Zia - the essence of authentic Greece -

Advantages: Beautiful Sunsets
Disadvantages: None!!

...if you win at Backgammon..... When it comes to my girlie week away with my mum we are inadvertently a bad influence on each other - putting of any sight seeing or daytrips with the comment 'do you fancy it tomorrow' - if you have ever visited Greece you will now doubt have experienced 'GMT' - Greek Maybe Time - hence we are very, very lazy...this Greek GMT attitude rubs off on us, but why not! I work 48 weeks a year and one week of rest never hurts anyone....a nice healthy Greek breakfast of yogurt and honey - a few walnuts if I'm feeling adventurous, a good book and a sunlounger until lunch... a gentle stroll in search of a nice taverna serving nice mezedes and cold Mythos.. i'm made until nightfall... more Mythos, Metaxa.. etc etc.. That is until I challenged a local (god forbid) to a game of Backgammon - Tavili...

gizmogizmo 15.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Zia, Kos

DeBernieres Corelli - A feast of words

Advantages: A superb read, a truely great novel
Disadvantages: In places the language needs some real concerntration to understand.

...mind spinning after the first page. It has been said that when reading a De Bernieres novel you are at "a feast of words". The book is set at the start of the second world war. It is set on a small island - Cephalonia - which os part of Greece. Invasion by Italy is iminant and the novel tells the story of the comunist regeme in Greece and the dictatorships run by Musolini, Hitler and Metaxas. The main soty line of the book i will not divolge - it is too good to give away. What I will say is that De Bernieres addresses many social issues apparent in Greece at the time of the war. These include racism, antisemitism and the oppresion of women and homosexuals. Which all add up to an adictive story line. The novelist employs a wide range of literary techniques to keep the reader involved and excited. The book on a whole is written...

plunkwap 12.07.2001 · Read review
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Review of Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

One of the most beautiful books I've ever read

Advantages: A fantastic, moving novel
Disadvantages: Impossible to match!

...-educated young woman and is engaged to a young fisherman, Mandras, who goes to join the Greek army (and later the partisans) as soon as war is declared. Following the Italian invasion a young Italian officer, Captain Antonio Corelli, is billeted at the doctor's house. Captain Corelli is more musician and poet than soldier and, after initially alienating half the village including Pelagia and her father, a kind of mutual respect and understanding develops. Naturally, Pelagia and Corelli fall in love, but their feelings cannot be allowed to surface, as this would have terrible consequences for both of them. Woven throughout the novel are threads from other's lives – Carlo Guercio’s moving confessions about his repressed feelings for a fellow soldier and his account of deaths in terrible conditions; snippets from Mussolini and Metaxas...

Victoria_R 17.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

Kefalos and the Pantheon, just heaven.

Advantages: Up the hill and very quiet.
Disadvantages: None that we could find

...or metaxa. Every other Sunday the Kosmar rep comes and runs a quiz after the b.b.q. and this was one heck of a night, an ice breaker and a good night for all. We managed to get to bed at 1-30am, and everyone enjoyed it. Every other night Manos and Babbis have a special which again is a few euros. All comes highly recommended. Janet has a wealth of knowledge about getting about as she came to the island as a rep and married Manos and has been there for 16 years, in Kos. If you want to go over to Kalymnos she has the ferry timetable from Mastihari, a 20 min bus ride away rather than the trip 1hour to Kos town. The cost of the ferry is 3-40euro each way, and takes 45 mins. You are at the top of the hill away from the hustle and bustle of the resort but so peaceful, restful and relaxing. Talking to guests around the pool and on the veranda...

bostonianbeer 21.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of Pantheon Apartments, Kos

Great Value Holiday

Advantages: Quiet Area, Great for Families
Disadvantages: Bit of a Walf from centre of resort and beach

...the cheapest in town and the food very good and very good value. The owner is the afore mentioned Apostolis, he and his family worked like trojans. All of them were very freindly and because we used them so much we were well rewarded with mega quantaties of free metaxa. They also owned the supermarket next to the apartments. The airconditioning is bought from here as are the safety deposit boxes which are next to the till. Every thing that you could need was sold here. The only downside is that the apartments are slightly out of town (but therefore in a quiet area). A 10 minute walk down a hill brings you to main Pefkos, a nice family resort, several tavenas, a couple of music bars and a superb sandy beach. the walk back up takes a little longer (but don't atempt it in the heat of the midday sun -it's a killer) It is a fairly relaxed...

cath9988 17.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of Apostolis, Rhodes

The authentic Greek Taverna experience in Derby

Advantages: A little piece of Greece in Derby to remind you of holidays
Disadvantages: Makes me want to go on holiday when I've visited!

...domes set off by the blue sky and sea. The walls are adorned with posters of Greek places and souvenirs of Greece and each table has a vase of fresh flowers and a candle. There is a small cosy bar area where you can wait for your table sipping a pre-meal Metaxa, or Keo or Mythos Beer while listening to the authentic Greek music! Their menu is varied, each item prepared by Andreas. There is a wide choice of starters and traditional main courses with vegetarian options and of course the option to go for the gut busting Mezze - a selection of most dishes on the menu which often defeats even the hungriest diner. Personal recommendations are the Chicken a la Steliana's - tender chicken marinated in wine and lemon sauce, Kalimari (squid) casseroled in delicious wine, herb and tomato sauce, Tava - Cypriot lamb casserole and flavoursome...

greekteeth 19.09.2006 · Read review
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Review of Steliana's and Sapho's Greek Taverna

The Mediterranean, Music and Mussolini

Advantages: A wonderful love story with a great sense of humour
Disadvantages: Once the film comes out, everyone will see Corelli as Nicholas Cage - big mistake!

...'t be missed. What is it about this book that makes it so brilliant? The odd-ball characters, like the strongman Megalo Velisarios or Father Arsenios the overweight priest?;is it the wonderful descriptions of the Greek Island of Cephalonia?; is it the love/hate relationship between Corelli and Pelagia? Louis de Bernieres has a wonderful style of writing, interspersing the main thread of the story with what seem at first sight to be unconnected anecdotes. In this book these anecdotes centre around Prime Minister Metaxas of Greece, Mussolini and a soldier named Guercio amongst Saints and madmen! These sidetrackings initially deterred my mum from reading this book - after I had read it and raved to her that she "had to read it" but if you take them at face value, eventually you begin to see their significance to the story. It's a bit...

indychick_uk 03.03.2001 · Read review
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Review of Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

Atlantica Hotel and Cyprus

Advantages: close to everything
Disadvantages: not a good beach in sight

...useful as an umbrella with a hole in it. If you want quality goods, travel a bit further out. In Lefkara you can buy some intricate lace and unusual tableware. There are also some great silver and gold bargains to be had. Nicosia has some beautiful designer shops but be warned these aren?t so cheap. Ouzo is also very reasonable at no more than a couple of Cypriot pounds a bottle. It?s worth buying spirits on the island and not at the airport. If you like brandy, Metaxa is a must have. Keo is the islands own beer and that too, is worth a try. We hired a car for the duration and covered a good percentage of the island. Car hire is reasonable and as the Cypriots drive on the same side as us, it?s quite easy. There is a ?wicked? water park in Ayia Napa and also in old Limassol. Enough to keep the young ones amused all day. Fed...

debbie_marway 09.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Atlantica Bay (Limassol)

I've never met you but I love you all.

Advantages: I'm not as think as you drunk I am
Disadvantages: occifer

...'s best mate? Tony.... (see story four above) (9) I was on this Greek island. It might have been any of them. Stephen - who a couple of years before used to invite me to stay with him and work with a language school in a town on the south coast - had gone to Athens and now had a girlfriend called Yiota. My new wife and I had flown out to join them. Our honeymoon was a sociable one. The four of us took our drinking seriously and in an evening would obliterate a bottle of Metaxa which we mixed with chocolate milk, and a bottle of Ouzo with orange juice. It was on such an evening as this that we went out and the waiters and the tavernas kept showing us dead fish. I ran out laughing which apparently isn't the reaction one is supposed to have. It's just that the fish were dead and they kept showing them to me in each taverna...

FlameDruid 20.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of 10 Best Drunken Moments

MOVE OVER SHIRLEY VALENTINE

Advantages: lots of culture,plenty to see.
Disadvantages: accomodation can be basic

...sightseeing the following day. This time I took a coach trip. For this I firstly had to walk up to the main car park area just down from Lindos View Hotel. The coaches are quite modern and air-conditioned. Firstly we headed for wine tasting and general drinking. We were all offered ouzo, the national aperitif. This I found took my breath, I had not tried it before... Beware - it bites back! Ouzo is made locally - it is distilled from crushed vine stems and is colourless, but if you mix it with water it goes a milky colour. Metaxa is one of the most popular brandies sold and there are various spirits which are not too badly priced. Retsina is a white wine laced with pine essence and is usually a golden colour; it takes a little getting used to and is best served chilled. I took more of a liking to the Demestika (red and white) wines that were...

linda01865 28.04.2001 (04.06.2001) · Read review
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Review of Rhodes (Greece)