You may have well-distilled thoughts of what represents a holiday in Greece.
For most, it’s likely mornings at sites of antiquity and afternoons exploring markets or restaurants, plus a good number of hours in between spent languidly sun worshipping on the edge of the Mediterranean. The all-inclusive Club Med experience — on Evia Island, or Euboea, well north of the tourist hotspots — is a departure from such ideas.
Evia may be the second largest island in Greece but is unlikely to feature in the top 10 most popular ocean-enveloped outcrops in the geographically fragmented country.
To be fair, Evia is barely an island. Angled northwest to southeast, it sits north of Athens with only 40m separating it from the mainland at its narrowest point.
Thanks to a highly efficient motorway, the 90-minute road trip to the spot where we have to board a boat is uneventful. It does, however, take a toll on the weary international traveller, as it will on the driver's pocket. This is also the road to Thessaloniki, which I've told myself will provide a far more authentic Greek experience.
As you approach the little port of Agios Konstantinos, you see Club Med's Gregolimano resort across the North Euboean Gulf. It sits in isolation in a pine forest at the water's edge. The gleaming Aegean as foreground and limestone rock as backdrop isn't the only reminder that you might as well be on the Cote d'Azur. Club Med is hugely popular with the French and, soon enough, 'Bonjours' and 'Mercis' confound your eardrums.
The 20-minute journey by water taxi brings you to the resort's pier. The way in which we arrive and are welcomed conjures images of a movie set. The 19ha park on which the resort sits has 497 rooms, mostly in the main hotel, as well as the clustered Olympe Quarter and the new 35 suites nestled in the pine grove.
The construction of those suites is part of why we are here. Conceptualised to harmoniously blend with the environment, the suites are tastefully designed and present travellers who seek tranquillity the perfect retreat.
Chief architect Aphrodite Kartelia isn't entirely sold on what the interior decorator has done after the handover. Done up in shades of blue, white and ecru with wooden furnishings, the look and feel is softer than what you're likely to experience elsewhere in Greece. Kartelia holds strong convictions and her work here is a tribute to her wonderfully individualistic spirit.
Its construction met green-certification standards and great care was taken not to disturb the birdlife in this neck of the woods.
The forest canopy provides natural shade and each suite has a terrace with a view of the alluring Aegean. South Africans, though, may be tempted to dedicate a corner to a kettle braai.
Greece, however, has a particularly strained relationship with fire. In fact, in the summer of 2021, large swathes of Evia were scorched and the resort played its part in the containment of the threat. The resort is all too aware of the terrain it's occupied since the 1970s. At the official opening of the suites, the symbiotic relationship between the resort and all life on the island is stressed.
EVEN TIME SLOWS
There is a lot to get up to at Gregolimano. The all-inclusive package is geared towards families and active couples, but spa treatments and excursions require your attention at checkout. Sailing, paddle boarding, water skiing, wakeboarding, archery, tennis and padel rank among the popular included activities.
Yoga classes are also part of the offering. In fact, Club Med considers it part of their pioneering and innovative spirit and its association with the discipline stretches back to the 1970s.
After days of running and sun soaking, I head for a massage in the new wellness area. It has a relaxation garden and a private hammam which provide respite from all the outdoor activities.
In keeping with the blue theme, whales' pulsed calls create an atmosphere of weightlessness in the treatment rooms. Having indulged over the past few days at the splendid Les Pléiades buffet and ordering, with a measure of restraint, from a set menu at Olea Gourmet Club, I feel ready to beach myself. However, Noemie's hands work their magic and I'm ready to be pushed back into the blue.
The food, to be fair, is top-notch. The selection is vast and, though you tell yourself less is more, “over” and “indulge” are perched on each shoulder.
The staple at the terraced Les Pléiades is mostly Greek, while the Olea Gourmet Club sits on an expansive deck on the fifth floor of the main hotel overlooking the Aegean.
The Coquillage Beach Bar with its live music is a popular late-afternoon hang out. Once you get sand between your toes on a Greek beach, those in the hourglass are reduced to the slowest trickle. In Greece, time — and here I mean the sun — is partial to an afternoon go-slow.
Unlike further south, Evia is kissed by the sun and caressed by the sea. It is easy to make the most of both. While your decision to drop anchor at Coquillage is greased by the promise of cocktails, it is the sensational sunset across the Malian Gulf that will get you digging your heels. Your Instagram posts will be well lit.
Earlier, a pop-up music quiz looked set to challenge whatever mental vitality remained from the previous evening's activities at Aphrodite Bar.
It was a night, and morning, in which many ditties were played at a White Party but thankfully the wholesomeness of the Club Med experience went unchallenged.
As we pull up our chairs for the post-lunch quiz, our two-person team seems grossly understaffed. We, however, catapult into a healthy lead thanks to Louis Armstrong, Earth Wind and Fire, Stevie Wonder and Snoop Dogg.
Just as we feel a theme emerging, the DJ decides to gall us with a string of hits that is, frankly, foreign. We finish second but the bar is 10m away. As I top up I wonder whether Club Med has cancelled Michael Jackson but that evening a Jackson Five hit comes belting through the speakers. Here, families matter.
The resort welcomes children from the age of two and supervision is provided at their Mini Club Med + for those four and upwards. Teens Club Med (11-13) and Chill Pass Club Med (14-17) provide recreational, artistic and social activities and in summer up to 300 adults-in-the-making descend on the island.
I'm off to the tennis courts more in hope than expectation that I will get the opportunity to hit a few balls with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, once ranked the world's fifth-best player. The Frenchman has teamed up with compatriot Thierry Ascione in running the resort's tennis and padel programme.
I tell myself, “Don't embarrass yourself,” when I get a few minutes with Tsonga. He gently guides the ball to my forehand, I swing timidly and the ball's progress is arrested halfway up the net. I throw my head back but soon I hold up my end in a 12-shot rally that ends with Tsonga going for glory with a booming forehand that catches the tape and drops his side of the net. By the end, though, a dozen or so balls and the penny had dropped my side.
I am under explicit instruction to get a picture with Tsonga but this is going to be awkward. I never ask for pictures. I feel like the neighbour who heads next door for a cup of sugar while their house is ablaze.
By the time I ask, Tsonga still wears the grin he produced for an earlier request. I'm in. Later, I look at the picture thinking he looks a million bucks, and I like someone raised on the Rand.
The adjacent padel court beckons and I team up with another South African to face a Frenchman and a German. This soon develops into a tight, eagerly contested match that ends in a five-all stalemate when two barely teen girls arrive to remind us that our time on that court is up.
I need a cool-down but signing up for the watersports activities can be a bit of a lottery. Your chances of being part of the action depends on whether you are advanced, intermediate or a beginner. Beginners are more likely to leave the pier crestfallen.
My two travel companions have better luck. Though one of them is made to wait, he is not easily deterred. His approach to the activities is like a Labrador pup let loose in the squeaky toy factory.
The day of departure arrives and I convince myself that the Greek gods are weeping. There is a gentle drizzle over Gregolimano.
The sun provides much of what defines Greece and the weather, as we board the ferry under leaden skies, perhaps matches the mood.
As we disembark in Agios Konstantinos, however, I no longer yearn for the road towards Thessaloniki.
Despite earlier reservations, by then, and if I may misrepresent Frankie Valli, Greece was the way we were feeling.
GETAWAY AT A GLANCE
GETTING THERE: There are no direct flights between South Africa and Greece. Several options that require a layover exist through east Africa and Europe. Flying to Istanbul is probably the most convenient route. The writer flew on Qatar Airways via Doha.
REACHING THE RESORT: From the airport in Athens, travellers can take a taxi (90 minutes) to Agios Konstantinos, then a water taxi (20 minutes) or ferry (30 — 60 minutes) to Club Med. Alternatively, go by car from Athens to Arkitsa (90 minutes) then a ferry to Edipsos (40 minutes). Club Med Gregolimano is another 30 minutes by car.
ACCOMMODATION: The main hotel has rooms with terraces and sea or mountain views. The apartment-style Olympe Quarter is with terraces or balconies.
RATES: From R28,297 per person sharing (includes seven nights' accommodation, food and drink, land and water activities*, entertainment and transfers. Excludes flights. T&Cs apply. See clubmed.co.za
WHEN TO GO
The resort closes during the European autumn and winter. The European summer months attracts the bulk of their visitors but if you want to avoid the summer heat August and September may be a better bet.
VISAS
South African travellers will require a Schengen visa.
• Del Carme was a guest of Club Med.
