens. On top of this, the works started on our street to resurface the road and pavements, the sound of the jackhammer was deafening.
We visited the Acropolis and some ancient sites then we did not intend to stay any more weeks here and in Greece. This was the second property that was cold (but not damp and mouldy) and we started missing our warm and comfortable own house. OK, we have to make some sacrifices for traveling in order to see beautiful places, like the Meteoras. BUT the question arisen, why are we paying 600EUR/week (considered to be cheap in low-season) to battle with cold and sore throat daily, often in dirt, with slow internet and stress about noise and car parking.
We were waiting until Friday then we made a decision. This country and the city did not deliver what many people hype about. In Athens, our experience was that only two streets down arounds the Acropolis was nice but the rest of the city is just an other, polluted and overcrowded city.
Greece was disappointingly expensive, especially Athens but generally everywhere. We used to live in London, in Birmingham, near Manchester, also visited Switzerland, Paris and many German towns before, also stayed in Belgium, in the Netherlands, in Luxembourg – so we have a picture about what we consider expensive. Greece and the grocery prices gave me the same feeling when we visited Switzerland. An example: two coffee latte and two spanakopita (Greek Spinach Pie) costs EUR 16 near the Acropolis. Two lattes and two cakes 20 euros in the city. Groceries had the most shocking prices and the vegetables in supermarket were (with very few exceptions) import products unfortunately. We did not understand how the locals can survive with having such expensive prices in grocery shops.
Greece gave us “the real baltic” impression after driving across the Peloponnese region and seeing the state of the buildings, often dirty streets, tired looking people and cars. The same time, unreasonable expensive. The only value for money experience we saw was the motorway, that appeared to be very good quality and something that is up to the EU standards. It also surprised me, in many parts of Greece, there is no selective rubbish collection. Somewhat, I did not understand how this country is member of the EU for 20 years, while Serbia (what I do not consider worse than Greece at all) just cannot get an EU membership.
On Sunday, early morning we left the city and drove back to Hungary. We needed to recharge in our warm and clean home, needed some rest. In toll fees we paid 3.55+4.20+4.15+1.90+2.05+3.70+4.30+2.70+0.70+3.40+2.40+1.80=34.85 EUR in Greece (yeah, a lot of Toll-gates to cross!). We stopped at a beautiful beach (Neoi Poroi Beach) for a quick lunch break. Behind us it was the Olympus, in front the turquise Aegean Sea with white sand and palm trees. We soon left behind the stress we lived in while stayed in Athens. Paid 1.65+1.31+0.99+1.31+0.99=6.25 EUR for crossing North Macedonia. Paid 6.54+9+7+6.30=28.84 EUR while we crossed the entire Serbia. Then we arrived to Hungary where we have an annual motorway vignette (10 days one costs 16.50 EUR).
In summary, Greece must be visited in summer, so the cold properties will be no issue. Also, visit the top tourist places/islands, where the country is probably the most developed – like Zakinthos, Crete, Corfu etc. The rest, unfortunately may will just cause disappointment. We wanted to see a face of Greece that is not on the postcards but it was disappointing. We came to a conclusion again, let’s go to Italy next, which is our safe and favourite choice always.