Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

– Confucius

Travelling is a form of freedom, as many people say.

When you travel, alone or with company of whatever kind, you feel like the world is yours to explore. You see and feel everything from your perspective, you are the main lead in your own book or movie and somehow every single day feels like an ongoing adventure. Every moment documented in your mind or on pictures that you carry with you to remind you that there are moments in your life when everything feels fit to place like jagged puzzle pieces.

I may not have travelled enough for my age (I mean I am only 23 years old), but visiting every single part of this world is on my life’s to-do list. I want to see what the world is made of, the places nature has created. I am telling you I am ready to explore the world, even if I have to wear a mask due to the pandemic to do so.

During my summer leave from work I did not visit any places, but I did take advantage of one of my free weekends and half of my Friday at the end of August to visit a few towns in Peloponissos.

Three days were enough to see some beautiful sights and to appreciate Greece’s hidden gems.
They are not wrong when they say Greece is a must-go-to destination.

My eldest sister visited Kardamyli during the summer and suggested to me that destination. As sad as it may sound, I was always the type of person who thought that Greece was only good for its islands when it comes to summer destinations. For a greek girl that’s a bit shameful.

Greece has a lot of brautiful places to see that don’t have to be accessible by boat.
Kardamyli is one of them.

My company and I rented a cute little room in Kardamyli – just 10 minutes away from the center of the little town that filled instagram the last 3 summer months. Great accomodation with air condition, even though it wasn’t necessary. The weather was pretty good, with a lovely breeze at night. The view from the balcony combined both mountain and sea, which is a great combination.

The little town was also quite lovely. Very graphic with flowers coming out of the balconies, little cafes in every corner with people enjoying the weather and little shops with handmade products you could buy as souvenirs and stuff like that.

It takes about two or so hours to see all of Kardamyli. It’s rather small, but very graphic with interesting architecture and near other also interesting towns such as Stoupa, Limeni, Oitilo and Agios Nikolaos.

I visited all of those places in the matter of three days. Obviously, if I had more time I would be going to more hidden beaches or eat in more secluded restaurants, but my company and I decided since we only had three days to see as much as we could, to visit more well-known places.

Kardamyli had great food and view. After the first day there I went to Stoupa at a beach called Kalogria which was filled with sand. It was filled with people, families, friends and such, but the place was really beautiful. There was a place there that filled the beach with seats for the world, but you had to pay a small fortune for an hour. It was one of those common cases where the people are taking advantage of a beautiful sight to gain more money than necessary. That’s why when going to a place, I suggest you look into people’s comments below every place, because the truth about everything is hiding in those comments.

I loved Kalogria, it was very nice with crystal waters and you had to go very deep for the sea to go deeper and to not feel the bottom at your feet. Since I am a person that likes to feel the bottom at her toes I sincerely loved that place.

After the beach we went to grab a bite at Areopoli and to visit Limeni, two places very close to each other and almost an hour away from Kardamyli. It’s preferred to have a car when visting Peloponissos. So many places, so near each other that a car is a must have.

When visting Areopolis there was a fire just behind the mountain, very near to the general area. The air was filled with smoke and dust, it was bearable but there was no electricity so it was a very challenging time to visit. In my opinion, Areopoli is a great place to visit during winter. The old town is built with stones and reminds you something of an old vintage village deep within the mountains.

After Areopolis we went to see what Limeni is all about. Instagram is filled with photos of it, all of them taken by the side of some stairs that people seemed to leave all of their stuff there and just jump into the water. I had just had lunch and the view of the place might have been interesting, but leaving my stuff with some strangers was a no no.

Oitilo was the next good thing near Limeni. A typical sandy beach with a little crowd. It was nice, though the water was not so clear since the fire had thrown ash and dust in the air and water.

People around us were so concerned about the fire, airplanes floated around us it was kind of scary, but one of those experiences you won’t forget in your life.

At night, we visited Agios Nikolaos. Now, I personally liked that place the most because all of the shops and restaurants were near the water and onto the harbor.

It was lovely, with lights around every corner, good food – the entire place was so well decorated and taken advantage of that truly made you feel like your were on an island.

I liked how peaceful it was at some places and very busy on others. Agios Nikolaos definetely worths your time.

The last day we visited Phoneas beach, which was filled with rocks. Not easy to walk, defintely the best place to swim, though. Crystal clear waters, under the rocks, with caves on your right and on your left. If you didn’t have an umbrella then you could just go into one of those caves.

That beach was filled with people too and actually, there was a little canteen there for the people to buy stuff for food and other. One thing you should know is that the beach is under a hill. There is a way to go down the hill, obviously then locals there knew exactly how precious the place is. Like a hidden beach that you can escape to, altough rather crowded. Phoneas is a well-known beach around the area that most people recommend to tourists.

After our time at the beach we decided to start heading home, since I had to work the next day.

We took the road back through Kalamata. Kalamata is another well-known big city with lots of tourists and college students. It’s best well know for the large population of the town that uses bikes instead of cars. Now, I know to most of you is not a big deal, but the fact that Kalamata has reduced the use of cars is huge the air’s clearance.

The road back was a bit sad, mostly because I had such a good time those 3 days that going back to work seemed like I was admitting that summer is truly over. I love summer so much that now that’s officialy over I feel like an era has passed. Yes, that dramatic.

Generally, it is in my intention to visit more places. As many as possible, I want to explore every aspect of the world from places near my home until the far end of it.

Those 3 days were my own gateway to some time away from every care, every worry, every stressful situation. You see, I figured that when you travel -even for a day or two -something inside of you feels like it’s letting go of the worries that wait for you every day at work. Maybe, that’s why so many people quit their jobs to travel. That feeling is worth more than a few money.

Enriching your life by travelling and experiencing is admittedly the best thing you can do for yourself. That way near the end of everything you will have an album of memories of the best places and the worst you’ve ever visited. Your life won’t go to waste by just living for working or living for somebody else.

You have an obligation to yourself to take care of it and make it happy. Do that!

Thanks for reading!

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