Двоякое впечатление Double impression

The location chosen for the construction of the hotel is wonderful. The hosts did their best to make the guests feel comfortable: a beautiful patio with tall palm trees and tables, a huge area with a green lawn and beautiful trees, in the shade of which you can lie on a sunbed on a hot afternoon. A light cool breeze that blows constantly is pleasantly refreshing. There is also a bar nearby where you can enjoy delicious coffee and cold drinks at any time.
A three-minute walk along a beautiful alley is a road lined with souvenir shops, stalls and taverns.
The beach is almost nearby. Sandy. A little dirty. Cigarette butts and bottle caps everywhere. Umbrellas, sunbeds, shower, toilet, water activities - it's all there. There are not many people, so there is enough space for everyone.
The sea is clear and turquoise. The entry is gentle. You walk 30 meters - the water is waist-deep. The water is cold in the morning. During the day it heats up and in the evening you bathe in warm water.

The pool is small, but there are not many who want to swim in it. The water smells like chlorine, like everywhere else.
Room - standard - small. Repair is not the first freshness, but everything is clean and tidy. The air conditioner barely worked. Left on all day included - little sense. Then the smell from him in the room is not very pleasant. On the balcony there is a table with two chairs.
Huge dining room. The air conditioners work, but it is still stuffy in the daytime and in the evening. There are tables in the yard, under a canopy. It is more pleasant to sit there, especially in the evening, during dinner, but there is not enough space for everyone.
All of the above charms are the merit of nature and the owners who built the hotel. As for the staff, there are many questions. But everything is in order.
The site asks to leave reasonable claims.
Please. Start over.

At the airport, we did not wait for the tour operator's bus and decided to come to the hotel on our own, by taxi. (28 euros). We wanted to arrive earlier than the others in order to choose the best room. At the reception, as expected, met with a smile. When they asked for a room with a sea view (there are few such rooms in the hotel. They are located at the end of the building), the hotel worker hesitated a little, fussed, and began to hide his eyes. They understood that they had to pay. They gave him 20 euros. He immediately cheered up, thanked and gave us the keys to room 103. Accompanied by another worker, we went up to the room on the 2nd floor. It turned out that the sea is not even visible, the trees interfere. Asked for a floor above - refused. Everything is busy. It turns out cunningly: they took the money - but there is no sea. And you won’t find fault... and you won’t ask for money back. Later we found out that all rooms with sea views cost 20 euros more per day. Such rooms, according to the rules of the hotel, are considered only from the third floor and above. And the rooms on the second, in which we were settled, do not require additional payments, because the sea is not visible. And cunning workers, deceiving visitors, earn money on it.
In the future, we were convinced that contacting the reception for any request is a useless exercise. You get only useless smiles and that's it.
If you want examples, please.
My wife was bitten by something. The bite site turned red, swollen. It was very painful. Asked for help. They gave me some kind of ointment for mosquito bites. (haha). They advised me to go to a pharmacy, where a very smart salesman supposedly works, who can pick up an ointment. (!!!!!! ). They did not even want to hear about calling a doctor.
More examples? Please.
Our new acquaintances had an incident with local residents. I won't go into details. They asked to call the police. At the reception, after listening to all the details and realizing that the perpetrators were local, they did not even try to help. They said that there are no police in Faliraki at all, and any state. there are no organs in Faliraki. The police can only come from nearby Afandou if someone is killed. . . or robbed. And in other cases, you need to go to Rhodes, find the tourist police there on your own and write a statement. By that time. As soon as they consider it and make a decision, you will no longer be there. Interesting thing, right? This is their civilized Europe. (haha).
Another example.
On Wednesdays, the hotel hosts a Greek barbecue. This is a dinner with Greek dishes and a concert of a national dance group. Application must be submitted on Monday. We learned about it on Tuesday. (On Monday, early in the morning, we left by car to ride around the island. We arrived very late). The wife turned to the reception and, as usual, she was refused with a smile on her face, citing the lack of places. It became embarrassing. Agree, it’s not very pleasant to contemplate from the outside how the “chosen ones” eat a roasted pig and dance sirtaki. I had to go and negotiate. I put in 20 euros - and they immediately found a place..... Well, what can I say....
Yet? Let's!!!

Every day, as expected, we left on the table in the room a euro for the cleaners. They remained untouched. And the wife complained about the poor quality of cleaning. We thought it wasn't enough. Left 2 euros. They didn't take it again. Then 5 euros - again. And the quality is getting worse and worse. Then the wife began to guard them in the corridor and put 10 euros in her pocket. That's when the cleaning was done. I still don’t understand, does this mean you have to run after them and look around the hotel to give money? So what? I have not encountered such a situation anywhere. And you?
Do you want another example? No questions.
On the day of departure, it was necessary to vacate the room at 12 o'clock. There is nothing new in this. It's like that in almost all hotels. And I took the bus to the airport at 18 o'clock. They asked to extend the stay. Again, they refused with a smile - there are no numbers. Even for a fee. Then I learned from our tour operator (Biblio Globus) that the plane on which we were supposed to fly would bring about 300 tourists from St. Petersburg, of which 30 people would settle in this hotel. They would have arrived from the airport not earlier than 20 hours, or even much later. Those. 3-4 hours after our departure. Here you go! You yourself will answer the question: if there were no free rooms, where were they going to put these 30 people? The answer is clear: they simply did not want to meet us... even for money. Maybe you should have put it in your pocket again? Perhaps they would not refuse.
Despite the fact that there are many Russian-speaking vacationers in the hotel, no one at the reception speaks Russian. We have to ask for help from representatives of travel agencies, which are not always there.
A separate story with the service in the kitchen....
What do you think, how much should you leave a tip to the waiters if for dinner you ordered plain water worth 2.20 euros? It turns out not less than 2 euros???? ? Asking why? Here's why: if you don't, you'll most likely be blacklisted by them. And this means that you will ask ten times for hot water for tea or coffee. A waiter who drives by with a cart and collects used plates of leftover food will drive past you until you stop and point your finger at the dirty plates. Asked to book a table under a canopy for dinner. Refused. Although almost every second table has a counter with the inscription "booked". When he pointed his finger, they say, what does it mean then, he received a pleasant smile in response. Immediately everything is clear: pay and everything will be.

Lots of food. Any variety. As for sweets and fruits, there are no complaints. Delicious. Especially all sorts of pyrogenic, cakes and tartlets. But the vegetables are not the first freshness. I don’t eat such tomatoes in St. Petersburg. Greenhouse cucumbers, dry. Lots of delicious cheeses. There were shrimp and snails, a variety of fish and meat, sauces and gravies, pastas and yogurts.
That's why the rest at the hotel left a double impression: the place is excellent, the hotel is good, but the service and staff leave much to be desired. If you do not pay attention to all this and try to reduce communication with the staff to a minimum, you will get what you came for: a wonderful sea, sun and a pleasant impression of communicating with new friends.
Now what about any excursions, etc. This does not apply to the hotel, but it will be useful for vacationers to find out what they offer, what you can agree to. What to ignore.
If it is possible to rent a car, then you can skip the sightseeing tour. The length of the island is only 70 km. And for the whole day you can go around all the sights of the island and see everything.
You can rent a car outside the hotel. Cheaper by 10 euros. In Faliraki, rentals are offered at every turn. It costs, depending on the car - from 35 to 100 euros per day. There are no police on the island, and accordingly, there is no one to fine for fast driving. There is a single radar that stands at the exit of the village when you drive towards the mountains. Rhodes. There, all the cars slow down, so don't miss. There are few road signs. But if you meet someone along the way and ask how to get there, they will be happy to show and tell you. What exactly you need to see - you will be told when renting a car. They will give you a map and mark all the sights. You only have to choose.
A separate story about a trip to the island of Symi, which is an hour and a half "ride" by ship. When buying an excursion, (45 euros per person), a representative will tell you such that you want to jump with delight and desire to see everything as soon as possible. Who cares, but I was disappointed by what I saw and here's why:

First: When I bought tickets, they promised to stop near the monastery of the Archangel Michael for an hour and a half. When we boarded the bus to get to the port, the guide said that the stop would last an hour and ten minutes. (20 minutes miraculously disappeared somewhere). In fact, it was 50 minutes. Of these 50, on the pier, the guide spoke for 15 minutes, telling all sorts of wonderful stories about the icon. We had to return to the ship in 5 minutes. And the rest of the time was not enough to see everything. And there was something to see. Queues everywhere. To enter the temple-line, submit notes - the line, pray at the icon, light candles, in the church shop - there is a line everywhere. We did not have time to inspect the cells, the refectory, and nothing at all. Upon arrival, of course, they made claims to the representative. They just shrug. It remains the impression that they are simply lying in order to lure them on an excursion. The main thing - paid, and the rest - as it will turn out. You won't find the ultimate.
OK. Sailed further. Sailed to the city of Symi. This is the only settlement on the island. We, having heard a lot of stories, were preparing to see something incredibly beautiful, bewitching spectacle. In fact, it turned out: absolutely identical small houses, similar to matchboxes, which differ only in color, are located on a mountain slope on both sides of the bay. No architectural diversity. The main attraction of these houses, according to the guide's story, is that they are not allowed to be painted in any color and have round holes under the roof, as if for ventilation. We have windows like this in every house. They are called auditory by the name of the engineer who invented them for ventilation. For some reason, they do not cause any emotions in us. And, by definition, they can't. And there it is served as something unusual. Probably nothing more to surprise. And so it turned out.
If someone has been to Georgia in the Darial Gorge, then they have probably seen a picture similar to the “hanging islands” from the Cameron film “Avatar”. Imagine: Far, far away - a huge mountain. There are no trees on the mountain, only green grass. Where the clouds begin, right at the foot, on the slope - a village. It seems that the houses are hanging in the air. Here is the spectacle! Or in Svaneti, the highest mountain village in Europe - Ushguli. In the morning you leave the house - you look down from the mountain - and there are clouds. The impression is incredibly fabulous. You think you're hanging in the air. This is what I understand the spectacle . . And what is there? In this Simi? Matchboxes on the slope of the rocky mountains. Here we found something to surprise!
Yes! One more thing: they are not allowed to install modern plastic doors. They must be exclusively wooden. Marvelous? (haha). There are no doctors on the island. Women in labor are taken to Rhodes. Often they do not have time to bring them to the hospital, so a good half of the islanders were born in boats and boats. (civilized Europe! ! What century? )

We also listened with interest to the story that there is no water on the island, and all the water is imported, and that the locals wash once a week and also wash probably once a week. )))))) and go dirty and smelly. And that the poor collect rainwater . . Drop dead interesting. Truth?
Then the guide escorted us to a shop on the pier where sea sponges were sold. It's amazing what you can tell about sea sponges for half an hour? (haha). Here we stood and listened as the locals, from generation to generation, at the risk of their lives, extract a product so necessary for humanity - a sponge, without which civilization would disappear from the planet earth, because everyone would be devoured by dirt. )))) And this indispensable product costs 30 euros apiece!!!!!! ! It becomes clear that the guide and the store owner have an agreement that she would take her groups to him. Probably the guide has some percentage of the sale.
The next stop is a leather goods store. The store owner was introduced to us as one of the world's leading fashion designers. Everyone shrugged, because no one had ever heard of him. So the owner began to tell us. How, at the age of 10, he sewed the first leather wallet and then off we go. Listened to all sorts of nonsense about what, it turns out. 80% of leather products in the world are not leather at all. That the manufacturers are fooling the people, and that he alone on the planet is so honest. What only he sews from genuine leather. And what is most interesting, how to distinguish genuine leather from a fake. Do you know? But I know! He suggested. It turns out that a bag made of genuine leather, for example, has pockets or different sides that must differ in color... by half a tone, but they must! And according to the texture of the skin, too... (some kind of nonsense) And proudly demonstrates a bag in which two pockets differ in color. (ha ha ha). Walking around the store, I found the so-called sheepskin coat, which looked like a sheepskin coat that I wore on guard while serving in the USSR Armed Forces in the Far East. Naturally, no one bought anything from him....Clearly visible agreement between the guide and the owner of the store.
This was the end point of our tour, and we were left to ourselves for the remaining 3 hours. We had lunch at a local tavern. Nothing special. Those. nothing at all. They asked to fry fresh sea bass. . At home, the spouse fries the fish bought in the supermarket, much tastier.

That's when the problems started. Heat. Hell. The sun is 40 degrees. There is not a single shadow on the pier. I had to go into stores where air conditioners worked and pretend that you were watching something. Prices there, however, are almost twice as high as on the continent.
An hour before sailing, they were allowed to go on the ship, where they could sit down, rest and relax.
Here is such a story. Draw your own conclusions. I made them for myself. You don't have to believe what they tell you. Not a single word. Everything is commercialized. There is only one goal - to lure and tear off more money from you. And what will actually happen then - no one cares, and you will not present a claim to anyone.
There is one more thing I would like to write about. This applies to those who want to buy fur products. On the beach, on the territory of the hotel, young girls will come up to you and so, hatefully, they will offer to go to fur shops. There are many of them on the island. A car with a Russian-speaking driver will come for Vamii. You don't have to pay anything, even if you don't buy anything. There are many companies offering such services. They all go to almost the same stores. They differ from each other in terms of size, quality, assortment and prices of the products offered.

REMEMBER. Do not buy furs in small shops. Especially in the EVA FURS chain of stores. The sellers of the store will provide you with the goods so skillfully that you will not notice any flaws. They will distract you so that you cannot properly examine the product. They offer coffee or wine. More than 50% off in price. They will offer to buy without a receipt and still throw off 10 percent. When you bring it to the room and start looking, you will find many hidden defects. Then you will understand how skillfully you were fooled, you will understand that each of their gestures, each word is aimed at only one thing: to outwit, to deceive. Further "twitch" is useless. You will never get your money back. NEVER. At least crack. As I wrote above, the police cannot be called. And even more so the tax office. While you go to the mountains. Rhodes and write a statement, while the yoke will be considered, until the tax office comes to them and checks, you will already be far away. They are well aware of this and behave impudently, but politely. If the product was purchased without a receipt, then you generally got it. They may say that the product was not purchased from them. They will offer you an exchange for a similar one. And for what? They have all the goods. In the end, hands down and you give up.
Buy fur in the big shops at the factory. They value their reputation and give guarantees for 5-15 years. And there are no quality problems. If, nevertheless, something is wrong, then without any delay they will eliminate the defect or return the money.