Like many people on holiday we always used to lie on the beach discussing and wishing that we could have our own place in the sun. Never having had a bad holiday meant that every destination we visited was up for discussion on the beach!
Finally we were able to put the wheels in motion. After a few reco' trips to other destinations we came to a decision based on our visits to the Mainland and Islands that Greece was our No.1 choice. After much thought we decided on Corfu, logistically it gave us the most options for physically getting there. Unfortunately it is one of the more expensive locations in Greece to purchase property.
We were not too fussy as to where we were based as we would be touring around reminding ourselves of the resorts and villages we had visited many years previous. A last minute cheapie deal gave us the choice of Ag.Georgios South or Arillas. We plumped for Arillas, although with some trepidation as 4 years ago there was very little information available about Arillas, the photos we could find were hardly encouraging! This fledgling website was our only source of information. (Well done Sandy, Maggie, etc...for a long time you all sure managed to keep your favourite place a well preserved secret!)
We arrived at the Mathraki Apartments and the following day we started our search armed with the schedules which I had printed off at home.
At this point we were really only looking for a suitable location, but by the end of our first week we were quite disheartened with the way things were going. Mulling things over one evening in Graziellas, we were watching the sunsetting when it suddenly dawned on us that we had fallen for Arillas! Unwittingly to us, during the previous 7 days, crafty Arillas had been quietly spinning it's web over us!
We went back to the apartment and dumped the remaining schedules in the bin, not knowing that the difficult part was about to begin...
As little as 4 years ago there were very few Estate agents in Corfu, property for sale in Arillas was even rarer.
Nevertheless after a few fruitless visits (many tales to tell there!) we eventually found what we were looking for.
4 years later we have visited 13 times, 21 weeks in total. For most of these visits we stayed in the Mathraki. We have also stayed in Annas, The Tria Adelphia, Thomas Bungalows and the Galini.
Every year we introduce more of our family and friends to Arillas...and yes just like the rest of us here on this forum it has managed to work it's magic on them too.
Eileenx