Hello all.
We've just returned home today (13th October) and its time to share my holiday in Arillas with you all. First of all I want to thank all of you for your input before we went as we were Arillas newbies and much information which proved invaluable to us was gleaned from the pages of this fantastic web site. I must thank Dimitri at this point for taking the time and trouble to run this site , and to say how impressed we all were with his taverna the brouklis. We only ate there once as we were a group of six and had to cater for everyones needs but the food was nothing short of superb, and meeting Dimitri himself was wonderfull. What a well mannered, articulate, and friendly guy he is. I can wholeheartedly recomend the brouklis as a must for anyone who has not been.OK onward, The Kaloudis village was a real suprise after the coments we had seen here. To be honest I was expecting the worst ,but we could not have been more suprised. Firstly the studio accomodation we were given was lovely, Although it was a one room job there was plenty of room for two adults, the cooking facilities which consisted of a small worktop oven/grill with one small and one large electric hob was a little outdated and cooking a breakfast of bacon eggs and beans took ages, however we weren't paying for the Ritz so I feel that was fine, in fact it was fun. At one point we cooked a breakfast for six which consisted of bacon, eggs, omelletes, eggy toast, sausages, potatoe cakes, toast, and beans, I cant imagine what the other guests thought as we ran from one studio to another with various bits of the brekkie which was ultimatley served on our balcony, accompanied as it was by the fire alarms in all three apartments going off at various times throughout the proceedings .These alarms are always going off by the way I set mine off at 5.30 am on our first morning making toast, Howdy neighbors!
The beds were interesting as they are very very firm, but the funny thing is everyone in our group slept better on them than they did at home so full marks there.
The shower curtain was prone to caress you in its clammy grasp every shower time and didnt stem the flow of water onto the bathroom floor, but there is a drain in the floor anyway so its not a problem. The only gripe I have , and its one you need to know about, is that you get one toilet roll when you arrive and thats it, the rest you have to buy, also you have to provide your own soap as well , its only 2 euros for six rolls but isnt that odd?. Anyway I mentioned it to the rep and she had a word but to no avail. The thing is theres a sign in every room telling you that kaloudis must provide you with soap and loo rolls, Oh well I guess thats the Greek way.
The maid service is OK but they dont work sundays and we only got the bedding changed twice a week but to be fair that was ok for us but maybe not for everyone.They worked their way through the studios from about 9.00am till about 6.00pm so its pot luck what time they arrive but they never disturbed us before noon so no prpblems there.
The supermarket on site is very well stockd even though it was end of season, the prices were about the same as elsewhere in Arillas so we did most of our shopping there. Its run by the owners of the studios Christoph and his wife Roula, hes very quiet to the point of ignoring your thank yous, but Roula is lovely, she really makes you feel at home, and will do anything for you. For example on the third day I bought some provisions and realised my money was in the apartment, I told her I would leave the goods and go for the money but she wouldn't hear of it even though it was for about 20 euros, she insisted I take them and pay whenever I was passing. How nice was that?
Now things get a little strange because we come to the facilities, The first thing you want to do after settling in and buying a few groceries is visit the pool and its bar, Ok the pool and bar do not belong to Christoph and Roula, they belong to Christoph's brother BILLY notice I type his name in capitals, you'll learn why later, now it appears that BILLY(THE GREEK) as he likes to be known has semi retired and now rents the pool and bar and surrounding gardens to wait for it Billy(the kid) and his lovely wife Pipina, who are the most friendly couple of people its been my pleasure to meet. Even though they operate the bar from 8.00 am till the early hours seven days a week they always give 110%. Billy the kid has a full time job as well so his brother Jimmy fills in when he cant be there, and between them and a lady who helps in the kitchen they somehow manage to provide a really first class service, both on food and drink.I would just like to say at this point that contrary to what I have read on this site the prices are not expensive. We were paying 2.50 euros for an ouzo with mixer, and the same for a large beer, the cheapest we found for the same drinks in Arillas was 2 euros in the Malibu bar but the ouzo was only half the size, in fact I was charged 7 euros for an ouzo and coke in one of the tavernas on the sea front so work it out for yourself. Anyway back to Billy the kids bar The pool is free to everyone as are the loungers and there is a massive selection food wise including Greek food as well as the usual fare, plus entertainment every night usually provided by BILLY THE GREEK Now we come to the reason why I type his name in capitals, its because hes very vocal, you can hear him in San Stefanos, but what a guy, hes so funny. I guarantee he will have you in stitches wether hes talking to you or someone else a mile away. Im going to sign off now but I will continue with part two as soon as I am able, if anyone is interested that is, so do let me know if you want to hear more, so till later then
adio
Smifco
Topic: full review of Kaloudis village apts and billy the kids bar part 1 (Read 15465 times)