Finding Arillas was all down to my obsession with sport!! Roy and I watched wall to wall Olympics from Athens in August 2004 and decided it would be a good place to visit. Obviously other people had the same idea as we had a terrible time trawling the internet and travel agents with no success. Finally we remembered a leaflet that had come with the bank statement and phoned the number. Turned out to be Thomas Cook who had just taken on two properties in Arillas that weren't in the brochures - the choice was Hotel Marvellous "with a pool" or Hotel Akti Arilla "without a pool". With Thomas Cook still on the phone, Roy phoned me on his mobile and we chose the Marvel(lous).
I am a terrible "need to know" person and searched the net for anything I could find about Arillas, instantly finding the website and reading all there was. We had many friends who had been visiting Greece (usually always the same place) for years and years, but somehow their enthusiasm and the Shirley Valentine appeal had never quite won me over. To be absolutely honest I think it was the "paper in the bin and not down the loo" that left me a little non-plussed!!
We had a late night flight and a THREE HOUR coach trip in the dark and finally, the rep having disembarked in Sidari leaving us sitting alone on the 42 seater, we arrived at the Marvellous at around 6am. We fell into bed with "breakfast finishes at 10am" ringing in our ears! And this is how the obsession with Arillas began in September 2004!
As soon as we got home we booked two more holidays at the Marvel in 2005, enthusing some friends sufficiently for them to join us on one. We managed to squeeze in another visit in 2005 and stayed the very last week of the season at Brouklis. 2006 took us to Irene Villas for two weeks in June and two weeks at the Bardis Sun Studios in August. 2007 has produced a short visit in February for a certain wedding and the two weeks we have just had at Irene Villas with a final visit booked for Irene Villas in September. A total of 9 visits in 36 months, but it feels more like home than home and there isn't a day that goes by without my longing to be back.
I took a photo of the view from the balcony at Irene Villas last Friday and, as I sit facing the window at work, I stuck a very large copy of the photo on the window and now I can imagine I am sitting on the balcony doing my work on the computer!!
The world is a big place and must contain many morsels of paradise, but I need look no further. I have fallen truly, madly, deeply in love with the place and people of Arillas!
Fiona