Author Topic: How I found Arillas!  (Read 270499 times)

0 Members and 5 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Erja

  • Beer Quality controler
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 2293
  • Royal Ionian Gold...amber nectar, only better ;)
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #150 on: June 26, 2009, 01:00:08 PM »
hi everyone,first let me say that im new to this so i dont know if im doing it right so please let me know where im going wrong.

Hello heatherberriman,

Welcome and there are wrongs or rights here in the forum :)
Life is good ;)


Offline wetty

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • Bronze medal {over 20 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 22
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #151 on: June 26, 2009, 02:22:49 PM »
I first found Arillas in 1986. Some friends & I were looking for a last minute holiday in early October, a last chance to get some sun before winter set in. I remember sitting in the travel agents one Saturday afternoon trying to get something booked (anywhere warm) and after a bit of a struggle we were offered Corfu, allocation on arrival. We snapped it up & ended up in Arillas.
I have very fond memories of that quickie week away. We stayed behind Gratsiella in what were probably the Arillas Bay Apartments There wasn't a pool then, but we hired a car & toured the island. Ipsos, Paleo, Corfu Town, & even Benitses (the Kavos of its day). The weather was kind & most nights we ate at Gratsiella. On the final night
 we went mad, Lobster, Metaxa 7 star, & still struggled to break the £50 mark for 4 of us. I remember there being a small disco! which was very quiet the night we went in. I also remember thinking that the gently shelving beach would be ideal for kids, god knows why as I was young free & single & kids were the last thing on my mind.
Nearly 20 years later things had changed a bit! I was married to Annie, we had two lovely kids & we were looking through holiday brochures. In previous years we had been to Florida, Minorca 3 times as well as to the Algarve but we fancied somewhere different.
Then I spotted the Kaloudis in a Skytours brochure & my mind went back to that little resort I had stayed in all those years ago. After some gentle persuasion (and bribery)
we booked. I promised the kids that if they humoured me this time they could go back to Florida the following year! The resort hadn't changed much at all, the disco had gone (thankfully) & the people were just as friendly as I remembered. On day 1 the kids struggled to give it a 1 out of ten but by the end of the holiday it was 10 out of 10 & they were hooked. We never did get back to Florida. We have been back to Arillas every year since & my youngest still cries when it's time to go home. Roll on July 17th.

Wetty

Offline justlynn

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 1390
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #152 on: June 26, 2009, 06:05:48 PM »
What a lovely story, wetty.........

And afraid to say, I am like your youngest when it's time to go home!

lynn xx



Offline 4x4

  • Super Member {over 100 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 134
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #153 on: July 05, 2009, 02:34:03 AM »
Well, I did not find Arillas It seems that Arillas found me!!
I was born in Arillas
I sometines ask my guests in the Taverna how did they found our little Arillas.
Was it recommended? By a last minute deal? etc.
It will be interesting  for me and for other people to know your story don't you think so?
Kalispera every one!

Dimitris



Prompted by an earlier posting which referred to past entries. I have looked back to see what has been said in the past. ( something I am not inclined to do ).

Can you imagine what it would have been like to be borne in Arillas in 1949. 

If we had known better !  we would probably have thought we had been put in the back of beyond. The place the world had forgot.

I was borne into a post war, world of cars, washing machines ( with mangles ), Televisions, transistor radios,  but you still had to scrape the ice off the bathroom window on a cold winters morning. Lighting the fire in the front room and the Smog.. We where hard done by. The road I lived in had maybe one car an hour pass through. And there where fields within 100 yards. You gave one “Ting” on the bell to stop the bus and two “tings” to start it. The conductor let me pull the cord on one occasion ( I pulled it twice and the bus did not stop )
 Today the same place is a “Red Route “ so you cant even stop your car. ( fortunately I don’t live there any more ). The area has been swallowed up by London and traffic is full on 24 / 7. and houses have been built on every opening between the older houses.

If I had been borne in Arrillas I would have missed all these things.
I would even probably think the development there has been is a bit too much.

So now WE ( the Royal we again) have the money to come to Arillas ( although not as much as in the past years ). WE spend days, weeks and months, getting ready for a few brief days. To spend in a place we enjoy.  ( When you should enjoy where you are now : Its cost enough to be there)

So who has had the better life?

If I had been born in Arillas I might have thought living in Chislehurst was beyond my dreams.

However If I had known about Arillas I may have thought the same.



riggers

  • Guest
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #154 on: July 05, 2009, 02:48:43 AM »
All i can say is "LUXURIES" 

Offline Lindypops

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 1355
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #155 on: July 05, 2009, 02:51:20 AM »
True.
Lindypops.

Offline 4x4

  • Super Member {over 100 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 134
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #156 on: July 05, 2009, 02:53:22 AM »
LOL

Withdrawal symptoms making me morbid.  

If anyone can post me something, a Kg of Mud, A crate of Beer. It might cheer me up ))



Offline 4x4

  • Super Member {over 100 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 134
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #157 on: July 05, 2009, 03:11:08 AM »
PS.
How I found Arillas.

Having been to Skala in Kefelonia for about 5 years ( WE ) decided to have a change. Times where difficult so we booked a week in Pelecustratis  ( Ok I know that’s not how you spool it)
It rained for most of the week in May.
Armed with a map and a handy set of pages printed from a website called “ Captain Barefoot”  (we) started a tour of local beaches.  ( or not local as it turned out ) 
We had to drive through “Bandit country”  ( on the top of a hill outside the pace we where staying , some local residents had positioned themselves at across road. If you stopped to ask directions you had fallen into the trap and ended up buying bottles of Olive oil and fruit juice.
So, Laden  with Olive oil we finally made our way to Arillas.

Nuf said.



Offline Ian C

  • Bronze medal {over 20 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 22
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #158 on: July 28, 2009, 05:40:58 PM »
My wife and I honeymooned in Corfu 15 years ago this week, in a place called Kaiser Bridge Hotel.
  We have always said we would come back to Corfu ever since but have somehow holidayed everywhere but.
  Last year I decided the time had come to return, so I sat at my computer and looked for somewhere, a fantastic deal for two weeks in the Makris in Arillas September - October 2009 was booked and we started our countdown.
 An oppurtunity arose for my wife and I to have a small break away from our children ( we have five ) and after a trip to the travel agent we came away for  a three night / four day break allocated on arrival. Imagine our surprise when we were told at the Airport that we were to go to Arillas.
   We stayed at the Akti and had the most amazingly chilled out time. We felt like we had known everyone for years and Arillas was such a friendly place we knew that we had made an excellent choice for this September.....so see you all soon. ...Ian.

Offline 4x4

  • Super Member {over 100 posts}
  • *
  • Posts: 134
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #159 on: July 30, 2009, 01:50:04 AM »
   We stayed at the Akti and had the most amazingly chilled out time. We felt like we had known everyone for years and Arillas was such a friendly place we knew that we had made an excellent choice for this September.....so see you all soon. ...Ian.

And you will return again, and again.



Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #160 on: August 24, 2009, 03:00:17 AM »
I found Arillas  through my very good friends Phyllis and John Ridley.  They had told me it was a place right up my street, but I was worried that I might look obvious, being a solo traveller.  I can honestly day that it was the best advice I was ever  given, and it is now my second home.  I have made so many Greek friends, real friends, and so many English , Irish, Scottish and Welsh, and also many German, Check (forgive the spelling) and other nationalitys.
I first went to arillas in 2000, in May, and it was so wonderful, I went back in the September.  Since then, I have have carried on doing the same.  Arillas is a drug, and I am not going into rehab.  I will feed my little problem, and enjoy it by keep coming back.    In May we have Fire flies, better than Christmas lights, and so magical.   The frogs and toads, I am not so sure about, damned if I will kiss a frog, don't know what I might end up with.  Thank God Charlie is now spoken for.
This is the first time I have ever written anything like this, but I have such a love of Arillas, and I look at other people's comments, I feel it's time for me to add my little bit.

Offline justphil

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 2103
  • Arillas is in my soul
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #161 on: August 24, 2009, 03:07:07 AM »
Margarita thanks for your post.

Quote
Arillas is a drug, and I am not going into rehab.

In those few words you expressed exactly how Jen and I feel.

Phil



Offline justlynn

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 1390
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #162 on: August 24, 2009, 09:15:43 AM »
Yes Phil, and Colin and me!

Great post, Margarita, thanks.

lynn xx



Offline sharonF

  • Arillas regular visitor
  • ARILLIAC
  • *
  • Posts: 1248
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #163 on: August 24, 2009, 11:05:06 AM »
Thanks for posting that Margarita, we go may and sept as well, the fireflies are a sight to see arent they.

We go back on the 11th sept, so give me a shout if you see me.

Sharon x

Offline VIC358

  • Posts: 5
  • Vicki
Re: How I found Arillas!
« Reply #164 on: September 28, 2009, 04:21:40 PM »
As most people do, we were looking for a bargain holiday and found upon the Leonidas in Arillas via Thomas Cook. I couldn't believe what a bargain we had got especially for bank holiday week, 31.08.09.
I had been to Acharavi 20 years ago and remebered enjoying Corfu way back then. When Chris and I arrived in Arillas we didn't really know what to expect. The first thing we did was get our shorts on and go for a beer across the road at the Tria Adelphia. Wow - ice cold bottles of Mythos and very welcoming owners.
Well it just got better by the minute. We had the most relaxing holiday ever. Great food, fantastic weather and extremely friendly locals.
Even though I got eaten alive by mosquitos, with the plug in's, sprays etc I still had the best time. So much so, that as soon as we got back home, we booked immediately for the same time next year and with our friends too.

Can't wait for another week of heaven...


 

Booking.com