Greece Travel Guide Testimonial Index
Travelers Reviews
|
Travelers Reviews
|
Aegean Thesaurus TravelI knew George when he was selling bougatsas in Kamares, Sifnos when I was a lowly
folk-singer. His boss at Aegean Thesaurus, Apostolis Dimopoulos is the son of a legend in the travel business.
Apostolis was not planning on being a travel agent like his father, though he had worked in the family business
since he was a child. He was going to be a philosopher. But making a living as a philosopher is tough these days
so when Apostolis moved to his wife's island of Sifnos, he accepted his destiny and started Aegean Thesaurus Travel.
Most island travel agencies are really just ticket offices for the ferry boats. But Apostolis turned the little
stone building that housed his office, into a high tech computerized travel center with ISDN lines, faxes and phones,
and from this little island he is able to book his clients all over Greece. If Sifnos is in your plans then go
with Aegean Thesaurus. Even if it is not in your plans I still recommend them. If they are not the best travel agency in Greece they are crtainly one of the top three! ......Also, I want to put in a good word for Aegean Thesaurus Travel, namely Happy holidays to you, Americans living in the United Arab Emirates Dear Mara, I just wanted to let you know that our trip to Greece was amazing!! My boyfriend and I had a wonderful time
and I could not have been more thrilled with your services! The hotels were amazing and the people were all
so friendly and accomadating. My trip would not have been nearly as nice without your advice. Turns
out the ferry situation ended up working out. I called your agency twice just to check in but I ended up
fixing things up. Hi Matt,
I am writing to complement Barbara of Aegean Thesarus Travel on
the amazing trip she put together for my mother and I. I found her
through your website, and after reading testimonials, I was confident
that using this agency would be key in making everything perfect for
our trip. I started emailing with Barbara mid May about my dream trip,
a graduation gift from my parents. She was so incredibly helpful in
putting together an itinerary that fit perfectly with everything I
wanted. She was very patient and thorough, and I felt through every
step of the process that she was hearing exactly what I was saying, and
that she made every effort to make things perfect. Upon our arrival in
Athens, and meeting our taxi transfer (who had to wait on our very late
plane!), we could see that everything was going to be seamless and
easy. We spent a total of 23 days in Greece, seeing Athens, Sifnos,
Santorini, Mykonos, and Naxos. Each taxi transfer, ferry trip, plane
ride, and hotel reservation was perfect and incredibly easy, the way a
vacation should be. Any problems that arose, we were able to contact
Barbara, and she made it just seem to go away, and always had a great
solution. I have already recommended her to many people I have met,
and cannot stress enough how fantastic she (and everyone else at the
agency) is, and how amazing our vacation was. If we had not had her
recommendations or aid when we had a ferry situation go awry, I cannot
imagine how I would have dealt with figuring out a solution. In sum,
enough compliments cannot be said, she is fantastic and I will continue
singing her praises to anyone who asks (and perhaps even those who
don't). I thank them so much for the amazing assistance and the trip
of a lifetime!!
Also, thank you so much for all the information on your website.
I printed hundreds of pages and took them with me. I had a nice little
packet for each place we went, and felt so confident in the choices
that we made since we were so well informed. In fact, we took to
calling you "Uncle Matt" in public instead of sounding creepy when
saying "the guy on the internet says this is a good _______ to go
to...". Thank you for all the amazing recommendations, and most
especially for turning us on to Barbara at Aegean, and also Kostas at
Byzantino. He is such an amazing man, so smart and helpful. We sat
and talked to him for hours on 2 different occasions, and the two
pieces we purchased from him will be treasured forever as mementos.
Thank you so much for all the help you provide to people interested in
traveling to Greece. I have already recommended this website to
countless people. You do a really great service to travellers, and to
Greece. Thanks again!
Sam S.
Tulsa, OK
OCT 2007 GEIA ZOU GIORGOS, Matt, I would like to thank you for recommending Greekflights.com and Aegean Sincerely, David Fisher and Erica Floyd Matt, Dear Giogos,Mara and everyone else Matt I took a trip in May 2008 to Milos and Sifnos arranged with Aegean Thesaurus. I was traveling alone and only had 10 days and the whole experience was made so much more pleasurable due to the impeccable service I received from the tour company. All my transfers were reliable and there waiting for me and the accommodations were to my liking (except for the very shabby Hotel Cecil in Athens. Wouldn't stay there again!) I will certainly use the company again when I return and thanks to the really useful information I found on your website I will feel confident to explore some new islands next time. Best wishes, Jane Hi Matt! Well, we did our Greek vacation and now we are home. Wow, what a great time! I didn’t want to come back and now that I am here, I can’t wait to visit again…. Aegean Thesaurus was a great agency and Mark did a super job. We even got to go out to dinner with him and his girlfriend, Barbara. Sifnos was beautiful, a little intimidating at first because we had just been on that 5-day tour where they take you everywhere and basically you don’t have to think. Once we got to Sifnos, it was all us and it took a little time to feel confident. But what a beautiful island! Weather was great, ferry rides were wonderful, taxi service with George’s company was excellent. Mainland Greece was unbelievable as well. That 5 day tour was well worth it. Had fun in Athens and ABSOLUTELY loved Brettos! We went there every night we had in Athens and hung out with the local guys. (I will butcher their names but Vasily, Petros, Elias, Dimitri, Dennis… were all great company and I looked forward to meeting up with them and drinking). We brought back 3 big bottles of ouzo and 5 brandy. (wish we could have brought more….) Didn’t get to say goodbye to them, noone stopped in on our last night. I guess the game was on. (football?) Thanks again for putting out all that information, it was really helpful and our trip was benefited immensely by it. Drop me a line when you get back home and we will grab a beer or something. Thanks again! George -
Giorgos I used your travel guide to plan our 5 week tour of Thessaloniki, Athens, Sifnos and Milos. We chose places you suggested, and I wanted to give you feedback. Attalos hotel – very glad we stayed here. Great location and wonderful rooftop lounge. Clean, friendly. Akrogiali Pension in Sifnos – Absolutely wonderful. Sparkling clean, gorgeous view (we took an apartment with full kitchen for the week and loved it) and right on the sea. We were there in May and got to see the town dust itself off in preparation for the upcoming tourist season. That was an experience well worth it. Our landlord arranged a little party to get our infant together with theirs, inviting a few friends. They also made a gift of some lovely pottery made by the husband when we left. On Milos we stayed at the Anemoessa Studios. The experience was incredible. You need to add this one to your list. The place is pristine – seafront – on a lovely small harbor and steps to swimming. It is something out of a picture by Edward Hopper. We couldn’t believe our luck. The landlords were incredibly helpful, especially since there was a ferry strike and we needed to change all our reservations for the return trip. The travel agency (Aegean Thessaurus) worked with us above and beyond what we might find in the States. We loved the town of Pollonia. Again the people were friendly and caring. There were many misty eyes when we said goodbye. So, Matt Barrett. Thanks for your website and for a wonderful trip to Greece.
Dear Mara, Cinda and I want to thank you for you wonderful arrangements for our holidays Giorgos, I just wanted to tell you what a great trip we had and how much we appreciate your help. You and Ada and Dimi really made things go well, and we are grateful for your advice and suggestions. Glaros in Piraeus was just fine for an overnight stay and an early departure. Margando in Sifnos was wonderful (even with that long climb up the hill). Stella and Niko were wonderful and were able to spend some time with us, which I’m sure is not possible now as the season begins. The breakfasts were great, the view from our top floor deck (room 12) was beautiful, and we really enjoyed our stay at their hotel. We had some wonderful food at Ouzerie Kamares (two or three times), Simos, Boulinas, the taverna on To Apokofto beach near Chryssopigi, Manolis in Vathi, Da Claudio, and Absinthe, which both you and Stella recommended. Meropi was a big disappointment. In Milos, we were very happy at Portiani, had a great view from our outdoor deck. The people were very nice and helpful. Good meals in Adamas at Kynigos (two or three), El Greco, and Navagio, and very cheap and well-poured Johnny Walker and Metaxa 7 Year at the bar on the square translated as The Milos - every evening! Also great lunches at Captain Nikolas in Polonia and Sirocco on the beach near Paleohori. Saw beautiful beaches including Sarakiniko, Mytakas, and Paleohori. Finally, Attalos in Athens was fine, well located, and the rooftop bar with a view of the Acropolis was a great place to drink more Johnny Walker and Metaxa. (Never could acquire a taste for ouzo, but I never liked licorice as a kid.) Please pass these endorsements to your clients. And I am sending a copy of this message to Matt Barrett so that he will know how helpful you were and also have some feedback on some of his and your recommendations. I hope we will be back to Greece and, if so, we will call on you again. Best regards,
Dear Giorgos, My parents had such a wonderful time! Attention - Giorgos. Mr. Dimopoulos, I just wanted to say thank you to you and your staff for the Evan G. Chiligiris Giorgos, Dear Matt, I cannot thank you enough for all the help, insight, and references we received through your website. My wife and I just returned from our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Greece and it was absolutely perfect. I poured over various websites for months prior to our trip and kept returning to yours. Your tips on travel agents, hotels guides, transportation, island synopsis were invaluable. For the record, we used Aegean Thesaurus as our travel agent. They were professional, patient and implemented flawlessly We stayed at the Electra Palace in Athens, Dana Villas in Thira, and Alkyonis Villas in Sifnos. They were all exactly what we expected because of your descriptions. Clean, Friendly and the staff was amazing. Maria at Alkyonis even lent us some of her personal towels for the beach because we didn’t think of bringing some and Franko at Dana Villas copied a CD for us because we liked the music. We used George Kokkotos Taxi for our port transfers, (unfortunately didn’t get to meet him though). Your tip about arranging the port transfers was right on. We arrived in Sifnos at 04:45 in the morning. We were the only ones of about 30 people who had a taxi waiting….Magic! In Sifnos we drank Ouzo on the beach of Kameras at the Old Captain, and ate at Simos and Claudio’s and Manolis. We had the Tomato Keftades in Santorini, by the way you may want to add a restaurant called Rimini in Thira to your restaurant list, excellent! In Athens we ate at the Platanos and Byzantino restaurants and for our last night on the rooftop Restaurant at the Electra Palace. I guess you are getting the point, all above were recommended through your site. We had the most magical time, it was everything we hoped for. We want to thank you for the effort and dedication you put into your web site, I have no doubt that our trip would not have been as good without your help. Sincerely John and Laurie O’Connor
Dear Giorgos, I have already recommended your company to a relative who will be traveling Dear Giorgos Dear Mara, We are back home & didn't get the chance to thank you for the wonderful Dear Giorgos, Thanks for the refund. Too bad the tours weren't running yet when we J'Ann & Mike Pybas Matt-- Thank you for making our trip to Greece one to I've been recommending your website to everyone I Michele & Matt Cost, San Francisco Dear Matt Barrett: Hello Giorgos, Matt, Hi Matt Barrett Just another fan knocking on your door to say thanks -- for the website, the tips, et al. A couple of months back, my husband and I were planning a return trip to Sifnos in August (next month - YAY), when we came across your invaluable information. We are stuck in the outback of Mali in West Africa, so the internet is the only source of information. Wow, we hit gold when we found you. And of course through various links recommended by you, we came across a great travel agent. I'd like to ask you to recommend Giorgos Venios from Aegean Thesaurus Travel in Sifnos whenever you have a chance. It's many years since we've come across such an endlessly helpful, obliging and efficient travel agent. Thanks again, Carol du Toit Hi Matt, Dear Barbara, I just wanted to let you know that we are home from our trip to your beautiful country, and to thank you for making the arrangements. All the bookings went well. The taxi service is Athens was very dependable, when we got off the plane, there was a taxi driver strike, so we didn't know what to expect, and were relieved when we saw our name on a card, we would have had much difficulty using public transportation to find our hotel! The Jason Prime hotel is beautiful, with excellent service and breakfast. We loved the islands and came home with a nice tan. Naxos was a great choice for us, and we traveled all over with the car. Our daughter's wedding on Santorini was lovely, and we also enjoyed that island, we rode the donkeys up the hill several times! The Galini hotel had a perfect view of the sunset and the staff/owners were very helpful and friendly. We were very satisfied with all your bookings and the only minor problem with any, was that we didn't see the transfer person at the ferry on Santorini, but saw one with the hotel name on a card, and paid him 10 Euros to take us to the hotel as he wouldn't take the voucher. The only other problem (for your info for future bookings!) was that the beds in our room at the Astir of Naxos were extremely hard, though the hotel was lovely with large rooms and a balcony. Again thank you for all you did for us, you truly made us a beautiful vacation. Hello Matt, Matt Barrett, Dear Giorgos Just a quick note to thank you for helping to plan our trip to Greece. We have just returned having had a wonderful, hassle-free time, thanks to your careful organising. We enjoyed Naxos but Santorini took our breath away. The accommodation you arranged also made the trip special. The staff at the Porto Naxos Hotel greeted us like old friends and couldn't have been more helpful. Irene at the Atlantis in Santorini was fantastic and the view from our balcony exquisite. Similarly, the hotel you recommended in Athens, the Cypria, was good and ideally located. Our thanks also go to the driver you arranged for some of our transfers. Christofer Sitaras proved so helpful and reliable that we used him at other times. It's hard to believe that the trip is over but we will always have the memories. Now just to pay for it all. Our hope is to one day return and visit some of the other wonderful islands. If we do, I will be sure to contact you as I was most impressed with your service. Thanks again for making it a memorable trip. Best Regards Leanne Herrick Dear Giorgos, On June 27, 2003, I had a chance meeting at the Portland, Oregon with one of your customers who was just returning from a vacation you helped plan. I did not know this person, but they were so impressed with your arrangements, that I contacted you, explaining our thoughts for our planned April, 2004 vacation to Greece, and asking for your suggestions. Over the next few months, we e-mailed our thoughts, and the plan was modified several times. The final result exceeded our wildest expectectations. The itinerary you came up with could not have been better. Athens, Chania, Heraklion, Santorini and Naxos each offered a different charactor. The hotels you selected offered exceptional hospitality, in addition to value, cleanliness, service and location. You seemed to know exactly what we were looking for. You also seemed to know just the right mix of sightseeing and relaxation. We rented a car in Crete, and drove through small towns in Western Crete, and got caught behind a herd of goats. In Naxos we were invited to a Christening at the taverna in the Alkyoni Beach Hotel. In Athens we took your suggestion and contacted George, the Famous Taxi Driver. In short, we experienced much of your country then we could have ever expected to. Our only regret was that we could not spend more days and travel to Sifnos and thank you personally. There is no doubt that if anyone ever asks for advice on traveling to Greece, we will immediately refer them to you. Also, please feel free to use us as a reference. Nancy and Dennis Siegman Portland, Oregon, USA Dear Barbara, My stay in Greece was wonderful. I thank you for your help in making travel arrangements. At the Hotel Cecil, I was given a room on the roof where I enjoyed the view of the Acropolis, and the hotel staff was friendly. I enjoyed the day excursion to the volcano island that you reserved for me in Santorini. And the taxi for my transfer to the airport came a little early, so I made it to the airport a little early. Thanks again for your assistance in making my vacation to Greece a wonderful one. Eileen Ramiscal Dear Mark, We just wanted to thank you for helping us make the arrangements for our honeymoon to Greece. Everything was wonderful! The Electra Palace in Athens was beautiful and elegant and the service was terrific. We had a view of the Acropolis and Parthenon from our 6th floor balcony. We were even there during a full moon!! The Katikies Hotel in Santorini was like something out of a fairy tale! It was worth every penny we spent. We had champagne every morning with breakfast, which was served on our balcony overlooking a private pool and the caldera. We were treated like royalty. The Katikies was a very special experience. All of our drivers were either on time or early. The cars and/or vans were clean and the drivers friendly and polite. The entire trip was perfect from start to finish! Thank you again for all your help. Sincerely, Eileen and Chris Sullivan Dear Giorgos, Just a quick email to thank you for making our week on Sifnos a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. I must say that we really enjoyed your help in planning our trip and our stay in Platy Yialos where we found only smiling and very helpful people. Please pass on our many thanks to all at Akrogiali pension for their kindness and welcome. Many thanks also to Dimitris for his great multiple assistance and especially for helping us find what seemed to have been the only car to rent with two baby seats on the island. We could not find anything that we would have done differently if we were to plan the same trip again so I guess this is as close to a perfect holidays as you can get (minus two not so sunny days). We wish you all at Thesaurus every success, we believe that the quality of your service and the kindness of your associates (like our hosts in Platy Yialos) are a credit to your wonderful island. All the best, Hugues, Sophie, Matilda and Ronan. PS: We might be in touch next year as our young twins absolutely loved the beach in Faros and made the Kyklades Beach restaurant in Playty Yialos theirs. Hello Barbara, I would like to thank you for your excellent work on our travel plans. Everything worked out very well. We loved the location of our hotel in Athens and our cab driver was great! You were right - the standard room on the return trip was just fine given the few hours we had in the hotel. The hotel in Mykonos was lovely - a wonderful location - away from the town and yet close enough and the staff were wonderful. So nice to get off the ferry and have our drive waiting for us! The cruise was lovely. There was a bit of confusion when we first showed up - they seemed to think 2 of our party got on at Athens but they did get us squared away in good time. The hotel in Santorini exceeded our expectations! The view was awesome and the peace and serenity was perfect! Again thank you so very much for all of your hard work. Your choices were perfect for us - exactly what we wanted! We found the Greek people very friendly and so helpful. I wish you all of the very best, Diane Wooden Barbara, Just got back from Greece this weekend. I wanted to send you a quick note and let you know how great everything was. Everything went off without a hitch except for us missing a ferry from Santorini to Naxos but we got the next one with no problem. The hotels you recommended were great. We especially liked the Attalos hotel in Naxos. The hotel has a traditional taverna there that made it a perfect vacation spot. Thanks for everything and we will be sure to use your company on our next trip to Greece. Leo & Beth Kirby Hi Giorgos and Barbara: We're back from our holiday, and I wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we had in Greece. Everything went perfectly. All our transfers went off without a hitch, and we felt our hotel choices were excellent. We particularly enjoyed our stay at Dana Villas as well as the Semeli. Those small hotels were very hospitable, and the service was the best! Thank you both for all your efforts into making our trip perfect. We feel everything went so smoothly thanks to all your help. (You even managed to arrange many glorious sunny days for us! How did you manage that??) All the Best, Lee & Nicole This email is for Barbara, I am so glad that you sent this email because I had lost your email address. We wanted to thank you for helping us plan our Greek island honeymoon. It was truly spectacular. Mykonos was our favorite island, but each island was unique and beautiful in it's own way. The itinerary was really great because the islands that you helped us choose were all very different from one another, allowing us to enjoy a true Greek island experience. Initially I was a little concerned because we incorporated so much traveling into our trip (flight, ferries and rental cars) but everything went off without a hitch due to your excellent planning. Thank you for everyting. If we ever plan another Greek island vacation we will be sure to use your agency. Kori Roche and Chris Carroll Hello Mark I'm sorry for the belatedness of this email. I just wanted to thank you for helping us out and planning all the arrangements for our trip to Santorini. We had a wonderful time in Greece and everything worked perfectly for us to get to the island. We had an awesome time on Santorini. The hotel you recommended us, the Aegean Plaza, was really great and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Once again, thank you for all your work for us! Anders and Samantha Johnson Dear Barbara, I just wanted to let you know that we are home from our trip to your beautiful country, and to thank you for making the arrangements. All the bookings went well. The taxi service is Athens was very dependable, when we got off the plane, there was a taxi driver strike, so we didn't know what to expect, and were relieved when we saw our name on a card, we would have had much difficulty using public transportation to find our hotel! The Jason Prime hotel is beautiful, with excellent service and breakfast. We loved the islands and came home with a nice tan. Naxos was a great choice for us, and we traveled all over with the car. Our daughter's wedding on Santorini was lovely, and we also enjoyed that island, we rode the donkeys up the hill several times! The Galini hotel had a perfect view of the sunset and the staff/owners were very helpful and friendly. We were very satisfied with all your bookings and the only minor problem with any, was that we didn't see the transfer person at the ferry on Santorini, but saw one with the hotel name on a card, and paid him 10 Euros to take us to the hotel as he wouldn't take the voucher. The only other problem (for your info for future bookings!) was that the beds in our room at the Astir of Naxos were extremely hard, though the hotel was lovely with large rooms and a balcony. Again thank you for all you did for us, you truly made us a beautiful vacation. Sue Kuhl Dear Barbara, Meanwhile we are back home again. Thank you very much for the wonderful organisation. Everything worked out fine, our ferry tickets were waiting for us and we enjoyed a great holiday. Although we had to improvise a bit in Naxos when the high speed ferry to Samos was cancelled (NEL Lines), and the people at their head office were not very helpful. Instead we took a 14 hour journey via Mykonos but we finally got where we wanted! Perhaps you might consider useful some remarks about the hotels; Syros (Syrou Melathron): perfect, absolutely splendid hotel, we were told the best on the island and we were not disappointed! Mykonos (Anastassios-Sevasti): friendly staff, nice and quiet (rare in Mykonos), clean rooms Santorini (Loucas): great views alongside the caldera, but a bit noisy at night, there is a bar upstairs, and the gentleman at the reception was not friendly at all. Naxos (Iliovassilema): clean rooms, good breakfast, nice people, the owner even gave us a lift to the port, only downside is they charged extra for A/C, which I find a bit unusual, but after all it was 4 Euros well spent at +30 degrees Celsius. Samos (Samaina Inn): obviously a 4 star resort, warm welcome, spacious rooms, unfortunately the food was terrible (little choice, no taste etc) so we ate out almost every morning/night. There you go! We will not hesitate to recommend your services to whoever wants to go to the Greek islands. Kind regards, Bart and Barbara Wouters-Vanderperren, Belgium Hi Mark Just a quick e-mail to say thank you. The days I booked for my Brother-in-law's honeymoon in Mykonos went very smoothly and they had a wonderful time I would not hesitate to recommend your travel agency to anyone Best regards Sacha Crowe Dear Barbara, It's been over a couple months since our fabulous trip to Greece. We made it home safe and sound. Just wanted to touch base with you and give you many, many thanks for all your work and effort put into helping me put our vacation together. You and your agency were terrific. We had such a great time and it was wonderful getting to meet you in person. My only regret is that we realized to late that we didn't get a photo of the three of us together! Your island home of Sifnos was fantastic. We so enjoyed getting to know people and the little town of Vathy was so peaceful and beautiful. Do you kow anything about the new resort being built there? I hope you have had a good holiday season. I guess things are winding down for you now. I would love to come back and visit again. Spend more time on Santorini, Sifnos and maybe pick another island to visit. Efkharisto Dee and Russ Grier Thank you Mark, I plan to return to Athens within the year and will book again with you for reservations. You may want to recommend Kalamata as a not to be missed vacation destination. It is unbelievably beautiful and has a very active nightlife with many clubs and bars along the coastal road. A great hotel I found was the Byzantio right in town with very reasonable rates and clean lovely rooms. And I would recommend visiting Mani, an area with amazing scenic views and many lovely guesthouses and small hotels. But you probably know all this. Thank you for taking care of this for me and I will recommend your company to people I know traveling to Greece this year. Lisa Fiel. New York Gentile Barbara, Sono tornato a Milano e colgo l'occasione per ringraziarLa per la Sua gentilezza e collaborazione. Tutto e andato bene e Sifnos ci e piaciuta moltissimo. Qualora la prossima estate dovessimo tornare nelle Cicladi non manchero di contattarLa nuovamente. Grazie ancora. Alessandro Zalonis. Milano Hello Giorgos! I got back into the States on July 14th....and now I'm back to work again. I wanted to send you an email to say "thank you," for all that you did for me and my cousin Joy. We had an amazing time in Greece and Rome....it was so much more than I had ever expected! My favorite island was Santorini, and the people at La Perla were wonderful. We had no problems with any of our hotels or travel while in Greece. Once we develop our 10 rolls of film, I will send you a picture of Joy and I enjoying our Greece vacation! Thank you again for all that you did for me. If anyone wants to go to Greece I will HIGHLY recommend them to contact you!!! Warmest Regards, Carlen Sabagquit Hi Barbara We just returned from our vacation and wanted to thank you for arranging our stays in Greece. We had an excellent time and all the accommodations were great. Thanks again. The de Seguin family Cara Barbara, a nome nostro e dei nostri amici vogliamo ringraziarvi per il piacevolissimo soggiorno che abbiamo trascorso a Sifnos. La casa era molto bella e ci siamo trovati benissimo, per non parlare dell'isola, davvero meravigliosa, nella quale senz'altro torneremo per piu tempo: infatti una settimana e davvero volata!! Grazie anche per la puntualita con la quale abbiamo potuto usufruire dei biglietti dei traghetti. Ti mandiamo un saluto da Milano, nella speranza di poterci mettere ancora presto in contatto. CIAO! Maria, Silvano, Giovanni, Patrizia Hello Barbara, We returned home from our vacation last week and I just wanted to write you a short note thanking you for all of your help. We can't decide which part of our vacation was our favorite. Santorini was wonderful. The Kalimera hotel was nice and the location was great. The owner's son was quite helpful recommending areas we should visit, setting up tours and arranging a rental car. Then Crete! The Arolithos hotel was quite unique.......the night we arrived we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Apparently one of the owners was having a party for his granddaughter. I would guess 200 people were in attendance. We listened to the band play music and watched the guest of the party dance on stage while eating a fantastic meal. This is a unique experience we will always remember. To our surprise, we did all of our shopping for gifts to bring home at the gift shop at the hotel......our families were delighted with their gifts. We rented a car and visited several of the sites on Crete on the way to Chania. There we hiked the Samaria Gorge which was definitely a highlight of our vacation. We hated to leave Crete, but we really enjoyed our short stay in Athens. Our hotel had a roof top bar where the view of the Acropolis at night was unbelievable. The following day we did a walking tour of the sites before we went to the airport. Again, thank you for all of your help....the locations and the hotels exceeded our expectations. Sincerely, Nancy Craig Hi Barbara, I've been meaning to email you and let you know that we had a wonderful trip to Athens and the Greek islands. All went very smoothly with our ferries, flights and checking in at each hotel. Your recommendations and selection of the hotels were right on. The Attalos in Athens was perfect and in a great location to walk to the Acropolis and the Placa. Rooms are a bit small but on our return stay we got a room on the front side facing the street that was much bigger than on our first stay there. The Petassos Bay Resort was very nice and exactly what we wanted for a beach type of stay. It was nice to be able to have the pool and services of the hotel but then also just walk down the street to the beach and enjoy that. Having the bus stop right out in front of the hotel was very convenient too. Volcano View Villas had breathtaking views and the villas were very cute. I know this was my pick and a recommendation from a personal friend of mine. We enjoyed our stay there but if we ever return to Santorini I think we'd try and stay in Fira with a hotel that has a pool or in Ia so we could be closer to the center of things and not have to take a cab back and forth. Just some info for you if another person wants to stay there over your recommendation. It also seemed to be more for the couples or honeymooners and not for singles. The Mediterranean Hotel in Rhodes was perfect too. The only hiccup here was that they tried to put us in a room with only one bed and I said "No Way" and then we were given a room that was a smoking room but it did have two beds. We did not have the heart to ask for another room and suffered through with the heavy smoke smell for the first night and day. We loved that it was right across from the beach and ocean and then within walking distance to "Old Town" and other great shops and restaurants. We never had to take a taxi, bus or shuttle - we walked everywhere and truly enjoyed it. So I just want to send a huge THANK YOU your way for arranging all our great accommodations. You could not have put us at better hotels and locations and we appreciate this greatly since we knew nothing about the hotels or the location of each in regards to where they were on each island. We'd love to return and explore other islands in the future and will definitely keep your info to contact you again when we save enough again to return. I will also pass your name and info along to anyone that I might know or hear of that is planning a trip to Greece. Thanks so much for helping in making our trip to Greece wonderful, rememberable and such a pleasure. We did not want to leave and can't wait to return. Yamas (Cheers!) Mark, Thank you for planning a wonderful trip for us! Everything was great! (There was a little hiccup at the Oia Mare with the rooms, but in the end it all worked out). We had a fantastic time (loved Fologandros the most -- great people at the hotel there) and, of course, Santorini. For those travelers you have that like hiking, you can tell them about the fantastic trail that goes all the way from Oia to Fira over the hilltops. They'll pass fresh thyme and mountain flowers as they walk! It rained quite a bit, but hey, Ian's English -we're used to rain! Thanks again! Barbara We just returned and I want to thank you for the excellent accommodations! We loved our hotels in both Mykonos and Santorini! The only thing we may have needed and I will remember for next time is the transfers to the hotel. Coming into Myknonos- Taxis are very tough to get there. But otherwise it is was an amazing trip and I wanted to thank you again for arranging it all! Yassou! Lyssa Cripe Dear Barbara: Thanks so much for planning our trip so wonderfully. Every hotel we stayed at was more than adequate. The Canavas II in Santorini was perfectly located in Oia. Not too far into the busy part of town but close enough to walk to and much easier to park the car. I know you were concerned that the hotel in Athens would be too tight for us but it was just fine and much better for us to be together the last nights. The only issues were the cars -- but it still worked out OK. They did not have the right car for us in Crete so they gave us a lower level car. I will let you know which one maybe tomorrow. We should be due some rebate if it was not the same level. We were very confused when we arrived in Santorini about the car. There was no one there to meet us and our voucher did not have the name of the local rental agent so we spent and hour making calls to Athens to try to find out who it was. Thanks again Barbara - everything went so smoothly -- you did a great job. Fondly, Valari Beloyianis Yassas Barbara, Sadly, we are now back at home after our wonderful vacation. All of our arrangements were perfect. The Saga was exceptional in Poros. Neorion bay and Love bay are really nice in Poros. We took the short ferry ride for a day visit to Hydra. We truly loved Sifnos and the Thalatta studios in Faros. I'm sorry we missed you when we stopped in to visit in Apollonia. We visited Kastro, Platy Yialos and Vathy. We were thrilled to participate at the panigia Chrysopigi. We saw the ferry bring the icons to the church. It was very special. We also really enjoyed Notos villas in Adamas of Milos island. These accomodations were very superior. We were not able to take the boat tour around the island because there were not enough people, but we did see the Catecombs and Sarakoniko beach. We especially enjoyed the beach at Paliohori. Such an interesting island. I wanted to thank you so very much for all of your work to make our vacation very special. I will recommend you and your company to anyone wishing to visit beautiful Greece. Efcharisto poli. Hi Giorgos, We are home back in the States. Got in last night. Just wanted to thank you for all your help. The accomodations were great. Each hotel was exactly what we were looking for. The locations were perfect with unbelievable views. Thank you for all your help. We will be returning to Greece in the future. We loved it. Santorini is now our favorite travel destination. Next time we would like to see Rhodes, another island, and then back to Santorini. The ferry service is impressive, like a mini-cruise ship. Thank you again for making our vacation a great experience. Mary and Gordon Sargent Dear Barbara, We are safely back in Switzerland after a marvelous trip to Greece. We just wanted to thank you again for your professional and friendly help with planning our trip. Your effort enabled us to feel comfortable and relaxed throughout the journey. Hopefully you will hear from us soon for our next Greece vacation! We also wanted to tell you that the Acropolis Select Hotel, the hotel you booked us in as a change from the Cecil, was a really super hotel-comfortable, stylish and very friendly. Worth recommending to anyone. Thanks again and best wishes for the Summer, Amy Gladfelter Hello Barbara, We are home again and have almost recovered from "jet lag," but I wanted to write to you to tell you how much we enjoyed our trip. Thank you very much for your able assistance in making arrangements for our visit to Greece. We especially enjoyed our stay on Sifnos at Thalatta Studios. The room was lovely and comfortable, and very convenient for us. Leah, who manages the studios for the owner, was very helpful and considerate as well as friendly. The several long walks through the countryside were delightful, and the hike to the monastary was well worth the effort! We had a perfect blend of active and quiet days on Sifnos and didn't at all regret that the ferry to Santorini was cancelled; it is a beautiful island and we hope someday to return to it. Thank you again, Dear Giogos, We have returned from our trip to Greece and I wanted to thank you once again for all the planning you did. I was sorry not to meet you while we were in Sifnos but you had gone to Athens and returned after we left. I hope you got the bottle of wine that Zefi, from Saga Hotel in Poros sent to you. They are absolutely delightful people and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay with them. If you have people going to Poros I highly recommend the Saga...Zefi & her husband Takis make all their guest feel at home. And their Monday night BBQs with food and dancing are great! The Windmill Bella Vista on your island of Sifnos was also a gem. We found Giorgos to be a great guy and the accommodation was super. We did however meet some older people who had booked through you that didn't want to drive and had no transportation and the walk to Apollonia would have been too strenuous. They were very disappointed. I believe they were going to try and find something in Apollonia. I guess you can't please everyone. We loved the quiet "remoteness" of the Windmill Bella Vista but I would not recommend it for people who are not active and adventurous. It was perfect for us and one of the highlights of our trip. You live on a most beautiful island and I hope to return some day. We had dinner one night at "The Beautiful Sifnos" right next to your agency, and he said in the 20 some odd years he had worked there he had never met anyone from Alaska. We had a nice chat with him and the Greek/Australian gal from the museum across the street! The people are wonderful in Greece. The Lilia in Pireaus was very pleasant. It was perfect for a Piraeus stay. Close to good tavernas and the marina. We did cancel one night there as Zefi got us reservations in Porto Helli. The Armada Festival in Spetses was on Sat the 7th. All worked out and Lilia refunded our money. The Armada fireworks show was spectacular! What a great way to spend my 50th birthday! We were a bit disappointed in the Galini Hotel. I think this may have been because of my own imagination and the pictures that you see in all the brochures."The perfect balcony with the perfect view of the perfect sunset!" The owner/ manager put us in a bigger more private accommodation up the street and it was very nice but just not what I had mind for the grand finale of Santorini. But again, we found all the people to be warm, gracious and very friendly. In closing, I just want to thank you again for all your help in planning this "once in a lifetime", let's hope not, trip... We had a blast! Sincerely, Hi Barbara: I hope that you are doing well. We had a WONDERFUL time in Greece and will definately return. Thank you for making our honeymoon so great and getting back to us so quickly on the Naxos issue-- thanks for the refund-- that is great---- we loved Santorni so much that we decided to return and spend the rest of our honeymoon there. Thanks again and we really appreciate all of your help. Dear Barbara, We had a wonderful time in Santorini and Folengandros. The accomodations and travel arrangements were excellent. Thank you for your quick and friendly help. I will use you again on my next trip. Thanks. Sincerely, Debbie Halton HI Matt
Hi Sandra,
Thank you for all your help in making our trip to
Greece a great success. We had a wonderful holiday and loved Greece, in
particular, Sifnos. The cooking class was great fun and I have been
experimenting with recipes. In Athens, we had dinner at Mandra, the food,
service and entertainment were all good. Thank you for that
recommendation.
FYI: Even though we had an enjoyable day, we
were disappointed with the bus tour, in that we only had an hour at Epidauraus
and I have contacted Chatours to let them know that we didn't think that
was long enough.
We want to thank you for sorting out our
accommodations on Naxos. We loved our new room, the gardens and
hospitality. Thank you for helping pick the right areas and accommodations
that suited our preferences. I would recommend your agency to anyone
travelling to Greece.
Best regards,
Mhairi
|
|
Return to Index of Testimonials |
Go to Aegean Thesaurus Travel |