About eighteen months ago we mentioned that the former Candia Maris resort on the beautiful Greek island of Crete was being taken over and turned into the Mövenpick Resort and Thalasso Crete. In fact, they've spent a good two years doing renovations and are finally open for business.
With all that time passing we're figuring the new resort won't resemble the old one very much. The Mövenpick people are advertising the new Crete resort as being upscale and modern, with some particular cultural characteristics, including an:
exquisite combination of typical Greek hospitality and the traditional Swiss passion for efficiency, reliability, punctuality and precision.
They have a huge seawater spa known as the Aegeo Spa Center which includes a range of seawater baths, a sauna, solarium and steam baths, just to name a few of the ways you can relax there. The resort also includes several restaurants with various dining styles, including the open-air "Taverna" which fits the Greek surroundings well.
For all the talk of being upscale and fancy, Crete's Mövenpick seems very reasonably priced. At short notice, we'd be able to book a double room for tonight for just €95 (US$150); we're not sure if it's opening teething problems or solid bookings, but online availability of rooms from mid-May through the summer is non-existent at the moment.
Our far-flung correspondent Monica Guy has once again slapped together a guide to a place we have only dreamed about visiting. This time, she's summing up various hotels in Greece. Got a tip, question or suggestion about where to stay? Send it our way.
Hotels generally assume you'll be travelling in a couple. But what if you're in a huge family or a big group? Who sleeps with who and who gets the fold-down cot? Can you find a hotel that offers everything everyone wants to do within a short distance? Nightmare.
Save yourself the stress and irritating compromise on Chios, the fifth largest island in Greece and just five miles off the coast of Turkey in the Northeast Aegean sea.
The port of Chios is big and boisterous and full of commercial ships and traders selling the island's speciality sticky resin mastiha. Avoid it.
Instead, pick up a car and drive down south over to a tiny little medieval village called Mesta.
There you'll find the 14 family-owned "Medieval Castle" suites, newly restored 14th-century buildings scattered throughout the village. Ignore the cheese factor--these suites are great.
Our far-flung correspondent Monica Guy has once again slapped together a guide to a place we have only dreamed about visiting. This time, she's summing up various hotels in Greece. Got a tip, question or suggestion about where to stay? Send it our way.
Odysseus made the Ionian island of Ithaki famous - it was his home town, says Homer - but it was the rather lesser hero Captain Corelli who put its huge neighbour Kefalonia (Cephallonia) on the modern-day map.
Avoid the capital Argostoli and head straight for Fiskardo, the only town in Kefalonia saved by the gods in the 1953 earthquake and now a sparky sailing and fishing port lined with Venetian-style houses.
And when you get there, follow the signs to the Emelisse Hotel for the ultimate in Greek-sunshine luxury.
Our far-flung correspondent Monica Guy has once again slapped together a guide to place we have only dreamed about visiting. This time, she's summing up various hotels in Greece. Got a tip, question or suggestion about where to stay? Send it our way.
If you're in Athens and fancy a bit of island-hopping without having to hop too far, you'll be heading to the islands of the Argo-Saronic, right near Athens.
Aegina, Poros and Hydra are three of the best, but they're becoming more and more overrun by foreigners and tacky tourist shops. And we wanna be with locals, no? So escape to Spetses, a 2-hour trip from Athens by ferry and a favourite weekend spot for Greeks.
There are only a handful of cars due to strict regulations, and most people pop about the place by horse and carriage. No really, not just for the photos. And the place is packed full of citrus trees and pines - smells like you're in a perfume factory (or a just-cleaned toilet).
The 22-room Orloff Resort is a hip and quirky and as off-the-conventional-tourist-path but convenient as Spetses.
Our far-flung correspondent Monica Guy has once again slapped together a guide to city we have only dreamed about visiting. This time, she's summing up various hotels in Greece. Got a tip, question or suggestion about where to stay? Send it our way.
It's a shame, because Santorini has tons to offer. It's unlike the other islands in the Cyclades in that it's a volcanic island, with black sand beaches, a huge caldera (parts of which you can swim in), and some of the most fantastically clear light you've ever seen (or seen through) in your life. Volcanic soil is also fertile and Santorini makes some of the only good Greek wine you'll drink.
There are donkeys all over the island. In fact, if you reach it by ferry you'll take a donkey from the port up to the main town of Fira, which is perched high on the rim of the caldera. Despite the large number of tourists that flock there, Santorini's a must-see on the list of most visitors to Greece.
You can skimp on the other islands - here, in the town of Fira at least, it's worth paying for luxury. The Aigialos Hotel is the place in which to pay for it.
Our far-flung correspondent Monica Guy has once again slapped together a guide to city we have only dreamed about visiting. This time, she's summing up various hotels in Greece. Got a tip, question or suggestion about where to stay? Send it our way.
Chaos. It's a Greek word originally, and it's exactly what you'll find in Greece's capital of Athens.
Chaotic driving, chaotic shopping, chaotic, hot, throbbing nightlife. It's good chaos - especially if you need a break from the boring predictability of an office - and one of the most fun and alive places to visit in southern Europe.
But we can't - a typical Greek hotel doesn't exist. They're not all as bad as this guest's experience and they're not all as weird as this one. easyCruise have just set up a kind of floating hotel but let's face it, that's not so typical either.
Our Greek spies are out looking for a way to make sense of the chaos - or at least to make sure you end up under a clean pair of sheets every night. Today, Athens - the rest of the week, we'll take a tour of some of the best Greek islands.
Monica Guy, our own younger, blonder, more attractive but still curmudgeonly version of Andy Rooney has returned to us once more. After finding hotel satisfaction in Lisbon, she's moved onto a new type of hotel, a floating one. Once again, her bolded words are left in for Rooney-esque emphasis. Enjoy.
Here's a novelty extra - what do you think of a hotel deal that includes all transport?
Not transport from the airport. Not even transport to the city centre or for day trips. I mean your whole hotel room's transported. You wake up every morning at a new destination, without even realising you've gone anywhere, or having to waste time and effort getting there yourself.
Bargain, no? Especially when the room rate is as low as 10 euros a night. Cheaper than living at home.
A while back we tipped you off that the pool at Perivolas on Santorini, Greece had the best views from a pool in the world--but we failed to mention that this pool is one of our most favorite variety, an infinity pool.
And it's one helluva infinity pool. Not only does its edge drop into the horizon, the horizon is a picturesque Greek island scene of more blue water and uninhabited islands. It's their own publicity that says this, but it mightn't be too far from the truth: this pool is "one of the most magnificent settings on earth".
As far as accommodation goes (unless you really do want to spend your entire holiday next to this pool, which we could understand), Perivolas is a set of 17 luxury apartments restored from long-used caves on the coast. They're alongside a wellness center with steam bath and sauna and a fitness studio too. But when we visit Perivolas, all we see is the pool.
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by amandak
