I am beginning to think we went to a different hotel to the one being reviewed here! To follow the previous review -
1. We arrived at half 3 in the morning - were met by an abrupt night manager, but wouldn't you be at half 3 in the morning, having to deal with weary English toursists not speaking a work of Greek?
2.The room - clean, basic, tidy. We were in the old part of the building, but I thought it was the new part until I realised we had no Air Con. HOWEVER, wasn't needed - the nights were getting chilly. We were only supplied with one pillow each, but we asked for extra the next morning and my tea time we had been given another one each.
3. Breakfast - we went down for 9am to be served with some unusal choices, but adequate and plentiful. What's everyone moaning about? What do you have at home???? Compare and contrast!
4. The German lady on reception - very pleasant, gave us our all inclusive bands and out instructions. Fair enough! Clear as day! I think some people are confusing abruptness with efficiency....
5. Pool - the pool area was clean and I certainly had no trouble seeing the bottom of the pool! The guys on the poolside bars were the same ones who were waiting on at breakfast - greeted us with a smile and appreciated my feeble attempt at "please" and "thank you" in Greek! The sunbeds are a bit dated, but served their purpose. Probably time for a change next season, guys? There were a lot of wasps about, but had people disposed of their paper cups and plates when they had finished with them, the wasps would have cleared off!
6. Lunch and evening meal - I have only one complaint - not enough vegetarian hot food. However, there was soup and salads and usually one hot vegetable dish, so I was quite happy! In fact, George, the guy dishing out the hot food must have thought I looked starved as he gave me huge servings! The desserts - varied between melon, jelly, chocolate mousse and custard cake. To be honest, I was so full from the main course, I rarely had dessert! And the BBQ night was great!
7. All Inclusive Bar. Yes, it closed at half 9, but for the first week we were there, the guys let us stash drinks and the measures were indiscriminate! But when the families from hell turned up on the saturday and did some really greedy stashing, Including the adults getting alcohol for the under 18s) the boss got strict and limited the drinks and measures and made sure the bar closed at 9:30pm sharp.
The entertainment was ok - a couple of the singing duos were a bit dodgy mainly because of their accents, but the karaoke and quiz nights were great fun. And the Greek dancing night was fun too - be prepared to get up and dance!
8. The Staff - what a great bunch. The guys worked like horses from 7am - midnight and beyond for a pittance. A friendly smile went a long way and again, my feeble efforts at the language raised a smile and when they came and waved us off after they should have gone off duty, we felt really touched and they made us feel important. Also, the "families from hell" treated the staff like their slaves, moving from one section of the pool to the other, leaving their messes - and wasps - behind them. Quite rightly, the staff were entitled to be grumpy with such neanderthals - come on guys, pick up and chuck you own litter - slavery was phased out years ago!
9. The "hill" - it's a slight incline at the bottom, then a flat bit, then a steep bit at the hotel end. I am athsmatic and overweight, but I coped. It's not well lit, so if you go out at night, take a torch.
10.The resort. Dassia itself has a very pretty beach, but lots of the shops and bars were closed. Whether this was because it was near the end of the season, I don't know. The best gift shop was almost opposite the bottom of the Telemachos hill to the left - lots of belts outside. And Parasol Bar is really good - we managed to get to see some English football in there and the owner was great when I started calling the ref. of the game we were watching, some less than charming names!
All in all, we had a great 2 weeks, Too many people are and were prepared to moan about this place - we were bothered by the internet reviews - but we were pleasantly surprised. One couple we met even moaned about climbing the steps to the slides at the water park! What did they expect - stairlifts? As for the complaints about the food - if you want beans on toast, bacon butties and jam sponge and custard go to Blackpool! Also, people brought kids who complained there was nothing for them to do. At the time we went, the UK kids should have been at school anyway!
I would like to send a big "efharistou" to all the guys at Telemachos for a great time!