There are not many places that are attractive for tourists from the point of view of inspection at the very Peninsula Halkidiki. Mostly Chalkidiki is a beach holiday, and many tourist routes are concentrated outside the peninsula, namely towards Continental Greece - Thessaloniki, Athens, Dion, Kalambaca (Meteor), Larisa, Paralia-Katerini, Castoria. Here and historical routes, as well as the famous fur shopping. As regards to Chalkidikov, that is, one very remarkable excursion to the third "finger" - Athos. It is closed from tourists, since one of the major monastery complexes of Greece is located here, but you can get and see the temples and monasteries. From the city of Uranopulis, that in the translation means "Heavenly City" departs small two-candy tourist ships.
It is from the deck of the ship will be given the opportunity to contemplate the beauty of Athos, to see the current monasteries, including the Russian temple named after St. Panteleimon.
An attraction is also attractive to the fact that from the first two "fingers" of the Kassandra and Sithonia Peninsula, where the tourist life is boiling, to go to Afona less than an hour. The cost of the tour is approximately 35-45 euros. It all depends on where and who you will buy a tour. You can use the services of the hotel guide, but then you pay more, but you can buy a ticket so to speak on the street, that is, in a small tourist company of your resort town. We did, so the trip to Athos cost exactly 35 euros. However, there was a small minus, we just didn't think about it earlier, but you could agree. They fell into a group with tourists from Serbia and Russians was on the ship a maximum of four. Therefore, the entire tour of the guide was actually in Serbian and in English. Fortunately, I know and could be understood about what the narration during the trip. It must be said that by the end of the tour yet somewhat tired of unfamiliar speech, and in general everything was organized perfectly. From Cassandra we were taken to a mini bus, Iranopulis transplanted to the ship and the tour began. During the trip you could see not only monasteries, but also the beauty of the nature of the Athos Peninsula. Get to Athos Mono, but only to men. For women, the entrance is closed there and from the moment of the founding of this monastic republic, no woman went on this sacred land. Men can get there on a visa that should be issued in advance. Athos is a country in the country with its orders and laws. One of the familiar Greeks visited and told about the ascetic life of the monks. During the three-day stay on the peninsula, he felt everything that these religious hermit live. It was necessary to get up early, to pray for a long time, to observe the entire routine of life. Tourists there is no condescension there. People go there for cleansing their soul and this cleansing passes along with those who live there.
During the trip on the ship, perhaps the impressive entertainment for us-tourists was the feeding of albatrosses. They apparently accompany none ship and know that they will quit. The whole pack flew behind the ship. They threw them the bread and was strikingly to observe with what dexterity they grab the pieces of bread right on the fly. When traveling in the early morning of the hotel was given lunch packages and there, among all other products there were sausage not very good quality. I decided to get rid of her and rape birds. I did not think that sausage would cause such interest from these feathery. They were immediately forgotten about the bread and twisted for pieces of delicacy, and one bird with such a zeal approached the eating process, which strongly pecked into the finger. Therefore, with my hands, I really did not feed, but threw pieces of birds. Tourists from such communication with birds were delighted, especially children. After all, it is unlikely that you can still see this beautiful inhabitants of the sea.
The guide was narrated by the formation of the monastic republic in Athos. Latenowled out an interesting story related to the construction of the monastery of St. Panelsonon. When the temple was erected, one of the workers fell from the scaffolding with a significant height and the surprise of others did not receive a single scratch. And the guide told that in the Russian monastery, even input pens made of pure gold. Maybe fiction, and maybe it really is. Against the background of other temples that seeked to see from the deck of the ship, the Russian monastery looked more festive and pilestically. Its greenish color of the dome was highlighted among the inconspicuous other temple buildings of the peninsula.
The whole excursion takes about two hours. On the way back the Greek dance team performed folk dances. Dancers appeared before the public in national costumes and in the course of the action attracted tourists to the dances. In general, there were excellent impressions from this trip.
Upon arrival at the port of Uranopulis, free time was given to familiarize themselves with the town. There are many cafes on the waterfront, and near the berth is a fortress, which is a kind of business card of the city. For shopping lovers here, there is also something to see and where to go. In Uranopulis, there are quite a lot of jewelry stores, in which at reasonable prices you can buy products from silver and gold, you can even bargain. Throw off interest 5-10, and that is good.
In this tour you can take both children. They also, especially schoolchildren, will curiously "touch" to the history of ancient Greece.
In general, in Greece many places worth seeing. Not far from Cassandra towards thessalonikov there is a small town of Petralon, which is known for the fact that in the middle of the 20th century they found a cave, and in it the remains of the first ancient man - Archantrop. For lovers of antiquity, a trip to the cave Petralans will become informative. Here it will be possible to see not only the cave itself with beautiful stalactites and stalagmites, but also visit the Atropologic Museum organized on the territory of Petralans.