San Stefanos Online ~ North West Corfu

Returned home on Sunday after 3 glorious weeks in SS.....its the first time I've had 3 weeks there and unfortunately 2 weeks will now never be enough so have booked for 3 weeks again next year 

Stayed with Vagelis in his Helena Villa which was fabulous yet again - cleaned and beds made daily by Anthoula who is now 8 months pregnant but just looks like she's had a big dinner - nothing slows that lady down, absolutely nothing

As usual we spent majority of our time at the Nafsika pool and had breakfast and lunch there most days.  Consider it as my second home and thoroughly enjoyed the company of Spiros, Stefanos, Chris, Patricia and Penny with some memorable nights had including the 80's night, Killer pool and the Quiz night we had last Friday - both were comedy gold....

I found the resort to be busier than last year and even Acabar seemed to be getting into double figures most nights and many of the shops and restaurants/businesses seemed to be happy with the summer so far.

I just went to the restaurants that I really rate this year so didn't eat at hardly any on 'the strip'.

I decided to retry both Olympia and Brusko again after disappointing meals in 2009 and 2015 respectively.    Had some lovely after dinner drinks several nights at Silver Star which was much busier than last year (lovely to see) and also made it to Bar 38 one night for some very nice cocktails and live music.

Olympia - I cannot fault the food, it was lovely this time round.  However for me personally, there is absolutely no atmosphere in there.....   In addition, I will never eat there again after being charged a €7.50 cutlery charge on my bill.   Literally couldn't get my breath at the cheek of that and met several other people who had experienced this item being added to their bill.......!

Brusko - this year I thought the food was excellent - great staff, great food and a lovely atmosphere - back on the hit list and happily so!

Nafsika - my home from home and I absolutely love their breakfasts and the grilled chicken and Greek salad is my lunchtime favourite.  In addition I tried the Greek roasted chicken and their curry this year and loved both so Nafsika continues to shine for me.

Ozzy Oil - we took friends who hadn't eaten there before and unfortunately it was a disappointing night.   The menu has changed beyond recognition and all the Oz dishes which were preceded by Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane etc have completely disappeared and there is just one token Australian dish on the menu now.   I was not bowled over by anything that I ate and to be honest, I feel like it has lost its way a little bit and the menu now is just like a Greek restaurant when the point of Ozzy Oil was to bring an Australian flavour to the resort.

Fantasea - still one of my favourites and I just love what Kostas is trying to do in terms of being innovative and coming up with fresh ideas.   Every meal was great and the location, ambience and service continue to be excellent.

Beachcomber - again, one of my favourites and Sue always seems to get it right from a perfectly cooked fillet steak to home made Tiramisu.    Had several lovely meals there and they never disappoint - also sunsets to die for!

Beer O Clock - Had a 2-3 meals here and again, always very good with lovely staff and a nice atmosphere.

Yiannis - infamous orange cake and good service 

I also ate at a few places outside of SS for a change.     I can thoroughly recommend Trilogia in Kassiopi - just love going back here as never disappoints with a superb location and fabulous food.  We also returned to Anemos in Afionas one night which again had great food (and cocktails) with those amazing views and the sunset of all sunsets.

New for us this year was Bikolis in Peroulades which was an absolute hidden gem and I would definitely both recommend and go back next year.  Fabulous food in a lovely garden restaurant with very helpful and friendly staff.

Also new this year was Horizon hotel in Arillas - went a couple of times for lunch and wished we had heard about it earlier in our stay.   Uber cool hotel restaurant overlooking Arillas beach with Ibiza type music and a very laid back vibe with excellent food and cocktails.  Definite winner for me and will be revisiting next year for sure.

All in all another fabulous holiday and also flew home with Norwegian Airlines for the first time and cannot rate them highly enough.  Superb on all levels and will definitely be my first choice airline next year.

Only 49 weeks till I'm there again............

So....with Monarch ceasing to fly to SS from Gatwick and it being my preferred airline, last year we flew with Thomson which was fine.

We go indy every year so we only need flights anyway.

However this year we are going for 3 weeks instead of 2 and Thomson refused to quote for 3 weeks which I found to be totally ridiculous.

In addition to this, we are flying home the August bank holiday weekend so flights with Easyjet, Thomas Cook etc are all sky high (over £350 one way....)

So I thought outside the box and decided to fly back with a non UK airline to mitigate the BH price increase.    Soooo we are going outbound with Easyjet for £130 and returning with Norwegian Air for £170.

Well happy and have saved almost £600 for the 3 of us......

Love it when a plan comes together....

Hey

Flights all booked this morning after watching the Monarch site for last 4 months.....!

Prices dropped to £237 + baggage on Sunday but went on yesterday to book and flights had gone up to £400 and were not showing the flights I wanted either!!

Called Monarch in a panic and apparently its a system glitch so just booked for £237 + baggage from Gatwick on 18 Aug for 2 weeks. 


Now if I can just get over this illness that's been plagueing me for past 5 months I would be really happy!  On high dose long term antibiotics to try and get rid but its a slow process and really crap living with it in the meantime

Still feeling blue despite being back from San Stef for 4 days and it got me wondering what it is about SS in particular that makes you yearn for it so much when you are home?

I was chatting to David (hubby) about it last night as he is quite down as well and I think for us it’s a number of things.   Firstly, it was our first holiday in 4 years due to having Nate and lack of finances and so we had looked forward to this holiday for well over a year.  Secondly we were going with my mum, dad, sisters, bro-in-law and nieces so a real family affair and as I live in Kent and they in Staffs/Derbyshire, it was a real treat to spend so much time with them. 

Thirdly, it was a break from our stresses and worries with Nate – he is very speech delayed and is starting at kindergarten in a prep school in Sept which brings its own set of worries as to how he will get on as he is not potty trained yet either………!  The school seem supportive and he has been at nursery for past 3 years who were beyond lazy and did nothing to encourage his speech development so it’s been a long year of speech therapy/assessments and paedritician appts which is why we were so glad to get away.

Whilst in SS I had two weeks of not worrying about money, Nate, work or any of the associated stress of our daily lives at home.  Nate had an absolute ball and loved every second and endeared himself to pretty much everyone (the man who runs the ice cream parlour in town became his firm friend in particular) and so we didn’t worry about his lack of speech or his imminent start at school at all and it was so lovely to not have that worry and pressure even just for a little while. 

I think for me, San Stefanos is this magical place where nothing bad ever happens and I feel safe and happy there and maybe its because I've been going there since I was a child and it is embedded in my soul or something, I don't know.   I realise that is a very rose tinted view, but it’s how I genuinely feel and it’s a place where I am never stressed and always smiling which makes it so special. 

I love everything about it, the people most of all but also the feeling of opening the shutters in the morning and your first feel of the sun on your skin and looking out at the pool and the beach, the sunsets, the smell of the place, the food, the sound of the crickets, the smell of the flowers along the roadside, the language, the feeling of everything being right with the world, it just all combines to make the perfect place.   I physically ache for the place when I get home and this time was worse than most and I am struggling to get back into my normal routine and feel very blue 

Sorry for unloading but I know you are the only people who will understand how I feel 

I have eaten at the Delfino Blu several times in 2008/9 and have always really liked it and had good food and service.

I suggested to my parents that we eat there during our stay as for one reason or another they had never got round to eating there and quite fancied giving it a try especially after we had said how lovely it was.

My husband went to book a table during the day for 10 of us and was instructed by Kostas to deal with one of the waiters who would take all the details.  Said waiter (who shall remain nameless…) then proceeded to pull faces and sigh and make out like it was a massive inconvenience to accommodate us and eventually said he would do it.   

We turned up at 8pm that night to be told that it was too windy to sit outside and they had no tables free indoors so they had cancelled our table!!   Well, let’s just say that they were told in no uncertain terms that it was not too windy and we wanted them to sort the table sharpish!!

We were told to go to the pool bar whilst they did the table and the bar man couldn’t have less personality or looked less fed up…..he was completely miserable.   By this point my parents are looking at me as if the say ‘and you think this place is nice?’ and I am wondering what the hell is going on….

Eventually the table is ready and the same waiter who took the booking is our waiter – rude, condescending and disdainful come to mind when thinking of his behaviour – the food was good but I could tell that nobody was really enjoying the meal because of how we had been treated.  The waiter must have overheard some of our less than happy comments because at the end of the meal he bought us free drinks and plates of fruit – but the damage was done.

By the time we left we were really annoyed and I spoke to a couple of my Greek friends in the town and they basically said that that is how Kostas trains his staff to act and if you are not staying at the hotel then you are not always treated particularly well.  They think that they are the crème de la crème and unless you obviously have a lot of money, they are not interested.

I will never go there again and will also be putting a scathing review on trip adviser.  Kostas needs to sort it out!

I meant to post this a few weeks ago and not sure if someone else has and I missed it.

Basically my parents got word a few weeks ago from friends in the village that Dino (car hire) has died.   Apparently they think it was a heart attack.

For those that knew Dino, he was a lovely guy and not that old either so it has been a bit of a shock for the SS residents.

Anyway just wanted to let you know if you didnt already 

Finally booked to come back to San Stefanos next August.   Mum and Dad just got back last week and have scouted out a house big enough (Vagelis' 4 bedroom apartment - result!) to bring the whole family out next year.    Its a big year with my 40th, my dad's 60th and mum and dad's 40th wedding anniversary 

Having been coming to San Stef since 1980 (7 years old!) and have been back more times than I can remember although last time was in 2009 so well overdue a visit.

Hope to see anyone who is out there between 5-19th August 2013 - the countdown has begun and its lovely being on here listening to all the people who love the place as much as I do.  My mum and dad know pretty much everyone after over 30 years of going there and have even gone back for the local's weddings and christenings etc over the years - it really is like an extended family 

Seriously excited about taking my little boy who will be 3 by the time we go - it will be like a whole new generation of our family starting its love affair with San Stefanos.   Just need to let Spiros (bikes) and Spiros and Stefanos (Nafsika) know that we are coming!!!   There will be 10 of us altogether so will will be hard to miss!!