swimming pool | MY GREECE TRAVEL BLOG

Tag: swimming pool (page 2 of 2)

Cool pools: The curvaceous chilly swimming pool at the Rodos Palladium on Kallithea beach, Rhodes

A late afternoon view of the huge free-form swimming pool at the Rodos Palladium. The pool is just steps from Kallithea beach, 8 km from Rhodes Town.

Hot and cold: The biggest hotel swimming pool we’ve seen in the Greek Islands — so far — was the large free-form pool at the five-star Rodos Palladium hotel, just a stone’s throw from Kallithea beach on Rhodes.

We stayed at the Rodos Palladium on an island-hopping package tour during our first-ever trip to Greece back in 2004. The swimming pool and its spacious deck looked quite impressive from our hotel room balcony, and reminded us of some of the huge free-form pools we’ve enjoyed at resorts in the Caribbean and Central America. The big difference was the water temperature. Whereas we spent hours in the pool on our holidays to the southern destinations, we couldn’t even get in the pool at the Rodos Palladium because the water was so incredibly cold! Even after laying in the sun for a couple of hours, the water was too cold to bear. We weren’t the only ones who couldn’t get in — very few other guests could tolerate the cold temperature, either. Only a couple of people braved the chilly water, and didn’t stay in it for long.

The hotel also has an indoor heated pool, but the water temperature there was at the other extreme — way too hot! It felt like swimming in a giant hot tub, and the hot water wasn’t the least bit refreshing. We didn’t get any photos of the indoor pool — the pool room was so steamy, it fogged up my camera lens — but we did take several pics of the outdoor pool, which appear below:

Looking across part of the outdoor swimming pool toward two of the Rodos Palladium hotel buildings …

… and looking to the right, from the same position, at another hotel wing

Our hotel room balcony view of the Rodos Palladium swimming pool. Note the rows of dozens of lounge chairs and umbrellas at the far end of the pool.

The circular bar in the middle of the Rodos Palladium pool

A view of the Rodos Palladium swimming pool and beach at dusk

An afternoon view of the pool. Three people are visible in the pool, probably the most we saw in the bone-chilling-cold water at any one time — even though the air temperature was rather toasty, hitting the high 20s Celsius.

Chill out! Truly cool Greek Island pools

July 28, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

The gorgeous swimming pool at the Honeymoon Petra Villas in Imerovigli is positioned on the Santorini caldera cliffside hundreds of feet above the Aegean Sea …

… with spectacular views of Nea Kameni, the volcano island

Deep freeze: There are two great ways to beat the extreme summer heat in the Greek Islands: go for a swim in the sea, or take a plunge in a really cool hotel pool. But depending on the time of season you travel, there’s a good chance the pool could be cooler, if not downright frigid. There’s also a chance the water in both the sea and the pools could be too cold for swimming altogether. At least, that’s been our experience.

We typically travel to Greece in May, and have always encountered hot weather — including brief but brutal heat waves on Naxos and Santorini that sent afternoon temperatures soaring to nearly 40 Celsius. But regardless of how hot the air temperature got, the Aegean Sea has always been too cold for us to swim. In fact, there have been times I couldn’t even wade in the water during visits to Mykonos, Naxos, Paros and Santorini because it felt like my feet started to freeze only seconds after stepping in. Even just dipping my toes in the water at Super Paradise beach on Mykonos one May was too painful because the water was so bitterly cold.

Surprisingly, our hotel swimming pools haven’t been much warmer. And sometimes they’ve actually been colder! I could count on one hand the number of times we were able to spend more than five minutes in a pool, and on just one finger the number where we lasted longer than 10 minutes.

Even when we travelled to the islands during the second half of September one year, we got to swim only twice — once in the sea (which was blissfully warm) and once in a pool (which was shockingly cold) — even though Greece had experienced blistering heat waves throughout the summer.

Are we disappointed that we haven’t been able to do more swimming in Greece? Maybe just a bit. We’ve had good times at plenty of island beaches, and we’ve enjoyed spectacular views from most of our hotel swimming pool terraces. Cooling off with an ice cold bottle of Mythos instead of a swim hasn’t been so bad!

I’ll tell you more about our pool and sea swimming experiences in upcoming “Chill Out!” posts. For today, however, here are pics of some of the cool swimming pools we’ve seen during our visits to Santorini.

The cliffside swimming pool and whirlpool at Dana Villas in Firostefani

Another view of the Dana Villas swimming pool and terrace

The cliffside swimming pool at Pegasus Suites hotel in Imerovigli …

… has a terrace that juts over the island’s rugged volcanic cliffs

Swimmers can watch ferry and cruise ships come and go from this sea view swimming pool atop the caldera in Firostefani

Another clifftop hotel swimming pool in Firostefani

Yet another Firostefani pool terrace with views of cruise ships

A closer look at the Firostefani pool pictured above

A small caldera-view swimming pool on the cliffside in Fira

An air mattress floats in a cliffside swimming pool in Imerovigli …

… while lounge chairs on the adjacent terrace overlook Skaros Rock

The caldera-view swimming pool at the Kafieris Apartments in Firostefani

Another view of the pool at the Kafieris Apartments

The Kafieris Apartments swimming pool at night

I’ve always loved the look of this pool and terrace at what appears to be a private villa on the cliffside in Firostefani …

… from above, the pool’s shape reminds me of an apple …

… there’s comfy cushions for lounging in the sun beside the pool …

… as well as lounge chairs and a shady nook nearby

The big palm tree next to the pool draws some attention away from the villa’s unique Cycladic architecture

Here’s another view of the palm tree and the pool …

… which has an infinity edge offering great views of the sea far below

The uniquely shaped and situated pool at the Honeymoon Petra Villas in Imerovigli offers some of the most stunning views in all of Santorini

The swimming pool and terrace offer incredible views in several directions

The pool is built into the cliffside hundreds of feet above the sea …

… and has a shallow wading pool on the hotel level below

A side view of the Honeymoon Petra Villas pool …

… and some of the apartments built of volcanic rock from the island

One final view of the Honeymoon Petra Villas swimming pool, this time from the clifftop footpath that leads to Oia in one direction, and to Fira in the other

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 4)

June 6, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Enjoying the view from our private terrace at Fildisi Boutique Hotel on Astipalea

Return visits: Our 2009 Greece holiday took us to four islands, and on two of those we made return visits to hotels we had stayed at once before. That’s something we rarely do, since we generally prefer to experience new hotel surroundings whenever we return to a destination we’ve already seen. But we had particularly liked both of these hotels, so we were anxious to stay there again.

Astipalea was our first stop on this particular island hopping holiday, and we stayed at Fildisi Boutique Hotel near Livadi, a peaceful farming valley below the island’s main town, Chora. It was early in the season and the Fildisi had only a handful of guests; in fact, the owner, Elias, was still getting the swimming pool, terrace and some of the other rooms ready for the summer. When Elias picked us up at the Astipalea airport to drive us to the hotel, he said he was upgrading us to the “VIP Suite.” We had no idea what that meant until we arrived and discovered it was a large studio-size room with an enormous two-level private terrace. The spacious room was great, but the jaw-dropping views from the huge deck stole the show. (To be honest, I don’t think there is a bad view from anywhere on the Fildisi property.)

Amorgos was island destination number two, and we chose Yperia Hotel in Egali, one of two port towns on the island. We were embarrassed when the Yperia’s owner, Antonis, picked us up at the port when we arrived shortly before 7 in the morning on a gargantuan Blue Star Ferry that had left Astiplea at 5.30 with fewer than two dozen passengers. The drive to the Yperia took less than one minute — we could easily have walked there with our suitcases, which we were barely able to squeeze beside us into Antonis’s tiny sedan. (Mind you, there is no sign on the hotel, so we could just as easily have walked right past the place and missed it.) Antonis assigned us a second-floor room right above the hotel reception and breakfast area. It had two balconies that overlooked the hotel swimming pool and gave us views of the Egali ferry pier as well as sunsets over Naxos island. The room also had a window facing the mountainside behind the hotel; it gave us views of Potamos, a picturesque village where had three memorable sunset dinners at the wonderful Kamara Cafe (which, we later learned, is owned and operated by Antonis’s cousin, Christoforos).

Naxos was our third island, and we returned to the Lianos Village hotel which we had enjoyed in 2006.

Mykonos was our final stop, and Hotel Tagoo was our hotel choice there for the second year in a row.

Below are photos of our views at Fildisi Boutique Hotel, Yperia Hotel, Lianos Village and Hotel Tagoo.

Every room at the Fildisi has this view of Astipalea’s Chora and Kastro (castle)

The private terrace for our “VIP Suite” at the Fildisi Hotel was unbelievably bigger than the hotel room itself.

The top level of the terrace was furnished with this giant canopy shading a teak dining table and chairs, while the lower level had two lounge chairs for sunbathing.

The enormous terrace offered an incredible panoramic view of the Livadi farming valley, Chora, the Aegean Sea, and a small beach below the hotel

Part of the Livadi valley viewed from our terrace at the Fildisi hotel

Chora, the coastline and a small beach viewed from our private terrace

I never got tired of the view of Chora and the sea

At the Yperia Hotel in Amorgos, our second-floor room had two balconies. One of them can be seen here, above the hotel entrance and pool terrace

We could see Egali bay through the door to our balcony

This photo, taken from one of our room’s two balconies, shows part of the sea view that we enjoyed from the second balcony

I enjoyed relaxing on the balcony with an ice cold bottle of Mythos beer or glass of wine after a long day of hiking on Amorgos

The balcony was a great spot to watch fishing boats return with their catch …

… and to watch Greek ferry ships come and go from the pier at Egali port. This was the same big Blue Star ferry that brought us to Amorgos from Astipalea

This was our balcony view of the Express Skopelitis ferry arriving at Egali one evening. We rode the Skopelitis to Naxos a few days later; this online album has photos of our journey through the Small Cyclades en route to Naxos.

Our balcony also had this view toward the mouth of Egali Bay

A window in our room faced homes and hotels on the hillside behind the Yperia …

… but also gave us views of Potamos village higher up the mountain

Best of all were the views from our balcony of sunsets over Naxos

On Naxos, we could view the sea from inside our hotel room at Lianos Village

Our balcony was a nice spot to relax with a glass of wine while enjoying extensive views down the southwest coast of Naxos

From our balcony we could see Agios Prokopios beach, Agia Anna, beach, Plaka beach, and mountains in the distance behind them

Palm fronds and colourful flowering plants beside our balcony

Balcony view toward Agios Prokopios beach at the bottom of the hillside

Another balcony view toward Agios Prokopios beach

The Lianos Village swimming pool terrace had terrific views of the southwest Naxos coast and other nearby islands

Swimming pool terrace view of the Agios Prokopios resort area of Naxos

Another view from the hotel swimming pool terrace

Another pool terrace view of the island’s southwest coast

This was our balcony view during our second stay at Hotel Tagoo on Mykonos

Another view from our balcony, looking toward the left

The Hotel Tagoo pool terrace is a great place to relax in the afternoon sun…

… or watch cruise ships and ferries come and go from nearby Tourlos port

Hotel Tagoo pool deck views in the morning, looking toward the left …

… and looking toward the right

A gorgeous Mykonos sunset reflects in Hotel Tagoo’s reception room windows

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 2)

June 5, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

I loved the views of Thirassia island (left) and Skaros Rock (right)…

… as well as the sunsets we could watch from our private balcony at Grotto Villas/Cliffside Suites in Firostefani village on Santorini

Musical rooms: I could describe our 2006 holiday as “Goldilocks goes to Greece,” because that was the vacation during which we kept switching hotel rooms — or even hotels, in one instance — to find one that felt just right.

On Mykonos, we stayed at the Petasos Beach Resort & Spa at Platis Gialos beach — the same area where we had stayed two years earlier. The Petasos sits on a peninsula between Platis Gialos Bay and Psarou Bay, so its property boasts a wide variety of views of two separate beaches and bays. Our first room at the Petasos had a small ground-level terrace facing Psarou Bay and the Aegean Sea, but we didn’t like the room itself. It was one of the hotel’s older units (the Petasos had been undergoing a major room renovation program, but had not yet overhauled the one we were in), and appeared comfortable enough, but felt very dark and depressing. We couldn’t determine exactly what we didn’t like, but since the room put both of us in a gloomy mood, we asked if we could move.

The hotel manager obligingly relocated us to a bright and cheery room on the second floor. Newly-renovated and upgraded, it looked and felt 100 times better than the first room, and had a much bigger terrace with twin sun loungers as well as a bistro table and two chairs. The trade-off was considerably less privacy and a much less impressive view. The balcony overlooked the back of several Petasos Resort buildings plus a row of terraces for all the other rooms on our floor, but also gave us views of Platis Gialos beach and bay, as well as other hotels and buildings on the surrounding hillside. It suited us just fine. And whenever we wanted a change of scenery, all we had to do was take a walk around the resort. The swimming pool bar and deck looked toward Nammos, the trendy upscale restaurant on posh Psarou beach; the dining room faced Psarou Bay and the Aegean Sea; and the hotel’s smaller second swimming pool overlooked Platis Gialos beach and bay.

On Naxos, we were supposed to spend a week at the top-ranked Hotel Kavos above Agios Prokopios beach, but stayed only three nights. The hotel had been getting consistent rave reviews on TripAdvisor.com, and still does to this day, but it wasn’t our cup of tea. The manager, Barbara, was terrific and so were the two young women who worked in the poolside restaurant and bar. And the views were good: the terrace outside our room faced Agios Prokopios Bay on the southwest coast of Naxos, and we could see similar views as well as nearby Paros island from the swimming pool deck. But many aspects of the room irked us, including the thick insect-infested vines above our terrace, and we didn’t enjoy the 30-minute one-way trek to a reasonably-priced breakfast spot at Agios Prokopios each morning (breakfast was not included in the room rate, and we thought Kavos’s menu prices were steep; I would have gone broke getting my daily caffeine fix at €3.50 per small cup of coffee).

While walking to breakfast one morning we passed the Lianos Village hotel, which we could see from our terrace at the Kavos, and stopped in to inquire about room rates. When the receptionist showed us a nice, bright sea-view room costing half as much as we were paying at the Kavos, and told us that the rate included a light buffet-style breakfast (with coffee), we decided to switch hotels. In a bid to convince us to stay at the Kavos, Barbara insisted on showing us some other rooms, including suites, that had better views and more space, but they were all significantly more expensive and, in one case, nearly twice the price. So we declined. Amazingly, Barbara insisted on driving us to Lianos Village, even though it was only a short walk down the hill (didn’t I say she was terrific?). It turned out the coffee at Lianos Village was dreadfully weak, but the breakfast spread was satisfying, the room was comfortable, the views were wonderful, and the price was excellent.

On Santorini, our final island-hopping destination that year, we stayed in the village of Firostefani at Grotto Villas, a caldera-view hotel that was in the process of changing its name to Cliff Side Suites. We were initially assigned Room 119, a windowless Flintstones- style cave room which initially struck us as novel and fun but soon became incredibly frustrating (not to mention a huge pain in the head for me). After two nights we had to change rooms, and totally lucked out by getting switched to Room 110, a small kitchenette-equipped studio boasting a private balcony with million-dollar views — including Santorini’s fabled sunsets. (For detailed descriptions of both rooms and the hotel in general, see my comments in post #3 of this July 2006 thread in the TripAdvisor.com Santorini forum.) Room 110 was wonderful, for a lot of reasons, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in it. I only wish I could say the same thing about our 2006 Santorini experience as a whole, but that’s a topic I’ll deal with some other time.

Below are photos of our various views at the Petasos Beach Resort, Hotel Kavos, Lianos Village and Grotto Villas/Cliff Side Suites.

Room P208, our first room at the Petasos Beach Resort & Spa on Mykonos, had a stone terrace with views of Psarou Bay and the Aegean Sea

Our terrace overlooked the landscaped hotel grounds as well an upscale residential area on the steep mountainside directly across Psarou Bay

To the left we could see part of Platis Gialos Bay and the rocky peninsula that juts into the Aegean Sea between Platis Gialos and Paraga Bay

The terrace for Room 183, our second room at the Petasos Beach Resort, overlooks Platis Gialos, one of the most popular beaches on Mykonos

If we didn’t feel like lounging beside one of the hotel’s two swimming pools, we could lay in the sun on our terrace instead

To the far left we could see another hotel across the street (actually, it’s the main road that links Platis Gialis to Mykonos Town) …

… as well as a semi-constructed resort building and more hotels lining the steep hillside above Platis Gialos…

…while straight ahead we looked onto Platis Gialos beach, another wing of the Petasos Beach Resort, and the Hotel Petinos Beach next door

To the right are terraces for the other hotel rooms on our floor

The main swimming pool terrace had views of Psarou beach and bay…

… including the trendy, private beach club-style Nammos restaurant and bar

The hotel’s poolside bar and dining room had similar views

Some of the breakfast tables sat on an open air dining terrace …

… with completely unobstructed views of the beautiful blue Aegean Sea

The Petasos has another (smaller) swimming pool …

… with great views of Platis Gialos beach and bay …

… plus the Platis Gialos pier where people can catch caiques — traditional Greek boats that shuttle passengers to popular beaches along the south coast of Mykonos

From our terrace outside Room 1 of the Hotel Kavos on Naxos …

… we could view the Aegean Sea off Agios Prokopios beach, a 15-minute walk away

To the left of our terrace were private homes and villas in the Stelida area of Naxos

The Hotel Kavos Naxos swimming pool had a view of the sea…

… while the pool terrace had views of the coastline on the southwest side of Naxos

From the pool deck, we could watch the sun set behind Paros island

The balcony for our room at the Lianos Village hotel offered a partial sea view toward the Agios Prokopios resort area of Naxos

The lovely swimming pool terrace at Lianos Village had views not just of Agios Prokopios beach, but also nearby Paros island, visible at the rear right of this photo

This was one of the pool terrace views of the Agios Prokopios area

This is a wider swimming pool view of the southwest coast of Naxos; the long, wide strip of sand in the foreground is Agios Prokopios beach

Here’s another view of the sea and Agios Prokopios beach

On Santorini, the shared public terrace outside Room 119 at Grotto Villas/Cliffside Suites had views of Thirassia island, Skaros Rock and Imerovigli village

We were happier when we moved to Room 110, which had a private balcony

The Room 110 balcony offered spectacular views. Visible in this photo are Nea Kameni (the Santorini volcano island, left) and Thirassia island

Here’s another view of the volcano island from our balcony

The view to our right included Skaros Rock (left) and Imerovigli village

This was our caldera view, looking to the left from our balcony

Our balcony overlooked the large swimming pool and breakfast terrace for the aptly named Kafieris Blue Apartments

We had a great view of cruise ships and ferry boats near the volcano island…

… and enjoyed watching the sun set in the distance, centered almost perfectly between Thirassia island and Skaros Rock

Most of the rooms and public areas at Grotto Villas had superb views. As an example, here’s a sitting area outside the hotel’s reception room

This is the view in the opposite direction from the same sitting area

This was the view for one of the larger Grotto Villas hotel rooms

This was the view for yet another Grotto Villas terrace

The swimming pool, situated on one of the lower levels of the hotel, had a great view towards Thirassia island

Breakfast was served on the swimming pool terrace. Some of the tables at the cliff side of the pool had wonderful views of the volcano island

Some of the hotel’s terraces overlooked the swimming pool for Dana Villas, a separate hotel situated even farther down the cliff face below Grotto Villas

And some of the terraces had this view of Skaros Rock (left), Imerovigli village (center rear) and Firostefani village (right)

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 1)

June 3, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

On our very first morning in the Greek Islands back in 2004, we were awestruck by this view from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel on Mykonos

Va-va-va-view: On our first-ever trip to Greece, we arrived at Mykonos after nightfall and didn’t have a clue what kind of view we would get from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel. The hotel employee who showed us to our room opened the balcony doors and assured us we would have beautiful sightlines of the sea and Platis Gialos beach, but most of the area was pitch black and we couldn’t see much more than lights from nearby hotels and houses. It also was surprisingly quiet, though whenever the light breeze blew in our direction, we could faintly hear Greek music being played in the tavernas lining the beach a few hundred meters below us.

When we woke up the next morning and pulled open the balcony doors, our jaws dropped as we got our first glimpse of Platis Gialos in daylight. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Spread out below were dozens of the island’s signature white cube buildings, the golden-brown sandy beach, and the vivid deep blues and tempting turquoise waters of the legendary Aegean Sea.

On all of our Greek Island holidays since then, we’ve always tried to get a hotel room with a good sea view. If the room itself doesn’t offer one, we’re content if there is at least a decent sea view from a public area somewhere else on the hotel property — be it a breakfast room, swimming pool terrace, or other place where we can sit, relax and gaze at the scenery. At home, all we see from our windows and balcony are highrise glass, steel and concrete towers. When we travel on holidays, we cherish views of the sea. It’s even better if we can see some islands and mountains, too. Bonus points if we can watch a spectacular sunset. But a Greek holiday just wouldn’t feel the same if we couldn’t see the Aegean.

I posted additional photos of the views from the Myconian Ambassador Hotel in my June 3 2011 post. Below are photos showing the various different views we have had from some of the other hotels we stayed at during Greek Island holidays since. Some of the views are terrific, and others considerably less so, but with only one or two exceptions, we always got to see the sea without having to leave our hotels.

The view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium at Kallithea beach on Rhodes

Evening view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium in 2004

Our Rodos Palladium balcony view of a full moon above Kallithea Bay in 2004

The balcony to our room at the Candia Maris Resort & Spa in Amoudara, Crete gave us this view of sea and mountains in 2004…

… as well as this view of the resort’s indoor swimming pool…

… plus this view of other balconies on our side of this particular hotel building

That’s me on our sea-view terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel on Santorini in 2004. This isn’t the breathtaking caldera view for which Santorini is renowned (this is the less scenic east side of the island), but it looked great to us. And if we did want to see the spectacular caldera view, all we had to do was exit the hotel’s main entrance and walk 100 meters up a short slope — and there it was.

We couldn’t see a famous Santorini sunset from our terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel, but we could see the sunset glowing on clouds above Imerovigli village

A view of Elia Bay on Mykonos from the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas in 2005

Part of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

More of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

Houses and rental accommodation on the steep hillside rising to the left of our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

Our bathroom window gave us a view of more hotel rooms higher up the hillside

In 2005, we enjoyed views of Naxos Town and Agios Georgios Bay from the Naxos Beach II hotel in the Stelida district of Naxos

Another view toward Naxos Town from the Naxos Beach II hotel

Our bedroom at Naxos Beach II had doors that opened onto a stone-paved terrace offering this view toward Naxos Town

Another view from the terrace outside our bedroom at the Naxos Beach II

At the Yria Hotel on Paros in 2005, our room had a large ground-level terrace

This was the view if we looked to the left while sitting on the terrace…

…while, unfortunately, this was the view to the right — overlooking an unattractive overflow parking area

We could catch a slight glimpse of the sea from the Yria’s swimming pool terrace…

…and also see a small section of Paraspora beach, which was just a five-minute walk down the road…

… but the Yria Hotel’s main attraction was its enormous swimming pool. It looked fantastic, but the chilly water was murky from suntan oil

In 2005, we loved this marvellous caldera view from our private terrace at the Phenix Hotel in the cliffside village of Imerovigli on Santorini

We didn’t even have to leave our hotel room to enjoy the amazing view…

…but we preferred to savour the stunning scenery from our sun-bathed terrace

Looking to the left, we had this view of other hotels perched perilously on the steep cliffside high above the sea in Imerovigli

Looking down, we could see the caldera and cruise ships below the town of Fira

And from an upper level of the hotel, we enjoyed this view of the volcano island (Nea Kameni) and the gorgeous swimming pool at the Honeymoon Petra Villas, a beautiful multi-level hotel clinging to the cliffside next door to the Phenix

Greece holiday May 2011: More Mykonos photos

May 23, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Ornos Beach on May 17 2011

Mykonos in May: We started our 2011 holiday with a three-night visit to one of our favourite Greek islands, Mykonos. Here are more photos from one of our island walkabouts.