How I found Arillas!

[JohnTheRef&Dot]

Dimitris THANK YOU for starting this post
It must be one of the best posts yet on the site
Everyone seems to have their own little story to tell
Fascinating read.  ...........once again Thank You

[Ruth Potts]

Sandy - it was a year later when Michelle went flying without wings down the stairs at Nafsika. Rory was purely experimenting with the flow of water down steps!!! Anything to see the "Doc". x

[NicandJohn]

This is our first post- but seems a good place to start.
We found Arilas in May/june 1998, it was a last minute booking for our honeymoon, and was very cheap! It needed to be as the wedding was expensive. That year we stayed at Makris, and have stayed there once since in 2000. We also stayed a couple of times at Tria Adephia, and really enjoyed all our time spent their.
This year we are coming back, on our wedding anniversary (30th of May) for two weeks, and we're really hoping for flights to be on time so that we can have a nice meal in the village that night. We are travelling with Thompson for the first time this year as they fly from our local airport and it's just a taxi ride away rather than the 70 miles each way to manchester that we've had to do in the past. I have a feeling we are staying at Kaloudis though not 100% certain as Nic booked it and she is out at work-I'm sure we're in that corner of the village anyway.
Can't wait to feel the sun on my back, and have some lovely greek food again washed down with some ice cold retsina.

[justphil]

Welcome to the forum John and Nic. Jen and me hope to spend our anniversary there in September (few more than you I guess - it's 36 this time.)

Kaloudis is a very nice and popular choice. You can't fail to enjoy. You sound like you should be "Arillas Regular Visitors" already. 4 visits is the magic number - see posts elsewhere on the forum.

Good luck and best wishes. Hope to hear more from you both on this Arillas Merry Go Round, or is it a forum???
Phil

[Lisa and Steve]

We would love to spend our anniversary in Arillas but it is in Jan so no hope there yet.

[Jo Wissett]

We started our love affair with Arillas back in 1995.  We had a one year old son who was still crawling and not much dosh.  Luckily my sister worked for a travel agency and managed to get us a mega cheap -accom on arrival - deal.  All we knew was that it was Corfu. I had fond memories of a greek holiday in Paleo as a child, remembering all the plate smashing and fabulous music.  Before the kids we always tended towards the Greek islands, visiting Zante, Halkidiki and Malia (we were young, ok!) so we knew that we would probably be ok.

I will never forget arriving at the airport seeing all the busus going to places I had vaguely heard of like Sidari and then being ushered onto a half empty bus with Arillas on the front. My husband was stressed and hot (long before the days of air conditioning!) and sat down with a face like thunder while I was trying to pacify a tetchy baby.

So we set off on the long journey and started to relax as we saw the spectacular scenery which was particulary beautiful as it was early morning and evrything was bathed in an almost magical haze.  A lovely lady started talking to us and asked where we were staying and explained that she had been coming for many years and that it was a gorgeous place and we would love it.  This helped to ease our minds somewhat and when we made our way down the main street and first saw that beautiful sea and beach we knew that we had found our perfect place. 

We have been drawn back every year since (apart from the year that twin boys arrived!) and that crawling baby is now 13 with 9 year old twin brothers.  Like many people have said, it is like going home every year and just the thought of this beautiful place can send me into a relaxed state.  Roll on July! x

[Eleni]

Hello everybody!

I guess that they must be so many stories about how somebody has found Arillas ,
as many are the people that they have visited the place!

Recomendation,last minute flight,luck,suggestion,end up of a daily excursion etc. etc

Though all of your stories have the unique element of the one who is writing about it,
combinating sometimes the feelings of a family situation or event  of each one
of you ,they do have also one thing in commom and that s the call of Arillas as a "unique"
place uncompared with any other !!!!

Maby we could find some very intresting answers as well ,to the subject:What it makes
want  COME  BACK  to Arillas.

I found Arillas 20 years ago because of my hausband .Originally i come from Athens .

Corfu is a fantastic island ,full of beaches green and generally natural beauty! I ve been
all over through the years here and abroad.I ve seen  beautiful places astoning sceneries

          B U T


No OTHER place has inspired me to feel F R E E  like Arillas and there is nowhere else that i could feel so
intense the "light" in my heart!

An angle of the world that the sun visits first and leave last ! Full of sunlight ,it brightens the
pictures that  eye can see.

It releases the feelings! You forget your worries, your ordinary life and you are transfered in
a small world where you can become part of it without obligations but a genuine smile!

In a very quick time even the most unsociable people can meet new friends,discover
themselves ,being treated not as just anonymous tourists but as parts of the local comunity!
You start to care about that place and it s people! You consider it like a second home!

It is not the luxury that i would look for, but the simplicity in all aspects!

Memories with beloved persons,long quite evenings by the see,flavor of sand and salt all over,
Zorbas music together with echoes of Tina Turnrer,s song from the bars upper  the road,
air full of sand when it s windy ,waves of the type Hawai 5-0 ,flames on the street ,people
taulking and laughing or doing just nothing but enjoying the relaxing moments......

All of you have departed at least one time from the area!
The half of your heart denied to follow you back! You knew it already on your way to the airport
that "this would be  your nest" ....

Like the swallows !

We are all suffering from the swallows-nest syndrome!!! Thats how i call it...

Only that, apart from the" warm" nest we find also the people that we once met and started to love ,watching them growing up
and keep walking in life like they do with you,living parallel lives in parallel worlds!

We are all looking very much forward to welcoming you again!!!!

Yours

Eleni

[Sandy x]

Dear Eleni
Once again you have described so beautifully how we all feel about Arillas....yammas

[NicandJohn]

My wife cries everytime we leave, and I always tell her not to worry, we'll be back.

[Paul D]

Hi,everyone. I am new to this great site all about Arillas. What a relaxing,chilled out place it is. Wife and I fancied Corfu,so we booked with Manos for Leonidas apartments. What an excellent choice. Been back three times now-twice at Leonidas and once at Rainbow with Jimmy and Spiros. Loved every minute of it-especially the beach. We hope to return soon. Our last visit was in October. Thanks for reading this-  Paul D

[Erja]

In a very quick time even the most unsociable people can meet new friends,discover
themselves ,being treated not as just anonymous tourists but as parts of the local comunity!
You start to care about that place and it s people! You consider it like a second home!

Kiria Eleni,

How beautifully described once again. You should take up writing a book, maybe collected stories of people who visit Arillas.

[TerryW]

How many descriptions of holiday locations have we read in brochures, that have been written by marketing people?

Well, I have just read something that is priceless as a description of holiday resort.

An angle of the world that the sun visits first and leave last ! Full of sunlight ,it brightens the
pictures that  eye can see.

It releases the feelings! You forget your worries, your ordinary life and you are transfered in
a small world where you can become part of it without obligations but a genuine smile!

It should be framed, bottled, copyrighted and used somewhere on the introduction to this website. I am sure that if anyone, who had never been to Arillas, read those words they would want to book a holiday.

I think you should come over to Stratford-upon-Avon Elini, and show a few tourists how to write expressive words about ones deepest thoughts and feelings.

[Shuey]

Thank you Eleni you have a lovely way with words - your English is superb!!

[JohnTheRef&Dot]

Eleni
Your post was something special, especially to those of us that have seen the sunrise and the sunsets, met the people, herd the music,  knew we would be back.
Arillas is a special magical place, thank you for keeping that memory alive in your post.

[justlynn]

Beautiful words, Eleni - your post brought tears to my eyes.
Lynn x