Our story
About Konxa
The people behind Konxa
Κόνξα is a small experience studio in Halkidiki. We host nature walks, tastings, workshops, and slow days outdoors. Everything is run with local producers as partners, and locals are as welcome as visitors.
Eleftheria — Founder
My name is Eleftheria.
I grew up in Afytos, the prettiest village in Halkidiki, people say. They come for dinner, take photos of the stone houses, and leave before dark. Afytos is indeed the prettiest village, but I know some even more beautiful spots that need to be shared!
Halkidiki for me is my base. Wherever in the world I go, I always know where my home is. It's pine trees hugging the shore, it's roads, it's sounds, the fresh fruit & vegetable market on Tuesdays, the marching band on the 28th of October, the carnival tsiknopempti fully dressed up, the night swims when it's not hot anymore, the bougelo (water war) on the last day of school. It's a place I value and I want to give back, see it develop sustainably, and avoid seeing it being converted into empires that convert it into luxurious offshore paradises.
Professionally I am an ecologist. For my bachelor's thesis I studied the coastal ecosystem of the region. I interviewed people who manage the beaches, and I found something that stayed with me: we are removing seaweed and natural debris from the coast because we assume tourists want sanitised shorelines. My data contrasted this belief and found that visitors valued the natural environments more. They just weren't being offered it. That gap is where Konxa began.
I went on to study environmental communication to bridge natural science with the public. The studies were in Sweden, but I kept coming back. Back to the pine forests on the middle peninsula, to the wetlands full of birds that honour us with a stop during their multi-months trips, to the people who have spent their lives making olive oil, wine, coffee, beer.
Konxa is my attempt to close that distance.
It isn't a company in the traditional sense. I would place it closer to a cooperative. We build experiences related to nature and culture together with the people who live (and lead) them. Think of extraordinary and knowledgeable people, whom we (Konxa members) collaborate with to help them reach audiences that would genuinely value their work. We work with olive farmers, winemakers, scientists, beekeepers, and people who don't have a job title for what they do. We design experiences as a team, we deliver them together.
Thank you for being here,
Welcome!
Vasiliki — Communications Specialist, Facilitator
My name is Vasiliki.
I grew up in Kassandreia, one of the few villages on Kassandra, the first peninsula of Halkidiki, that isn't by the sea. Maybe that's why my relationship with this place was never only about the sea. It was about olive groves, forests, village squares, dirt roads, winter mornings, and the people who quietly keep this place alive all year round.
For the first eighteen years of my life, Halkidiki was my whole world. Every season had its own rhythm. Winter meant helping with the olive harvest and caring for the land. Spring brought new colours and work in our baktsés (μπαχτσές), our family vegetable garden. Summer meant long evenings by the sea, looking up at skies full of stars. Autumn was quieter, slower, a season that taught me to appreciate change.
Those nights under the stars are probably what first made me curious about the world. That curiosity eventually led me to study Physics at the University of Ioannina, where I specialised in Astrophysics, focusing on Plasma Physics. During my studies, I completed an internship and also worked at the Planetarium, guiding visitors through the night sky and leading science activities for children. That’s where I realised: whether you're looking through a telescope or walking through a forest, the most important thing is learning how to notice.
Along the way, I facilitated Erasmus+ workshops around storytelling and art, travelled through eco-communities across Greece, worked with the land, met people building with natural materials, and explored different ways of living closer to nature. I've been lucky enough to experience beautiful landscapes across Europe and Greece. But every journey quietly confirmed the same thing.
Halkidiki was never just where I came from. It was always where I returned to.
Growing up, it was completely normal to spend weekends pruning olive trees, picking fruit, planting vegetables, or helping however I could. At the time, it was simply everyday life. Looking back, I realise I was never interested in just one thing. I was interested in understanding how things connect. Science and ecology. Architecture and craftsmanship. Culture and creativity. The natural world and the people who belong to it.
I've always admired people who dedicate their lives to something because they genuinely love it. A beekeeper, a scientist, a carpenter, a winemaker, someone who knows every trail in the forest. They all carry a kind of knowledge that can't be learned from books alone.
That's what Konxa means to me.
A chance to bring all those worlds together. To create experiences that invite people to slow down. To notice the details. To meet the people behind them. To discover a Halkidiki that isn't measured by how many beaches you've visited, but by the connections you've made along the way.
Together with Eleftheria, we're building Konxa as an invitation to experience Halkidiki through nature, science, culture, curiosity, and the people who call it home.
Konxa
Who we collaborate with?
We work with olive farmers, winemakers, scientists, beekeepers, and people who don't have a job title for what they do. Each experience here is built together with the person who leads it.
Vasiliki
Communications Specialist, Facilitator
Vasiliki is one of the pilars of Konxa, running social media and communication, as well as hosting and facilitating workshops and experiences. She is an Astrophysicist with studies in the University of Ioannina, also guiding visitors through the night sky and leading science activities for children. She is a great hiker, and captures the most interesting shots with her camera.
Ioanna
Bat Biologist and Reseracher
Ioanna is a biologist with expertise and long experience in Chiroptera (bats). Her research mostly focuses on recording, monitoring and assessing the conservation status of bat species in protected areas. For her PhD she focused on the importance of aquatic ecosystems for bats and on the impact of human activity on their populations. She has collaborated with the National Environmental Protection Agency, contributed to the Red List of Endangered Species of Greece, and also participates in studies about the implementation of wind farms and the coexistence with bats.
Michalis
Coffee Roaster
Michalis has been running his coffee roasting business for the last 30 years in Kassandreia, the central village of Halkidiki. He is a true local, with his coffee shop buzzing every single morning the loads of locals passing by for a curious get-together, or a quick stop for a coffee to go. Together with Mirka, the superwoman wife, they run their shop that always smells freshly cut greek coffee, while the shelves are equipped with bio products of any kind: spices, nuts, honeys and even soap bars!
Stathis
Wine Sommelier
Stathis is a sommelier from Kassandreia, with numerous certifications and worldwide experience in wines, including being a judge in wine competitions across Europe. He has the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines is an expert-level qualification covering all aspects of wine, making him a true Master of Wine, as he is equipped with skills and knowledge both theoretically and in practice.
Giota
Biologist
Giota is a biologist from Thessaloniki, with experience in fish and local ecological knowledge of traditional fishers of the protected lake Small Prespa (bordering with Albania). Her interests span over land ecology as much as aquatic, while taking care of stray dogs in dog shelters in her free time.
Lefteris
Software/Web Developer
Lefteris is our only distant partner, in the far away - stunning - island of Crete, probably spending time near the sea, scuba diving or swimming. With a business degree in business analytics, he has designed and developed our website, while taking care of Konxa’s online presence.
Nature interpretation
We're not guides. We're interpreters.
A guide points at things. We find the thread between what you already care about and what this place has to give. The olive tree you'll taste has a story that goes back further than the taverna you had dinner at last night. The bird you'll hear before you see it has been stopping here for ten thousand years. We're just going to help you notice.