It's Day 2 of our Mediterranean cruise and the Celestyal Journey cruise ship arrives at Kavala in Northern Greece. Kavala is famous for Philippi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a major archaeological site with ruins of temples, forum and a theatre. We also stop off at a winery and eat some of Kavala's most famous exports: kourabiedes or Greek almond biscuits and partake of the cruise ship's fine dining restaurant! So what is the food like and is Kavala worth a stop?
Kavala is a popular northern Greek town with a population of 60,000 people with architecture very typical of a Northern Greek city. Kavala is divided into two parts: the left hand side of Kavala is all new, reclaimed land from the 1950s and 60s while the right hand side is the Old town with steep, cobblestone streets. There are also 4 beaches inside the city and all are designated blue flag beaches for marine environmentalism. We arrive at the port in St Paul Harbour, one of the most scenic areas of Kavala and adjacent to the Old Town of Kavala and the castle.
Today we are joining Celestyal Cruise's shore excursion called Greek Wine and Holy Water: Philippi and Beyond and because we are part of the Steps of Paul tour, a lot of fellow guests are coming along for religious reasons. Our tour guide Angela shows us the Imaret house that was built 2 centuries ago and is now 5 star hotel built built by Mohammed Ali who later became the King of Egypt and founder of last dynasty of Egypt. He was always fond of this birthplace and left money for Kavala - his money went towards feeding people who could not afford to eat.
In the past, Kavala built its wealth on the tobacco trade and was an important city in Ottoman times. Big tobacco factories have been restored to become malls and museums. Private houses of tobacco merchants have become city halls. Kavala has a strong Turkish presence, partly because of the population exchange of the 1920's. The city once comprised of 70% refugees and 30% natives and were mostly Turkish and Muslim refugees. The symbol for these refugees is the yellow eagle that adorns some buildings.
We end up at the Ancient City of Philippi which is quite interesting. A lot of us, me included were expecting a wine tour but the first 2 hours or so are spent here. It is interesting to see how people lived in this ancient city and where the gladiators would fight lions in the amphitheatre made of local marble. Kavala was known as the place where Apostle Paul first preached in Europe.
Around 11.30am we head towards our second stop at the winery Oenogeneisis. The winery is located in the valley foothills of the mountains of Drama in Greece. Alexandro greets us at the door. His French father came to Drama with a dream to start his own winery. Oenogeneisis is housed in a large 4,000m2/43,000f2 tower house inspired by Old Macedonian mansions.
The region proved perfect for a winery - the mountains buffer any aggressive winds while the limestone soil means less humidity which is good for grapes. At night they get cold Northern winds; having a big difference between day and night makes grapes need longer time to mature so they have a better balance of sugar and flavours.
Their two vineyards locations were chosen because in Drama the weather is very much like Bordeaux so they grow their French varieties here while in Kavala they grow the Greek varieties. Alexandro shows us the bottling machine and afterwards we follow him into the barrel rooms filled with French and American oak barrels. The room is set to 60% humidity which is ideal for wines.
He shows us the Bank of wine, his father's dream to build. For €20 they will keep or age your wine for 20 years at the correct temperature. Often people leave their wines to their children or bestow them as gifts to friends.
After this is the fun part: wine tasting! We taste four types of wine from the Skertso demi sec, Mataroa rose, Mataroa Red and the Thyrsus White Dry all with ham, cheese and baguettes spread with cream and olive tapenade.
After the winery, we have one last stop at St Lydia's Baptistery. This commemorates the baptism of Lydia, the first European convert to Christianity by the Apostle Paul. The site is set along the Zygaktis River as it is a very busy site for pilgrimages.
By the time we get back to port we have 45 minutes before we have to leave. We go for a quick walk around the town and it's such a charming little town I wish we had longer there. I buy some kourabiedes, almond cookies dusted in a thick coating of icing sugar that Kavala is known for. These come in the traditional round shape or crescent. You can buy these in flavours like strawberry and dark chocolate or you can also buy these fresh from a bakery like Allotino bakery where they're super soft and melt in the mouth - their kourabiedes even have whole, roasted almonds inside.
After we board the ship I go straight to the bar for refreshments. While there is a full matcha menu they seem to have run out of matcha on board so I go for a smoothie that is absolutely delicious. I sip it with some of the koubourbiedes that I bought.
We head back to our room for a nap for Mr NQN and some work for me. At 6pm it's time for a pre dinner drink and dinner. Tonight's dinner is at one of the Celestyal Journey's specialty restaurants: Grillseekers, a steak and seafood grill restaurant.
Grillmasters is the most upmarket restaurant option on the ship and while service starts off a little awkward, the staff settle into a rhythm. We start with mocktails, a virgin Mojito for Mr NQN and I go into full holiday resort mode with a frozen strawberry daiquiri. We luck out and happen to be seated on the right side and watch a riotous sunset turn from mild to technicolour right in front of our eyes.
The bread selection arrives and I try a soft pretzel which I choose while Mr NQN has a seeded dinner roll. The pretzel is excellent, soft and with flecks of sea salt on top. I had not seen the pretzel at the buffet so I think it is only available here at this restaurant.
They also bring out a platter of crisp, toasted pita breads and a tomato cream cheese dip while we are waiting.
There are only two choices on the menu for a starter so we ordered one each. Mine is the creamy wild mushroom and black truffle soup which is very creamy and rich and with plenty of mushroom and truffle flavour. It is served in a hollowed out cob roll.
But the item that you really want for the wow factor is the antipasto platter. They wheel out a huge trolley laden with cured meats, smoked fish, cheeses and marinated and fresh vegetables with fresh figs. Mr NQN asks for a bit of everything and they gladly oblige putting together a plate with fresh prawns, smoked salmon, salami, prosciutto, olives, tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant. It's fresh and tasty and such a stunning way to present an antipasto platter.
There is a bit of a wait for our mains while the restaurant fills up this Monday evening. My choice is the lobster tail, beautifully presented so that it is easy to eat and you don't have to struggle with prying the meat out of the tail. It comes with scallops on the side with the roe on and they add some garlic butter at the table. The lobster tail is perfectly cooked until tender and the garlic butter is a nice addition to the lobster. With each main you get to choose two sides and I had chose the grilled asparagus which is on the side and the country potato fries that come in a basket. These are like wedges that are cut in the centre and butterflied so that they're very crispy.
We also order the ribeye steak. I love dry aged steak so when I asked if any of the steaks were dry aged the question flummoxed the waitstaff a bit and they had to check with the chef. It turns out that none of the steaks on board are dry aged but this beef ribeye is good and cooked medium rare as requested. We asked for several sauces to try and the green peppercorn is the definite pick. We ordered this with sides of sautéed vegetables and potato gratin that went well with the steak.
We are given the option of Grand Marnier or Cointreau for our crepes suzettes and the head waiter Ali starts preparing our Crepes Suzette at the trolley flambeeing the sauce. The crepes are perfectly thin and with that delicious orange, butter and Grand Marnier sauce. They also bring us a generous serve of vanilla ice cream each that goes well with the crepes suzette but also our other dessert, the kunafeh.
The kunafeh is nothing shore of divine. This is an incredible knafeh and it's worth waiting the 15 minutes for this to be made fresh. I love knafeh - what's not to love about stretchy cheese, syrup and crispy kataifi noodles but Mr NQN is so enamoured that he eats three quarters of this while doing a little dance in his seat. I've never seen him do this so I think we may have to come back later in the cruise for this again!
So tell me Dear Reader, would you prefer to do shore excursions or wander around by yourself? Or does it depend on the port?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of Celestyal Cruises but all opinions remain her own. We flew to Europe with Vietnam Airlines.
Celestyal Cruises
A similar cruise is priced from $1289AUDpp twin share for a 2025 voyage: https://celestyal.com/au/our-cruises/7-nights-au/idyllic-aegean/
Vietnam Airlines
Vietnam Airlines offers 23 flights per week connecting Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Vietnam Airlines is continuing to add new routes having recently announced new flights to Milan, Munich and Delhi.
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