Greece: Halki

The ferry was late and we pulled into Halki at 1.45am. Approaching the port, we sailed slowly past the southern part of the village, which looked every bit as pretty lit up in the dark as it does during the day.

We wondered if any of our friends waited up for us but we could see that the Steki Bar, our usual hangout, was closed, so we knew everyone had gone to bed. To our surprise though another cafe seemed to have become some sort of night club. A strobe light flashed over dozens of young people drinking and dancing. Who were all these people and what were they doing on our island? Where did this night club come from? We were the ones supposed to be partying, not these strangers, lol. It felt weird to be confronted by something so out of place with our memory of Halki.

At our apartment, we received a message - one of our friends, Roo, did come to meet us but he missed us by a few minutes. We were pretty impressed with the effort!

We got to bed at about 2.30. At about 6am, our room was filled with brilliant light. The door that faces east had a glass window in it and a useless blind over it. The rising sun came straight in. Ughh.

John's cousin's wife is half Greek and her family home is on Halki. Most years, they invite lots of friends to the island. We all stay in different houses or apartments or in the hotel. This year, about 40 people came! We have a favourite place to stay, however it's too big for just the two of us, so we didn't book it this time. The place we found was lovely, but it's very close to the port and the action. We prefer to be a bit further out where we don't have so many neighbours. As I write this, someone is drilling next door. It's not even 9am.

The view from our balcony was still wonderful though. There's something special about the water in the harbour at Halki. We swam here nearly every day.

Fishing boats lolled gently on the water.

The village was as pretty as ever. Bougainvillea dripped over whitewashed walls.

Halki is still the same wonderful village, however a few things have changed since we first started coming here 10 years ago. Lots of day trippers now visit from Rhodes. Their arrival is noticeable in such a small place. 

The cute little boat that took people around to Chania Beach has been replaced by a larger, more modern one. The boat docks are now numbered. This amazes me as only local boats use these docking areas. There are now four fashion shops in the village that I know of. 

But for me, the sad change is the loss of the Nissos Halki, the lovely little ferry that used to bring us from Kamiros Skala, on Rhodes, to Halki. I have such wonderful memories of our family perched up the front, feeling slightly seasick, watching the incredible panorama of Halki come into view for the first time. Now the much larger Aegean Gem runs back and forth. Large crowds (for Halki) queue up to board it.

But some things hadn't changed. The people were still just as wonderful as ever. Thomas and Hetouna, the Georgians who run The Black Sea restaurant, were as friendly as ever and the food was wonderful. They even had khinkali, amazing Georgian dumplings. We bumped into Kiki the day before our big dinner at her restaurant in the old village, and she was thrilled to see us.

The friends that came this time were from Australia, England, Wales and Scotland. There were couples plus some large families, including partners and friends of adult kids. They were a great bunch. We had a group chat going to make it easier to communicate with such a big group and to share photos. Many of the photos in this post aren't mine.

One morning, five of us walked to the old castle on top of a nearby hill. We've done this walk a few times before but it was still lovely. We left at 6am to avoid the heat.

I had been searching everywhere for wild oregano as I saw dried oregano for sale a few times but could never find the plant. We were walking on the trail up though the old village to the castle when I suddenly realised it was growing everywhere around us! All the plants in this pic are oregano.

Nearly there.

The church inside the castle has been fully restored and some of the old walls have been repaired as well.

There was some amazing stone work in the castle walls.

Below the castle stood the ruins of the old village, where people lived out of sight of pirates a couple of hundred years ago. The village was abandoned a long time ago but some people have now come back and a handful of homes have been restored. 

The stonework on this section of ancient wall is incredible!

A teeny-tiny church had a teeny-tiny door.

The next day one of the families went up to the castle. They got this lovely shot.

The castle viewed from near Pondamos beach.

There are three beaches within walking distance of the village (Halki only has one village) - Pondamos, Ftenagia and Chania. The first two are more developed and they were quite busy when we visited. There were heaps of sunbeds and umbrellas there. 

Lunch at Ftenagia.

Chania is a little smaller and quieter. I like this spot, despite the very rocky entry to the beach. We booked a table under the shade of a tamarisk tree and had a delicious lunch and a couple of swims.

People in our group were arriving and leaving at different times but there was one night where all 40 or so of us were there at once, so we booked dinner at Kiki's restaurant. We've known Kiki for as long as we've been coming to Halki. Together with her brother, Mihalis, and her mother, Lefkosia, they turned a house in the ruined old village into a restaurant. It's out of the way but the local taxi service is more than happy to charge a lot of money to ferry people up there.

Everyone was ready for a big night.

JK, Mark and Juliet.

Craig and Geraldine.

Juliet and Amanda.

Kiki is a take-me-as-I-am kind of person :)

Sadly, Lefkosia's health had declined significantly since we last saw her two years ago. She is suffering from dementia. She could barely focus her attention on people when they spoke to her. It was so sad to see.

We all sat at a long table and a separate table was set up nearby with wine, ouzo and raki. We just helped ourselves. That large wine cask is not an illusion - it's 20 litres! And it had to be replaced later in the night!

We were there for an hour or so before the food came out. Many people were well on the way. The food was sensational!

The music system wasn't much chop but we ended up dancing anyway. The first song that Kiki played was one of her favourites, "Can't take my eyes off you". This happens to be our wedding song, so John and I got the dancing started.

Roo used ice tongs as a microphone.

Even Mihalis had a bit of a dance. I love that he was out farming with his goats before dinner, then he came straight to the restaurant and simply put an apron on over his farm clothes to cook!

Lots of fun!

John can't remember what the boys were doing here but apparently it wasn't supposed to be rude!

The gang. There were friends, entire families, adult kids, cousins, sisters, boyfriends, girlfriends and their parents!

We caught up for dinner most nights. Most restaurants can't cope with a group this large so we would split ourselves up across a few different places. The food was always wonderful and the restaurants were all near the sea.

Sharing raki with Thomas from the Black Sea. He always shouted us this at the end of the meal then would join us in drinking it.

Our final night was at Pondamos beach. Of course, it was another great night!

John and I were burning the candle at both ends as we both got nowhere near enough sleep. Manhole covers were laid into the path outside out room and every time someone stood on one they banged loudly. People came home at all hours so the banging continued on into the wee hours every night. There was a lovely Greek family in the apartment behind us but they sometimes stayed up until 1 or 2am, shouting at each other. By that I mean a normal Greek conversation! We struggled to get to sleep and, when we finally did, the sun kept waking us up at 6am again. Arrgghh!

Soon it came time to start the goodbyes as people left at different times. For a few days there were always people to send off at the port.

Until next time Amanda and Lisa!

Finally, it was our turn to leave. But first, there was a lunch to be had at our favourite restaurant, the Black Sea.. There was wine. And raki. I stayed clear of everything to keep a clear head while we travelled though.

Octopi drying in the warm Mediterranean sun. 

The humungous Blue Star Chios pulled in. We boarded then stood at the back, melting in the hot sun, waving goodbye to those still left.

Halki looks stunning from every angle, even from the back of the ferry.

Those remaining stood at the port in the shade and waved until we couldn't see them any more. JK and Val's friends are such great people. We hope to see them all again at Halki sometime soon!

Hooroo!
Heather and John