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Rushing streams with trouts and beautiful nature. Welcome to Planitero in the Peloponnese!

Hello, All! Today, I am sharing about the beautiful village of Planitero in the Peloponnese. It’s a lush heaven of rushing streams with trout and plane trees! 🍃

 

The village of Planitero is located 25 km south east of Kalavryta and north east to the village of Klitoria. Nestled on the southwestern slopes of Mount Chelmos (Aroania) at an altitude of 700 m, it is a quiet little place of rushing streams and waterfalls within a lush plane tree forest.

Other than the remarkable beauty and serenity that it offers, the visitor is bound to also be appreciative of the culinary masterpieces on the menu at the local tavernas.

Take the one I chose during my visit, for example. Planiteros Restaurant is also a trout farm, and the menu reflects that. I went for the smoked trout, which was absolutely amazing.

The last time I had trout was at the village of Psarades, on the shore of the Big Prespa lake. The trout there was grilled to perfection and had been fished from the lake. We enjoyed it with a dish of locally produced broad beans drenched in a rich tomato sauce. It was an unforgettable culinary experience.

Having now had both the fresh and smoked variety, I can tell you that the fresh trout makes for a more hearty meal, since the fish can be huge on the plate, but the smaller-size portion of the smoked trout that I had at Planitero was simply mouthwatering.

We accompanied that with onion pie – a dish I had never tried before. I loved it so much that, since then, I tried to make my own onion pie at home, but of course, it was nothing like what the seasoned cook prepared at Planitero. I guess I’ll have to go back there for some more, probably to have the same exact meal again, LOL

On the grounds of Planiteros Restaurant, punters can enjoy a nice little walk around the pools where the trouts are grown. Beautiful swans and ducks float or waddle around, and in the enclosures at the edge of the green there are cockerels and peacocks too. For one, the kids seemed to have a whale of a time seeing it all.

The snow-capped mountains in the distance completed the idyllic scene on that sunny spring day of my visit. Throughout our stay, the sound of rushing waters remained rich in our ears along with the chirping of the birds on the ancient plane trees.

Planitero is a truly blissful little place, and I highly recommend it for a visit. You can easily get there from Kalavryta. As I mentioned earlier, it is only 25 kms away.

On the day we enjoyed the beauty of Planitero, we also visited a majestic cave that has many lakes in it (and bats!). We also visited a beautiful mountain village called Vytina, that had a road dedicated to youngsters in love! You can read all about these places and see photos in this post.

Tap here to see my photos from Planitero!

Go here for the short video I took at the restaurant to show you around!

 

In case you haven’t heard of Kalavryta, it is an amazing mountain destination with equally beautiful nature, and great places of interest within short distance, including the seaside town of Diakofto – dont miss out the opportunity to take the famous cog train (odontotos) to Kalavryta from there, by the way! The route through the mountains is breathtaking.

 
 

Other places of interest near Kalavryta include The Agia Lavra Monastery where the Greek Revolution was declared in the 1820s, and the imposing Mega Spileo Monastery–the latter is unmissable (see photo above). Having been partly built inside a rockface, it even contains a cave!

Last but not least, the town of Klitoria that’s on the road to Planitero from Kalavryta is a must stopover for meat eaters. Roasted pork is the famous dish of the town and can be enjoyed at every restaurant there.

At the end of September, every year, the locals at Klitoria organize a pork feast where dozens of whole pigs are put over the fire to be enjoyed to the sound of Greek clarinet (clarino) music.

Truly, the Peloponnese is a place of many radiant gems to be discovered, and I haven’t really been all over, but I feel blessed to have been to many parts already.

Have you ever been to the Peloponnese? Of so, which parts? Make sure to add a comment and let me know. I’d love to hear from you!

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The joy of traveling and sunny Calamos

You know me… I cannot commit to staying at home too long. My heart always yearns for the next escape. I have always been an eager traveler, but in the recent years, I have been deprived of this great passion of mine.

Family health issues, first with my beloved Corfiot grandmother, then both my parents, who got ill with cancer in succession, forced me into assuming the role of carer that didn’t allow me to have almost any travel experiences at all for about 7 years.

Sadly, all the aforementioned members of my family are now gone. It’s tough to be left behind with all the memories, good and bad, and I am sure many of you can relate, but I continue to count my blessings every day as I have a lot to be thankful for – a husband who is loyal, funny, and who supports me on my writing journey, for one. And he is a fellow keen traveler to boot!

It’s been a busy year travelwise, which had the added benefit of allowing me to escape from the harrowing memories of the past few years and my own sense of mourning.

Traveling opens the horizons of the mind. It unravels and refreshes it and lifts the soul. If you are mourning whatever in your life, I highly recommend traveling to you as an escape, if you can do it. Even one-day escapes or extended time spent in nature often, especially in the company of other people, can have the same effect.

Andy and I had a wonderful 4-day coach tour to Epirus last Christmas. In the photo above, you can see some of the stunning places we visited. We stayed in Arta, that is well known for its legendary stone bridge. It’s pictured on the bottom right in the picture above, and you can read all about it here.

Each day, we went to a different place. We were enthralled to visit Tzoumerka for the first time, a mountain area near Arta very reminiscent of Zagori, as one will find there stone bridges and enchanting villages with beautiful stonemasonry.

We also dedicated a day to explore Ioannina, a stunning city built on a lake, that has a lot of history, mainly from the Otthoman Empire.

Last, we visited Messolonghi and the absolutely breathtaking Nafpaktos. The latter made our heads spin with its quaint beauty. The old fort on the tiny port made our cameras sing. I am going to have a hard time picking which pictures to show you from that place. They are all postcard-perfect!

Before I go, I’ll change the scenery completely for you! I am not going to leave you without some sunshine today. Nuh-uh!  There’s a few months left till it’s summer so I thought some sunny pictures would be very apt right now, to keep our hearts warm. Keep on reading!

 

A weekend at Calamos in north Attica

Since it’s so grey and cold out there right now, I hope these sunny photographs serve to brighten your day. They certainly did that for me.

Andy and I spent a weekend (2 nights) last September in a family hotel called Calamos Beach Resort.

It is situated in the area of Calamos in north Attica, across from the island of Evia (Euboia), 2.5 kms out of the town of Agioi Apostoloi.

We had all-inclusive bracelets, so all meals and drinks were paid for (we had to exercise all of our restraint LOL). We had everything we needed on the grounds for a fun weekend, but we did venture to the town to have a walk around, too.

Agioi Apostoloi has a lovely marina, very reminiscent of our town of Nea Peramos, what with the fishermen fixing their nets and chatting, and the local cats waiting to be fed. There were many inviting eateries and cafes on the seafront that seemed to be popular. We didn’t need to visit one of them, since the hotel provided everything we needed, but it’s lovely to know they are there in case we ever return to stay in town somewhere.

We came across 2 cinemas (always a plus when I visit towns as we are both film enthusiasts) and on the road that leads out of town, at a short distance away, there is a stunning church that I’d love to explore on the inside, perhaps during my next visit.

Back at the hotel, we had the most relaxing time, just lying under the trees or a beach umbrella for hours every day. The beach was perfect for me as I love pebbles – the sound waves make when they scrape pebbles is my favourite beach sound. I couldn’t get enough of it. As for the waters they were incredibly clear. Swimming there was amazing, reminding me of the perfect sparkling waters of my beloved island of Corfu.

The sea bed was uneven, mind you, with large pebbles, making it a little hard to get in and out of the water. I would recommend to use flippers or other suitable swimming footwear to swim in this place. The store in the hotel sells plastic swimming footwear in case anyone needs them.

They think of everything at this shop. It had great merchandise. We bought a box of playing cards to play by the pool in the evening. Doing that in the cool night air while people-watching proved to be more fun than watching TV all by ourselves in the room!

In the evening, we also took long quiet walks on the seafront along a wide cemented road with sparse traffic. The area seemed to be touristy in previous decades but no more. We saw various establishments that seemed deserted.

We didn’t walk too far after dark, though, as it can get pretty quiet there. And, for a short stretch near the hotel, there are no streetlights.

The view to the opposite shores of Evia (Euboia) in the dark was enchanting. In the areas where there are air turbines on the mountains–like in Aliveri–lights came on in the dark that blinked delightfully like little stars. It was all very pleasing to gaze at in the semidarkness.

If you’re interested in booking this hotel, you can find it here at Booking.com.

If you’re driving to the resort, you may benefit from these instructions:

To get to the resort, you take the Athens-Lamia highway and turn off at Kapandriti (after Afidnes). The route takes you via the centre of Kapandriti and continues to Calamos along a quiet country road. At Calamos there is a sign post to Agioi Apostoloi, where you take a right turn to follow a road at high altitude with panoramic coastal views.

Very important: Once in Agioi Apostoloi, make sure to drive all the way to the marina. Turn right there and immediately right again, at the first turn into a narrow road. The way is straight after that, and you will see the hotel on the left side of the road after a couple minutes’ drive.

We made the mistake of relying on Google maps and turned off the main road BEFORE reaching the marina. As a result, we found the hotel after a maze-like detour via narrow dirt roads in the backstreets of the town. Stupid Google maps! LOL!

I’ll know for next time. And I am saying this because I am definitely going back. Andy loved it there too, and we reminisce about it all the time.

I think the reason Andy and I loved this place so much is because it made us feel so relaxed…  As all our meals were included we didn’t have to venture anywhere outside looking for sustenance or even to think about what to order.

This hotel offered us a chance to unwind, and it was somewhat like us reverting to our childhood in a way… No worries at all, no schedule, no to do lists, nowhere we needed to be, no need for a watch. We just ate when we got hungry, swam, and slept all day!

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