Area Synest
We took a day trip out to Area Synest with our new friends we made here in Greece. I never would have found this stunning little spot if it weren’t for Stephanie! It was a beautiful area that felt like stepping into a fairy tale. They even played relaxing, classical music all throughout the park while you were there. They change the theme here twice a year, and the current theme was a little girl and her pink lamb. Area Synest was part nature reserve, part museum, part themed trails and rooms, and part resort with various hotel rooms or bungalows you could rent to stay here.
We walked through, enjoying all the cute, themed, pink details and touches everywhere. And read the story, which was all in Greek. Thankfully, Jon is resourceful and took a photo of it and ran it through AI to translate and summarize the story for us! The little girl was waiting for her beloved sheep to give birth, but when she did it was to a pink lamb. Everyone began to turn on this poor, sweet creature because of the colour of its wool. Of course, in the end, all turned out well and the pink lamb was embraced by the community!
As we walked through, there were some stunning views of the mountains surrounding us and we could even see the Gulf of Corinth off in the distance in some areas. There were also these adorable wicker tree house-type structures in a couple of spots that the kids loved to climb up.
We went into the historical museum to see all the artifacts from this region that the owner of the park has collected over the years, putting together rooms that show what farm life, home life, tavern life, and workshops were like back in the day in this area. These rooms were impressively detailed and decorated.
The owner of the park is Armenian, and so there was a beautiful little Armenian chapel here and some authentic Armenian food at the one restaurant. We grabbed some of the food, which was like a baked, stuffed pita kind of thing. We tried three types: cheese, cheese and beef, and a third one that had meat, veggies, and yogurt in it and was all rolled up. Not sure what anything was called, but it was all delicious!
We carried on and saw a ton of the exotic birds, turkeys, bunnies, and peacocks that live here at the park. There were old tires that formed swings, climbing structures, and balancing beams that the kids enjoyed playing on. Though we mostly stuck to the area with the swings!
There were also swans, ducks, and a donkey, though we never made our way to the donkey or ducks. There were relaxation areas everywhere, and it was so peaceful to just chill out on a giant beanbag chair and chat for a while! There was an Orthodox chapel near the one relaxation spot, which I went to explore with Emmeline. It was a beautiful little chapel.
We walked down an incredibly steep pathway to the river. We walked along the river for a little way, and of course, the girls found something that looked scary to climb up. But I suppose it wasn’t too scary, as Daddy climbed up there with them. I was perfectly happy on the ground next to the stream with Stephanie, though! There were some beautiful views along this little river. I loved it.
We managed to find a life-sized chess set, which made the girls extremely happy. They ended up teaching the boys how to play chess as they teamed up with one boy and girl on each team. Normally, I’m content to let chess play out as it will between the girls and often don’t even pay attention. This game was taking far too long for a hot day, so I tried to help them along!
It was a beautiful spot, and we loved our day trip out here. The only downside was that it was such a hot day that the girls kept getting overheated. We bought tons of water and even let them have juice (generally a hard no in our house) to get some sugars back into them. But the heat was wreaking havoc on Katia’s disposition that day. It definitely made for some tense and stressful moments, and a few tears and standoffs. But in the end, we all really enjoyed seeing and experiencing this amazing little spot out in the mountains. I would go again in the future to see what other creative themes the artistic genius owner comes up with!