Perhaps one of the longest and most beautiful beaches in
Greece if not the world, Vatera, is a tourist Mecca that is waiting to happen
and one of the best places to be if you are traveling with your family or are
looking for a quiet place to enjoy the sea and nature. Located on the coast
between the Gulf of Yera and the Gulf of Kaloni, near the town of Polychnitou
and the amazing hot mineral baths, Vatera is seven kilometers of uninterrupted
sandy beach. This is one beach that seems to extend forever. The town of Vatera
itself stretches a couple kilometers and is made
up of some really nice tavernas,
a pizza place or two, several small bars, a few shops and some terrific family
oriented hotels. (We stay at two: the Vatera Beach Hotel, owned by American
Barbara Ballis and her husband George, a famous Greek actor, and director who
left the glitter behind to open his hotel and the Aphrodite owned by Greek
singer John Hahathakis who gave up his career be closer to his family and now
entertains his guests every weekend in the hotel taverna.)
Most of the people who come to Vatera are Northern
Europeans who have been coming for years and a few celebrities in the know like
a famous Earnest Hemingway look-alike who enjoys a quiet ouzo and mezedes and a
good book at sunset, as well as snorkeling along the coast where fish and
octopus are plentiful. In fact I caught several baby octopus and played with
them with my daughter, letting them climb from one hand to the other before
letting them go again, probably wondering to themselves what that was all about.
Perhaps one of the longest and most beautiful beaches in
Greece if not the world, Vatera, is a tourist Mecca that is waiting to happen
and one of the best places to be if you are traveling with your family or are
looking for a quiet place to enjoy the sea and nature. Located on the coast
between the Gulf of Yera and the Gulf of Kaloni, near the town of Polychnitou
and the amazing hot mineral baths, Vatera is seven kilometers of uninterrupted
sandy beach. This is one beach that seems to extend forever. The town of Vatera
itself stretches a couple kilometers and is made
up of some really nice tavernas,
a pizza place or two, several small bars, a few shops and some terrific family
oriented hotels. (We stay at two: the Vatera Beach Hotel, owned by American
Barbara Ballis and her husband George, a famous Greek actor, and director who
left the glitter behind to open his hotel and the Aphrodite owned by Greek
singer John Hahathakis who gave up his career be closer to his family and now
entertains his guests every weekend in the hotel taverna.)
s and a
good book at sunset, as well as snorkeling along the coast where fish and
octopus are plentiful. In fact I caught several baby octopus and played with
them with my daughter, letting them climb from one hand to the other before
letting them go again, probably wondering to themselves what that was all about.
