pefkohori ... pefkohori is our fave holiday destination and is situated on the kassandra peninsular of halkidiki, greece. we try to spend at least two or three weeks there every year. usually in july and occasionally in october. we've been going now for several years and always stay at our friend's hotel ... the aeollos. some have told us that they find this a little boring, but when you discover your own little piece of heaven and return, visit after visit, to be greeted as family and not guests, you can understand why we return there year in, year out ... end

the aeollos is run by themis, his wife rita and their very friendly & excellent staff. as is the norm for greece nothing is too much trouble and you have but to ask. the hotel is small, with only nineteen rooms (a new loft style room was added recently, which is absolutely stunning), but has all the modern amenities you would expect (and more ... not always the norm for greece) and also has an excellent pool, bar and taverna ... oh ... and themis' barbeques on a thursday evening are legendary and certainly not to be missed ... as much food as you can eat, themis will keep cooking until everyone's bursting at the seams!!!

over the years we've eaten at the same taverna (captains) because in our view it was the best in the village, lots of the locals ate there too (which is always a good sign wherever you visit). petros, the owner is a real gem, always genuinely happy to see us, and over the years we've become very good friends with him and his partner, emmie. topping all that off his food is always out of this world. petros surprised us with something new for 2009 ... a new location and a new taverna! petros has moved on to a taverna right on the beachfront, so we can now enjoy eating our evening meals whilst watching stunning sunsets ... wow! bakalis is his new taverna, a little larger and very, very popular with tourists and locals alike ... some advice, get there early on a weekend ... it gets very busy, very quickly!

as with most resorts, there are plenty of other bars and tavernas in and around the village, so the choice is quite varied. if you fancy going out of the village, then the other villages on the peninsular are only a few kilometres away, all within easy reach via car, taxi or on the "regular" buses.

the main resort beach is a stone's throw from the hotel, but can be very busy during the summer months. lots of greek families also holiday here which adds to the atmosphere, especially at the weekends when the population swells, as many greek families arrive from thessaloniki and the surrounding area for their weekend break at the beach. we always walk down towards the old jetty as the beach there tends to be much quieter, but in recent visits we have taken to hiring a quad and going further down the peninsular to find more private and much quieter beaches to spend our days on! by clicking on the image above (taken from the old jetty, pefkohori, first thing in the morning) you can see some our photos from our many trips to pefkohori ...

unforunately ... due to work issues we haven't been back for three years ... but 2015 sees us revisiting our fave holiday destination once again ... roll on september! en

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fihalhohi ... 2008 saw something different on the horizon. whilst still going to pefkohori, this time in september due to our eldest son's wedding that july, we jetted off to the maldives in february! a bit of a change considering our love affair with greece, but we had a wonderful time nonetheless and can't recommend this island enough. it far outstretched its "lowly" three star rating, the food and service along wth the rooms were fantastic. it was nice to try something different. jetting off to this little piece of paradise was a real adventure ... for a change we lived it up in the airport lounge prior to take off, had a not too bad ten hour flight (a bit of a marathon compared with the three hours it normally takes to get to greece!), we loved every minute of our stay on this island ... apart from the part when we left to come back to cold old england (... and boy did we feel the cold when we got back)! i celebrated my 45th birthday whilst there, i was treated to a sunset meal on the beach by my lovely wife. this has to be the best birthday treat i have ever had ... and now at 47 i have a had a few of them, eh? our "room boy" decorated our bed each night with flowers and he arranged the sheets into different shapes ... fantastic.

the sealife has to be seen to be believed, so much variety and so much colour ... truly awesome. to add to the wonderful experience of our amazing holiday ... we swam with turtles and rays, and spent evenings lazing in the shallows with sharks ... what an amazing experience, truly humbling ... going somewhere like this really makes you realise what a wonderful thing mother nature is! as usual, we came home with lots of piccies and vidz, some of which we've uploaded to our gallery (click on the image above, taken at susnset outside our room, to go straight to the maldives section of our gallery). we will most definitely be returning to this paradise island in the not too distant future all being well ... end

 

yet more maldives ... well, it seems we are acquiring a taste for the exotic! we returned to fihalhohi in november/december 2009 for 2 more weeks in the sun ... well mostly sun! after a pretty crappy flight out to be honest (very noisy and not very restful), we arrived safe and sound at this little piece of paradise! we received the usual warm welcome and we were in our room before we knew it. it was great to be back. the island was just as we remembered it ... beautiful! the weather for the most part was hot hot hot! with the odd downpour, which one has to expect out there to be honest, although there were fellow holidaymakers who weren't too happy about the deluges we had. it didn't stop us enjoying ourselves, so no complaints from the two of us! the food and drink side of this stay were as good as if not better than we previously remembered. the snorkelling, again, was amazing, although we thought the sea clarity wasn't as good as we remembered from our last visit. saying that we saw an awful lot more fish species wise than on our last visit, which we put down to being there during a different season. we again swam with turtles and rays, but the highlight was swimming with lots and lots of shaks ... every day. mainly black tipped reef sharks, but had the odd encounter with what we believe is a lemon shark who was approx 2 metres long! also had a scarey encounter with a white (or silver) tipped reef shark out on a night snorkel, he wasn't as friendly as his day time friends and we actually felt quite threatened, so moved away pronto ... funnily enough!

we can't recommend either of these resorts highly enough. each is world's apart, but each stunning in it's own way. do yourselves a favour and get out there ...

where to next ...

 

the lake district ... due to financial contraints this year's summer jaunt saw us "pod" camping in the beautiful lake district. can't always go galavanting around sunnier climes! when the sun shines (and even when it doesn't) the lake district has to be one of the most awe inspiring places in england. we forget what stunning countryside this lovely country of ours has to offer. we spent our week in a camping pod (see photos, by clicking on the image) based at grizedale, a little further south than we usually base oursleves (we normally stay in or around keswick). cracking little campsite at bowkerstead farm, arthur our host was always on hand to chat and help out when needed but never intruded. site very clean and basic, but was just what the doctor ordered for a quiet get away from it all break. rode some of the best mountain biking trails in the country, particularly enjoyed the man-made courses at whinlatter and grizedale (highly recommended days riding). climbed a few big hills too ... though would advise anyone climbing/walking any of the fells in the lakes to go well prepared ... thanks to my "anal" preparations we were covered kit wise when we ran into severe weather condition whilst "doing" crinkle crags (all 2800+ feet of it), couldn't see more than a few metres in front of ourselves at times, very scarey thank god for a great sense of direction (compass and map not much use in low visibily and torrential rain!). after 5 hours on the fell, a very wet and bedraggled but psyched couple arrived at the od dungeon ghyll pub to a very welcome mug of tea and bowl of hot soup, don't think we've enjoyed a cuppa and a bowl of soup so much in our lives! we finished our break off by stopping off in the dales for a few days camping (another truly stunning part of england ... well it is "god's country" after all!).

the lake district ... due to continuing financial contraints 2012 saw us holidaying in the lake district again. we tried something a little different this year and stayed in a yurt! a little further out form the main tourist centre of the lakes and nearer appleby in westmoreland. very peaceful and picturesque! we got a little too close to nature, sharing our yurt (and bed) with all sorts of creepy crawlies! we're not ones to usually flinch at this sort of thing but having beetles crawl all over your face in the middle of the night isn't pleasant who ever and where ever you are! aside form a mechanical hitch with our mgf the last night we were there had a great week. we climbed skiddaw (3000ft), spent an afternoon hawking (the feathered type that is) and enjoyed a romantic 25th wedding anniversary! however many times we visit this beautiful part of england it never fails to inspire and humble us!e

mmmmmm ... wonder what next year will bring ...