The Arillas Effect!

[Karen22]

Arillas had been on our list of possible destinations for a number of years, but when it came to the crunch we always booked elsewhere.  Now we're lucky enough to have two holidays each year, we finally got to Arillas for a week in May.

What happened to us?  Initially, lovely as Arillas is, we both thought it a tad small and very quiet, we wondered what on earth people found to do for a fortnight. 

We stayed at the Tria Adelphia - which apart from the single cooking ring and single saucepan - we can't really fault.  Lovely big rooms, kept spotlessly clean, nice sized swimming pool, in a lovely spot, nice friendly hosts, you really couldn't want more.

We had that lovely walk to the resort - about 12mins if you don't stop, but there is always something to look at isn't there?  If its not the wild artichokes to be admired, there's the lemon trees with the biggest lemons you've ever seen.  There are the geraniums and roses everywhere, and at this time of the year in full bloom!  The honeysuckle was fabulous too, in fact the smells alone along that walk are enough to keep you happy.  Needless to say the walk back each night took a lot longer as the entertainment provided by the fireflies couldn't be missed and you had the backing soundtrack of the owl hooting. 

On our first afternoon we found Gratsela and it became our place to have an afternoon drink or two along with a snack - to sit there listening to the sea lappng the shore, tucking in to those fabulous Greek Salads, absolute bliss!

For our first meal we wanted to try Brouklis - I'd been hankering after those cougette keftedes after having them recommended on here.  We weren't disappointed, the food at Brouklis is wonderful, it seemed to have the best vegetarian selections of all the restaurants in Arillas, and for this reason we did something we never, ever do - we ate at Brouklis every night for the entire week!  How bad was that!  Everything was delicious, most of the dishes we had several times over, but our favourites were the spinach pie -  the best we've ever had, the courgette keftedes obviously, the feta baked in the oven and the baked pasta with mushrooms.  A Greek Salad side was a given and how lovely is that house red wine?  I think Dimitris' olive oil consumption shot up a bit the week we were there too, after he told us how good it was our first night, I think we got through half of what was on the table, mopping it up with bread.  My only surprise was not to have gained half a stone through bread mopping alone!

Arillas was starting to grow on us by now, we'd got Lance Chilton's walk book and we'd downloaded Hilary Paipetis's walks too.  Our favourite walk was the one to the clay cliffs and Kavadades coming back along the side of the Mon Amour taverna - we stopped at that little cafe come shop in Kavadades for a cold drink, it was like stepping back in time.  We left the cliff path walk till our last day, shame it turned out to be the only overcast day we had, as the photos we took weren't as good as they could have been.

By now of course, Arillas had worked its magic - the peace and quiet of this lovely rural resort is just what you need to relax and recharge your batteries from a busy life back home. Our single week seemed to last a long time, and as everyone on here could have guessed - we can't wait to go back!

[John B]

Hi Karen,

Brilliant report.

The same happened  to us the first time we went.

[Jo Wissett]

What a great read and we are sooo glad Arillas finally got under your skin! It was probably the relaxing walk back to Tria that stopped your waistline expanding!we really must try Graziella this year. In all the years of visiting Arillas we have never been and I have no idea why!

[justphil]

Fabulous report Karen. Many of us have shared that moment when you realise your life has changed forever. Ours was in 2003.

Sadly my waistline is 6 inches wider than it was before I came to Arillas. I only ever put on weight there. And these days it just stays put. Another two inches in July. I have to budget for new trousers in my holiday plans....

Jo luvver, Karen captured the afternoons that Jen and me often spend at Graziella. Mezes, red wine, Mythos and Gravia. Like she says Bliss!

I should be there NOW.
Phil

[JohnTheRef&Dot]

Karen
Loved the report, what a fine week you had, and staying at the Tria what more could you want. (is Philip still off the cigarettes)
Arillas looks like it has worked its MAGIC again.
We have walked the walk to the beach and the late night walks back on many an occasion.
 
Yes the smells are wonderful, we always find there is a strong smell of Lemon's of an evening as you just get past the Rainbow before you start to go round the bend towards the Bakery.
Fireflies in May are something we found fascinating.
Glad you had such a nice time. 

[jane and matt]

Karen loved your report and so pleased you enjoyed your first visit to Arillas we too wondered what all the fuss was about when we booked our first holiday but we are  now hooked and just love the place!

We have only been back home since Tuesday after a fantastic week staying at the The Tria Adelphia Apartments having survived the horrible night flight home! This was an extra week and we are back again for our usual 2 weeks in August in 7 weeks time. It was lovely seeing Arillas at a different time of the year and the cooler temperatures meant that we did more walking and finally made it up to the night owl for a lunch time drink and will definitely walk up for a meal one night in August (how do we go about booking a taxi back to our apartment as don't fancy the walk back at night). 

The fire flies were amazing and the beach lovely (despite the lack of sun beds) and was as good if not better than pervious years, we sat on the seat at the end of the pier and just generally relaxed and chilled out in the unique Arillas atmosphere. We have some great photo's we would love to post but we are having problems adding them so any advice gratefully received.

Counting the days to our return and regularly checking the forum and web cam to see what's going on!!

We are writing this inside with the heating on whist it pours with rain outside, but we will be back very soon ! 


Matt and Jane

[justphil]

Another great report Matt and Jane. Photos can be uploaded directly on the Photo Gallery board, but most of us put them on a hosting site. I use Imageshack (www.imageshack.us) and just paste the Direct code between the two tags you get when you click on insert image on the toolbar. That line will have a red cross in because I haven't put anything between the tags. A bit like between my ears - there MUST be a red cross there.....

So glad Arillas worked its magic. The world all think we're mad, but until you've experienced it you just don't know. And then you're too late. A total Addict.

Phil

[Erja]

Yep...Arillas=Magic