1. We were well received. Everything was clear and very clear. They explained where and how to get to the bus. Only it was not clear why we were halfway removed from one bus and transferred to another bus. But this is also not a problem, although it was inconvenient with a sleeping child and suitcases to chase from one bus to another. When we transferred to the second bus to get to the hotel, I realized that it was very pleasant to ride along our serpentines (from Goryachiy Klyuch to Lazarevskaya).
2. At the hotel we were met by a friendly Vita (representative of the tour operator), to whom I am grateful that she did her job 5+.
3. We arrived at the hotel early, and the check-in was from 2 o'clock and we were offered to eat in the dining room for a fee (you can't call this mess a restaurant). For comparison, when we flew to Turkey and Egypt, you could leave your bags there and use whatever you want and absolutely free! But this is not a problem either, although it was difficult to explain to a three-year-old child who slept only on the plane and on the bus why she could not go to bed. We walked around the hotel, which for some reason is not closed and anyone passing by can go, but we found a lot of pluses. Four paired swimming pools with a clean area and a bar. There is even a children's pool. But for some reason, only sea water is everywhere and there is simply no pool with fresh water! In fairness, I note that I really liked to swim across the pool to the bar, where you can drink beer while sitting in the water.
We were settled before 2 o'clock (thank you for that! ), but when we entered the room, we remembered the sanatorium from the times of the USSR. Painted walls, some kind of wooden radio, the meaning of which I did not understand, large iron wind windows and furniture that they apparently took from our sanatoriums in the 90s. The room has a safe, which is closed with a regular key, not a combination lock. No shower gels, shampoos, hairdryers, let alone bathrobes and slippers. but there was a balcony in front of which grass and trees grew, which collected some mutant ants and a bunch of mosquitoes in our room. In the room, apparently, someone was cleaned every day, as the keepers of cleanliness walked around the floor, but they always looked into our room at the same time at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, when I put the child to bed! After that, I did not see them and they cleaned us at our request 2 times a week.
In general, one could also get used to all this, especially since you spend most of your time near the water. But there was also a surprise waiting for us! The pools are closed exactly at 18.00 with a key and fenced, and the passage to the sea closes at 19.00!
After 18.00, there is absolutely nothing for the child to do there, the animators get lost somewhere and a bunch of children themselves have fun on one single platform, where adults sit drinking and smoking from idleness if they manage to take a seat at the table. There is no entertainment there! In a week, once we saw Greek dances on the site, where, as I said, it is almost impossible to get in (there are no free tables) and we stood watching everything.
As for feeding, also a special thank you, the cooks worked their money 100%!
And the sea is very beautiful, although in a week I have never been able to lie down on sunbeds! They seem to take a week in advance.
To take the towels, we left a deposit of 10 euros for one towel, and to change it 2 euros each time, if you still have a desire to change the towel afterwards.
And the worst thing is the attitude of the staff! I have never experienced such a Russophobic mood even in Ukraine! They treat the brothers Macedonians, Serbs, Romanians, Bulgarians very well, of whom there are 90% and that's it! Almost no one from the staff speaks Russian, and even there is no such desire. But on the other hand, having heard Russian speech, they are always ready to get nasty to you. When Russian children were sitting on the playground near the bar by the sea (there is no other place to work with children there) and were working with the animator, who could sometimes be seen during the day, the bartender simply kicked them out and gave the chairs to the company of Macedonians who came there to drink and smoke.
The most interesting things were ahead of us. When we handed over the towels and decided to take the deposit, they refused to return the money to us! The child, whom we, due to the lack of animation, as I said, themselves entertained by drawing on paper accidentally went beyond the paper and drew a line on the sheets. It turns out that the sheets are not washed in this hotel! ) I don’t know, apparently in Russia there are other powders, but we wash the sheets at home, which looks much worse. In general, on the road we were still rude and shouted.
So, I wish you all a pleasant holiday! But I warn you that the rest in this hotel will not be very pleasant!! !
There is a bigger supermarket nearby in nearby Akratos. You can also get to the town of Ouranoupolis by bus, which runs rarely, and you can also walk for 30 minutes, but uphill, which is not tiring, because passing, you can admire the opening views, see a mouse fox in the thickets, squirrels or a turtle. The only annoyance is the snakes. On the territory of the hotel around the perimeter there are traps and poison is scattered from them. In the advertisement they read about a hotel bus to the city, but they never saw it, although there were always such buses from neighboring hotels. The hotel has 4 buildings: 2 renovated, smaller (they are located higher, and the view from them opens to the sea) and 2 larger (they are older). Our room was located on the second floor of the central building. The view from it was on the roof of the restaurant in the center and the pools. The layout of the central building is such that some rooms rest with windows against the wall or the doors of neighboring rooms.
We arrived just in time for the closing of the hotel, so after a week of rest, the people disappeared abruptly, there were about 20 people left. We wanted a relaxing holiday, but we didn’t expect it to be so calm. So we decided to have fun on our own. There were some unpleasant little things, but overall I liked everything. We arrived at the hotel around 12 noon. The number was promised only by 14, but it was ready in half an hour. At this time, no one was going to feed us. The hotel guide Vitaly brought us to the reception, and no longer bothered us with his "attention"), which surprised us a lot. Subsequently, in order to see him, it was necessary to call by phone, even to find out the time of departure yourself. The hotel belongs to the category "sleep, eat". We didn't need more. Having rented a Ford Focus, we decided to go traveling. The car cost 145 euros for 3 days. Gasoline costs an average of 1.65 euros, it turns out a little expensive.
We drove to Thessaloniki, then to Kalambaki, where the famous Meteora is located. Great spectacle, worth seeing. We got lost a lot on the roads, because the navigator was only in English, with our knowledge it would not help. The policemen were met 2 times, driving about 1800 km. Didn't see an accident. Along the way, there are sections where there are surveillance cameras, marked with signs. There are many inconsistencies on the map. The same goes for road signs. On the federal highway, they gave a detour of almost 50 km due to the fact that they drove the right turn, but there was no opportunity to turn around. There are many posts on barriers that charge tolls in the euro zone. In parallel, there is an excellent track, often marked as a primer. So many impressions left from these trips. We drove along the coast. Found so many secluded places with beautiful beaches.
The beaches are excellent, for different tastes: sandy, with white sand and with sand that looks like golden scales, rocky with large stones and small pebbles. The hotel also has a good beach. Sunset is convenient, sandy, there are a lot of small fish near the shore, which were fed bread directly from the hands. There are 4 swimming pools with sea water on the territory of the hotel, they swam 1 time, they don’t like splashing in the pool on vacation. The audience in the hotel is mostly German, there are Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians. At the reception, they explained with a minimum supply of English words, somehow agreed. There were few kids, apparently due to the fact that September.
In the town of Ouranoupolis, they bought food. Prices are almost the same everywhere. The city is a dead end, the free territory ends here, then there is Athos, the "monastic state", which is allowed into only after receiving a special permit, and only men.
Icons were bought in the town as a gift, there are many of them in special stores. They say that if an icon is painted in Greece, especially in a monastery, it is already considered consecrated.
Despite some unpleasant little things, I liked the rest, we hope to visit Greece again, once to see everything is not enough!