Kefalonia Part 1 ......

Ok y'all it's time to bore you with the holiday photos!

First of all the above picture is actually a photograph MWM took late at night of the moon on the sea on the beach road just near out hotel - isn't it beautiful!

We had a really early start to our holiday being picked up by taxi at 3.30 a.m. on Thursday 17th July for a 6 a.m. flight out of Manchester. We'd had about an hour's sleep but were raring to go. I'd packed everything except the kitchen sink and an umbrella but we weighed the luggage to make sure we wouldn't have to pay excess baggage, (the airports are really strict on luggage now), and off we went.

Our flight didn't actually take off until 6.25 a.m. but made up the half hour delay so we landed in Kefalonia spot on time. We were off the plane and on the bus on our way to the resort of Skala within 30 mins which is excellent for a Greek airport I can tell you.

The ride across the mountains and through the little windy streets of the villages in a huge coach is quite an hairaising one I can tell you, the coach drivers deserve a medal! The scenery was spectacular though so we didn't dwell too much on the sheer drops at the side of the mountain roads. The journey took about one and half hours with the drop offs at varioius hotels but it meant that we got to see the other hotels and were happy with our choice once we got there.

We stayed at the Aeolos Beach Hotel in Skala which is set up quite a steep hill about a twenty minute walk from the centre of Skala itself. You'll see from the slide show the magnificent views we had from the balcony and the pool area and it was really peaceful compared to the busling resort during the day.

The rooms are huge, with a power shower, comfortable beds, very clean and well maintained. The pool and it's surroundings are beautiful, with wonderful views and there are more than enough sunbeds and umbrellas even when the hotel is full. The staff at the hotel are friendly helpful - Angela is a charming and helpful manager, she is helped by Lisa, who always has a cheery good morning/afternoon and a lovely smile. Kat organises breakfast and cooks at lunchtime - her BLT's are to die for! Evo (the handyman) apparently was an Olympic weight lifter, which is believable when you see him lift two 20kg suitcases and run up and down stairs with them as though they were two bags of sugar! Michael, the barman, is friendly and mixes great drinks, we asked for our favourite - Ouzo, topped up with sprite and a dash of Grenadine - he said Ouzo Specials will now but put on the cocktail menu!

The hotel is about a 20 minute walk into the centre of Skala but we enjoyed it - a nice way to work up an appetite and walk off your evening meal. The hill up to the hotel is a bit of a killer though - not for the infirm, though saying that I didn't have a problem even though I had a knee replacement 16 months ago, I managed it with no problem apart from getting out of breath! We suggested they install an oxygen station half way up the hill. If you don't mind a walk it's the ideal location, if you turn left at the bottom of the hill instead of right into Skala centre, there are some great restaurants that way too - that would be a long walk if you staying in the centre though so we were ideally situated for a variety of restaurants. All the restaurants are good and we got 10% discount when dining at the Hotel's Restaurant, Aeolos, on the beach road. There was a Chinese and Italian restaurant which were a nice change from Greek food.

If you hover your cursor over the slides below it will show the description of the photo.

Hope you enjoyed your introduction to Skala, more soon.