authentic or not

[carol]

I dont want to offend anybody but i have a question to ask if i may.Could anybody please tell me if Arillas is a authentic greek village or is it a man made tourist spot.We have a little debate here at home.!!Personally i dont care either way.The first time we visited Arillas we fell in love with it and will be making our 3rd visit the end of july.Thank you cx

[blondegirl]

I have no idea either but we loved it too.  It is actually smaller than some of the little seaside resorts in the UK and has more restaurants/tavernas than these.

[Pete E]

I am sure I have read on this website somewhere that Arillas was a small fishing village before holiday makers discovered it.  I seem to remember that the menu at Costas on the Beach includes some blurb about the history of the restaurant; that it started out as a small taverna serving the fisherman after they returned with their catch.

[Joe]

Hi Carol,

In my opinion Arillas is an authentic Greek Village, sure like most of the Greek islands it caters for the tourists in Summer but the hotels and bars aren't obtrusive and fit into the surroundings quite nicely retaining a lot of local charm. I was in Arillias in February visiting my family before all the tourist parts opened up with all the locals working their tradiational trades. It was lovely, albeit a little cold.

When I was there last month my mum took me to the village of Makrades in the hills, now that was authentic, the streetside wine sellers were brilliant.

[dimitris]

In addition, do not forget that Corfu has a very important history that this forum is not enough to describe,
A little part of it I would have to add in this topic in order to answer your question,
During the middle age, Corfu was full of small communities that lived on the hills away from the coastes, as there was always a fear of foreign attacks like pirates etc. that would come in to the island and robe, rape and destroy what ever they found.
That is why you will not see as many old houses near the beachfront like in other Greek islands.
Life in Arillas started during the 1850-70 where a few people moved here from the mountains and slowly they built houses made of clay, olivewood and pebbles from the beach.
During the 2cond world war, there was about 10 families in the surroundings of Arillas including ours.
Some of them are the family of graziella Taverna the kalouudis village and Alex supermarket.
All of them used to be farmers and fishermen, they would eat only what was growing in their garden and they would wear hand made clothes. Trade was not being done with money but with  items and products exchange.
The families would have to have a lot of children for three reasons:
1, not all of them where going to survive
2, the family needed a lot of hand for labor work, (especially men)
3, There was no television.!!!
After the war the population of Arillas became smaller as many young boys left their families and went to find work in other parts of Greece, in Germany, in America even in Australia. Some others went to work in Greek merchant ships.
Finally in 1973 ( the year that I was born) the cables of  electric power arrived in Arillas and the first refrigerators televisions and Jukeboxes came with that too.
The money that had been earned from the Greek immigrants gave the power to build the first hotel, ( Marina and Akti )  and the first Greek tourists came for the weekend from Corfu town and had the best fresh fish that was caught by the restaurant owners in the morning. ( and it was also a lot cheaper than today).
The first tourists of a foreign country was some Swiss Hippies that lived the life of their dreams in Arillas by renting an old farm house for a few years in the middle of no were but still near the beach and near the 5 Tavernas of Arillas (Kostas, Graziella arillaInn, Marina and Brouklis.
There was direct flight from Geneva to Corfu with Olympic airways  at that time but it stopped after 1984.
after the 1980 people have made money with tourism and they built  more apartments and more establishments  as the Big Tour Operators was pushing everyone to make as many rooms as possible.
They would give you the rend in advance for the next two to five years in order that you guarantee that in the next season you will increase your capacity of rooms in to 10 times more than the ones you have..
I was always wandering why they do this; I finally realized what it was during the latest years. Obviously they new that if one has 4 apartments or a small hotel, it would be easy for him one day to fill them up with his own customers with out the need of a tour operator. but if you have 40 to 100 rooms, then you are hooked to the Tour Operators with no doubt.
Today the population in Arillas has reached 450 to 500 including the few people that have moved from other countries to live permanently here.

All the establishments are owned by locals who are doing their best for the quality and service and have achieved to have a returning clientele for the last 20 years.
During the latest years, many returning customers choose to come back to Arillas by dealing direct with the accommodation owners by using the internet or other media,helping the local economy and development.
Arillas has stayed away from commercialization in contrast with other resorts just because the people who work here also live and have their families growing up in the same resort as well as they are owners of the properties.
We will never like to live in A place like Sidari or Kavos today....

Sorry for the grammar mistakes I just had some inspiration that I did not wand it to be lost,
Cheers

dimitris

[Dave n Anne]

Hi Dimitris . We have been coming to Arillas for four years now and think it is the best place in the world. Please all work together to keep it the way it is DONT go the Sidari or Kavos route. We are in Arillas next Monday ( 2nd time this year ) hopefully we will meet you and have a drink and a chat, 6 more sleeps

[Joe]

The families would have to have a lot of children for three reasons:
--
--
3, There was no television.!!!

Dimitris,

That really made me laugh and thankyou very much for the insight into Arillas, it seems incredible that you have only had electricity since 1976!

Joe

[Eileen]

Thank you Dimitris, I really enjoyed that.  What a great posting.

It would be a good idea to pin this topic to the top of the page  so that it does not get lost down the pages as new topics arise.  It was so good I'm sure future members would be really missing out if they never read it!

Eileenxx

[Fiona]

Dimitris that was a fantastic post - thank you so much for all the information about the history of your wonderful birthplace. The more I learn about Arillas, the more I understand why it is such a warm-hearted, welcoming place for those of us lucky enough to have found Corfu's secret hideaway.

I agree with Eileen that it should be pinned somewhere very conspicuous for all forum visitors/addicts to read.

Thank you again
Fiona

[dimitris]

Thank you everyone,!
I think that this post needs some more work as there is a lot of more information that I want to add,
I will be re-editing it while I have some time and then i will publish it on the main website with relevant pictures etc,.
It takes time and I need to have the inspiration also.
please correct my spelling and expresions by sending me private messages I will not be offended,
Yassas,

Dimitris

[Sandy x]

Hi Dimitri

That was really interesting and you certainly don't get all that information in the guide books. I don't know how you manage to make the time.....already counting the days till 7 August.....

Love to everyone
Sandy x

[harold]

I found it very intersting a good insight into Arillas life and i did understand your spelling  Dimitri,
VIV dont you try putting Dimitris spelling right and i will not attempt to either

[Lozicle]

That really was a wonderful insight into a bit of history

We arrived home yesterday after a wonderful 2 week stay and I'm not looking forward to going back to work. We were talking to my parents earlier today about our holiday and mentioned that we'd been through Sidari and how awful it had become. They were telling us about when they stayed in Sidari 30+ years ago. There was one hotel about 5 tavernas and it was still a little fishing village populated by Greeks.  They said what a wonderful, beautiful place it was to visit, so it's sad to see what's it has become. I just hope that Arillas doesn't end up the same way in 30 years time.

[Eleni]

I can not specify the meaning of the word "authentical" but i can say
what it s not.
It s not authentical to pretend that you are happy when you are not.
It s not authentical to imitate and it s not authentical to sell  your soul
for money.

What it makes a place authentical or not ,is it s people...Those who leave
there ,having transformed their own characters  accepting the influence
of their enviroment!
Simple people of the earth who  deal only with the nature ,the sea
and the land!!They never had to deal with big city terms so that they learn
how to pretend....
They survived with the genuine feelings of joy,anger,friendship,love....

Its a fact that any kind of civilisation has to be adjusted to the needs of
the Global market.To be genuine it doesn t have to mean that somebody
will stay without Internet access,TV,or tourism busines,but to use the
modern facilities and to create with respect to the past ,to the enviroment
to life!
Authenticity is to keep your own identity between the billion of influences.
Influences that have to do with the way of thinking,dressing ,expressing
ourselves.

Pure feelings of love and kindness are always recognisable and the people
who keep coming back to Arillas have felt  them and have kept them in
their hearts..

When the people of Arillas will lose their spontaneous smile and sense
of humor,together with their simplicity,joy and smile,then i could say that
they will have lost their authenticity and Arillas also.

I can not say what future brings but for the moment being Arillas has
become a resort for people who come not only to drink and sunbath but
to find friends,to share their thoughts with them,to enjoy moments of
hapiness and sorrow with them ,to become a part of Arillas everyday life
and we welcome them with joy and hospitality because they are also
humans and not just tourists and this is how we see them and treat them
STILL!!!

Yours

Eleni (IRENEVILLAS)

[carol2]

Eleni, what a beautiful description of the ethos of Arillas, I could never put into words exactly what it is I love about Arillas, you have just done that for me, thankyou.