Valira and Area
After our stopover in Meteora, we made our way down to the south of the Peloponnese to Valira. We were supposed to be here for a month but arrived almost a week late given our two-week detour back to Struga.
Valira is a small and cute little town in a mountainous area, about a half-hour drive north of Kalamata. I think we may have been the only tourists staying here, which is fine with us. We prefer small, authentic towns to large, touristy ones. Valira was a great fit for a town. Our house was also a perfect fit for us, with enough space spread out over two levels to give us all a little bit of space from each other.
This space became important the second week of our stay here, as temperatures soared up into the low 40s and stayed there all day, every day for over a week. It was impossible to get out during the day, as the temperature was seldom below 34oC between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm. We spent a LOT of time indoors during that week!
We did find some fun nearby local things to do. And met some friendly locals. We explored nearby monasteries, the countryside, local market stalls, and our favourite little taverna overlooking ancient Messini. There were several friendly kitties here, which thrilled the girls! We could sit with our coffee in the morning or our wine in the evening and relax, soaking in the gorgeous views while the girls were entertained with the treats they brought and the snuggles the cats begrudgingly gave.
We learned about a distillery 20 minutes from where we were staying, Callicounis. It’s one of the oldest distilleries in Greece and has been family-run since its inception in 1850. I believe it is in the 6th generation now. We went there for a free private tour and tasting. Wow. This was by far the most interesting and informative tour we have ever done! One of the lovely chemists came out and took us around to show us everything. The girls LOVED the chemistry lab. So did Jon and I. I’ve never seen a full lab for QA/QC for a distillery before. It was fascinating. She showed us how several things worked, explained their testing processes, and so much. We then went out into the production area, where we got to see the various stages and processes in detail before moving on to bottling and then our favourite – tasting!
The tasting room was gorgeous. And wow do they ever make a lot of products! Including non-alcoholic, which made the girls happy as they got to sip their own locally crafted drinks. They were not stingy with their tasting, either. We ultimately bought two bottles of alcohol to bring back to Canada, the first and only alcohol we planned to bring back. A cherry brandy and another type of spirit I’ve never heard of and don’t know how to spell. But, it was a flavoured version that tasted like Christmas with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, and similar tastes. We tried the plain version of the spirit and weren’t huge fans of it. It was STRONG!
We visited Kalamata a few times, which was about 30 minutes from Valira. We walked along near the water and in the main downtown area. We tried a few cafes for a drink or a snack. We walked in the park that led from the harbour to the downtown. Kalamata was definitely nicer than Patras. A little less traffic congestion, nicer streets, and more comfortable walking areas. But overall was not our favourite city to visit. Though we did appreciate finding a Jumbo there! It’s kind of like a cross between a dollar store and a Walmart but laid out like an Ikea where you go from one area to another. They are huge, way larger than a dollar store and some we visited in the Balkans were larger than Walmart. This one included.
This area of Greece was very different from where we stayed the first time. This area was inland and had lots of mountains around. While being on the water was nice, we found this area of Greece to be much prettier and nicer overall. We were able to get to a beach in 15 minutes, but we noticed that the water was quite windy and choppy in the afternoons. The locals told us that it typically was most afternoons. We did spend some time at a café on the beach but ultimately didn’t do any swimming or much beach time while we were here.
While this area of Greece is pretty, we found it very expensive and there were limited indoor activities to do. After two weeks, we decided to leave early, again. We weren’t getting out much anymore with the heat and the kids were really starting to get on each other’s nerves with the close proximity. We decided we didn’t want our final week in Europe before we began our trek back to Canada to be spent indoors, hiding from the heat while listening to the kids fight. And so, once again, we packed up and went back to Struga for the third time. While that meant we ended up having only two weeks rather than four weeks in Valira, we know we made the right decision to cut our time in Greece short and look forward to our return to the place that feels more like home to the four of us than anywhere else in the world.
