Parellia Mirtofitou to Kavala – August 12th
Distance: 34.9 km – Elevation +280 m -280 m
Weather: Sunny. Temperature: High 35 degrees
Éllēnas was a friendly place to stay. Eating in the beachside restaurant with its ebullient manager who wore a sprig of mint behind his ear, and the equally happy staff was a joy. I had a salad with produce from their gardens and locally caught fish deliciously fried. I think I was the only guest staying in the house but the restaurant was full throughout the evening. It was a warm night but with a gentle cooling breeze and it was a real pleasure to dine outside by the sea.
I slept really well and woke early to be greeted by a glorious sunrise with intense colours that created a perfect silhouette of the island of Thasos like a boat floating on the sea. As I left the hotel at 6.30 pm I met the manager of the restaurant in the garden and he gave me a few items of fresh fruit to take with me.
For the first three hours, I followed both tracks and a very quiet state road. I passed numerous vineyards, mostly covered, and heavily laden with grapes. Kavala has been producing good wines since ancient times.
I then dropped down to the seashore from the ridge that carries the state road. It was kilometre after kilometre of beach bars each with its own strip of beach, complete with sunbeds and imitation palm sun shades. It appears to be a very profitable business with prices to suit, I stopped in one and was charged 4.5 euros for a frappe! It is a popular location too and the small road that links the various beaches was very busy with slow moving traffic. After the beach I arrived at the ruins of the Castle of Nea Peramos (Anaktoroupoli), an ancient Byzantine castle built in the 10th century AD on the ruins of the ancient castle-town (polis) of Aisimi or Isimi built in the 7th century B.C and mentioned by Homer in Iliad.
I stopped for lunch in the resort of Nea Paramos and had a long chat with the Albanian waiter who was interested in my journey to Jerusalem. After lunch, I followed the coastline with lots of ups and downs and magnificent views both of the emerald blue Aegean and also inland to the Pangaion mountains.
It was another hot day with less breeze than yesterday and I was beginning to tire as I approached Kavala and I started to look for accommodation. I came first to the Lucy Hotel, a large relatively new hotel situated 2 kilometres from the town harbour and was surprised to be told there were no vacancies.
It was 6.00 pm when I walked into the town centre, where an outside temperature display showed 34 degrees., and here I found a good comfortable room in the Hotel Nefeli located just a short distance from the harbour.
