Spiros... A Stunning Little Greek In Naxos

Advantages: Close to The Beach
Disadvantages: The Rooms in the Original Building are Quite Dated

...The Choice... My passion for browsing holiday brochures on cold dismal nights continued, the hubby fancied the Cyclades- a group of Greek Islands scattered across the Aegean sea of Greece - for a change from our usual choices of Crete, and Kos etc.- and as ever it was left to me to choose the appropriate dwelling for our two weeks.away. I decided on Naxos, only accessible by ferry via a chartered flight to Mykonos (if partaking in a package), the largest Island in the Cyclades.. The week before Christmas of 2004 I booked and paid a small deposit of £90 to Kosmar - a Greek holiday specialist in the UK - the balance of £600 was due the following June - plenty of time to save. The hubby wanted to book flights and accommodation separately but I like the security of a package holiday! The Outbound Journey We leave Brum...

gizmogizmo 31.10.2006 (03.03.2007) · Read review
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Review of Hotel Spiros, Naxos

La mélisse Auf Der Maur est une bonne dame.

Advantages: I am glad I was introduced to this one.
Disadvantages: One dodgy track could have been omited.

...Auf Der Maur were a band that I had not heard of before last week. It was not till I read a review by one-true-ben that they came to my attention. I was interested enough to investigate their web site and was very impressed and I downloaded the four available video's from there and have been listening to them for days while I have waited for the album to arrive. I am writing this as I listen to it for the first time because I wanted write it now to get my first impressions. I haven't even opened it yet. It says on the cellophane wrapper, 'Le premier album de Mellisa Auf Der Maur en collaberation avec les meilleurs musiciens du rock nord-american' The album arrived from CDWoW via airmail from Hong Kong, actually faster than the royal mail would have delivered it from next door, but that is beside the point. I am trying to...

docpov 18.04.2005 · Read review
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Review of Auf Der Maur - Auf Der Maur

Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 1

Advantages: The start of the Magnificent Seven
Disadvantages: na

...Cast Tim Healy - Dennis a bricklayer from Newcastle Kevin Whately - Neville a bricklayer from Newcastle Jimmy nail - Oz a bricklayer from Newcastle Timothy Spall - Barry Taylor an electrician from Wolverhampton Christopher Fairbank - Moxey a plasterer from Liverpool Pat Roach - Bomber a bricklayer from Bristol Gary Holton - Wayne a carpenter from London Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Series began in 1983 with 13 episodes. The series is about three bricklayers from Newcastle in England. The lads are constantly on the dole and when they are working going from one building site to another, times where hard in England in the early 80's and with the families to support the lads decided to try there look in Germany. The lads land in Germany and are shipped to a building site and are forced to live in a wooden hut that reminds...

the_enlightened_one 23.11.2006 (03.02.2007) · Read review
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Review of Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 1 (Mini Tool Box Set) (DVD)

Auf Wiedersehen Pet Series 1 and 2 DVD boxset

Advantages: massive running length, 2 series, loads of episodes
Disadvantages: n/a

...The complete Auf Wiedersehen Pet series 1 and 2 DVD boxset is full of entertaining episodes from both series 1 and 2 of the hit comedy series. The boxset includes 4 DVD's, which includes the complete series 1 and another 4 DVD's which includes the complete series 2. SERIES 1 Series 1 boasts an impressive 13 episodes, which follows the day to day antics of 7 workers in Dusseldorf, Germany. In series one, we meet, the "Magnificent Seven", composed of Barry (Timothy Spall),Dennis ( Tim Healy), Neville ( Kevin Whately) , Oz( Jimmy Nail),Wayne( Gary Holton), Bomber ( Pat Roach ) and Moxey (Christopher Fairbank) . Series 1, Episode 1 If I were a Carpenter - Oz,Dennis and Neville make their way to Dusseldorf, only problem is , they are all brickies, yet they are only looking for 2 brikies. This results in them lying about...

RyanC92 15.03.2008 · Read review
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Review of Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 1 And 2 (DVD)

Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 2

Advantages: The Boys are back in town
Disadvantages: none

......

the_enlightened_one 23.11.2006 (03.02.2007) · Read review
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Review of Auf Wiedersehen Pet - The Complete Series 2 (Mini Tool Box Set) (DVD)

Classical Music on a Budget with the NAXOS label

Advantages: Classical music collecting on a budget using NAXOS
Disadvantages: no other record label reviewed

...Classical music – how to buy on a budget? This genre is a huge universe of material dating back at least 500 years. It is intimidating to contemplate starting a collection, even for some classical music lovers, due to the sheer size of the repertory, or repertoire, if you prefer. Moreover, the classical repertory is subdivided by composer, era, style of music (mediaeval, romantic, baroque, etc), region, types of instruments (and voice), size of ensemble (from solo to symphony), etc. In this op I will try to lower the intimidation factor to build a collection; part of which includes the fine NAXOS record label. Recommended reading: Jaxle’s op on “Classical Music and Young People” (30.01.2003) which makes a very good case for exploring the classical genre. How to get started in classical music? Start...

rowlandw 06.02.2003 · Read review
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Review of Everything that starts with C ...

Lightning Girl Steals Courtney's Thunder

Advantages: Arty yet commercial rock, probably my favourite album of 2004
Disadvantages: Some dodgy lyrics, one dud track

...One thing I hate about end of year polls is that it normally takes me a good 18 months more to be fairly sure I've heard most of the likely contenders and formed a fair opinion of even the later albums. If you'd asked me at the end of 2003 for a top ten of the year, for example, I'd have missed Goldfrapp's Black Cherry. Auf Der Maur's debut album, however, was released over a year ago now (February/March 2004) and I'm still pretty confident it was my favourite of the year. For those that don't recognise the name, this is the first solo album from Melissa Auf Der Maur - the bassist behind Hole's Celebrity Skin (their most polished and commercial effort) and Smashing Pumpkins' Machina (I never liked Billy Corgan anyway?) Having formerly been content to hide behind high-profile front-people, however, she emerged from the demise of two...

a-true-ben 02.04.2005 · Read review
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Review of Auf Der Maur - Auf Der Maur

That's Livin' Alright!

Advantages: Great classic comedy and easy to buy on video and DVD
Disadvantages: The BBC versions, especially Series 4

...This is difficult to write in some ways as the programme spans three TV channels at various times. This programme was originally on ITV (as the header indicates) and it was then repeated on Channel 4 in 1996 and then in 2002 it was revived for the BBC. A Christmas special is currently being filmed but it's difficult to say what will happen now with the sad death of Pat Roach. Here is a synopsis of the show and an episode guide and then I will tell you where the videos can be bought from. "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" began in 1983 on ITV with a 13 episode series. Three bricklayers from Newcastle upon Tyne (Dennis, Oz and Neville) set off for Germany in a desperate attempt to find work, and in Oz's case to have lots of fun. They eventually get a job in the German district of Düsseldorf, where they meet, and share a hut, with other...

Mel27 26.07.2004 (21.07.2005) · Read review
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Review of ITV - Auf Wiedersehen, Pet

One of my favourite islands

Advantages: excellent food, cheap, golden sandy beaches
Disadvantages: outside of Naxos town there is very little nightlife

...Having booked a week's holiday in Santorini and being extremely disappointed (dirty, very touristy and way overpriced!) a friend and I decided to escape to Naxos. The journey was quick (2 hours by ferry) and Naxos was almost the complete opposite of Santorini. We travelled in early October, but whilst the winds of Santorini were raging, the sun beat down on Naxos' beautiful (and completely deserted!) white and golden sands. We found accomodation by walking across Naxos town towards Agios Georgios Beach. We found the Galaxy Hotel after 10 minutes walking near the beach (there's a link to this hotel on www.naxos-greece.biz). As it was almost completely empty, they let us have a beautiful room overlooking the pool for 50 euros a night (30 quid!). This included an ample buffet breakfast, which included honey and yoghurt that we couldn...

lrhhart 29.11.2003 · Read review
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Review of Naxos (Greece)

Sleeping in Sicily

Advantages: Good Restaurant, Excellent Staff
Disadvantages: A bit far from the resort centre

...Our recent honeymoon saw us visiting Sicily for the first time, looking for a hotel somewhere that you've never been before is quite disconcerting. You have to rely on reviews, star ratings and photo's found around the Internet. On a trawl through Expedia I came across the Sant Alphio Garden Hotel, a four star hotel in the resort of Giardini-Naxos. Looking at a map I noticed that the resort wasn't that far from Catania, where we were flying into and was close to other areas that we had thought we might like to visit, The photo's all looked quite nice too and the hotel itself looked clean and spacious. As an added plus the hotel also has an indoor spa and pool in addition to an outside pool, which I imagine would be delightful in the summer although at the beginning of March it looked a little too cold to venture into, not even in...

josarah 11.04.2006 · Read review
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Review of Sant Alphio Garden Hotel, Giardini Naxos