Going to Plakias

[toma2]

Hi

My name is Tom and I live north of the polar circle. I found this great site while browsing for accommodation in Plakias. I have gone through the names and pictures to see if I recognised some of you members. But unfortunately I seem to have missed all of you.

Found Plakias by chance in 1984. Used it as a stopover on my way to a kibbutz. Stayed at Filippos' youth hostel for a week and got hooked. Have been back again and again, mostly staying at the hostel. I also held the position as a janitor at Meltemi for a short period. Great days in the sun, but sometimes spending the midday hours bouldering or climbing on and in the shade of the cliffs east of the beach. Unforgettable memories. Also spent the best part of a summer living in a bamboo hut on the Preveli beach.

Anyway, I can ramble on like this page after page so I better come to the point. The hosteling days are over. I have children and must wear a thin layer of respectability. Last time in Plakias (2000) we stayed at Clio Studios. Good rooms and nice shady garden, but some days they had a noisy group upstairs keeping the children awake. We have booked a flight on the 28th June staying for a week. If someone know of a place to stay that is like Clio's, but with no upstairs, then please pass me the details.

I better explain what I am looking for: Two twin bed/double rooms with a kitchenette, in a quiet place with no swimming pool or bar. Perfect location would be a bit back from the harbour or a little bit out of town towards Souda.

I am really looking forward to coming back and hope that the last 5 years haven't been to hard on the place.


Tom

[Allan Barham]

Tom,

Have a look at:

http://www.interkriti.net/hotel/plakias/anna-apts/

They may meet your requirements.

Allan

[shinaria]

Hallo Tom,
you might find what you´re looking for in Ouranos Appartements. We were there in 2003 with our two little children and it was really fine. Great Rooms. It´s about 300m up the road at the souvlakia grill. Very quiet though near to the harbour. You can have breakfast in Hotel Sofia which is driven by the same friendly couple. Maroccoan Food right on the opposite site of the road and two markets in 50 and 100m distance.
Further Information on  http://www.kreta-sun.de/ouranos/index.html

Kalo Taxidi

shinaria

[toma2]

Allen  and shinaria

I value your recommendations. Thanks a lot.

I have no idea what Kalo Taxidi means, but I think Kalo is good. My Greek is limited to understanding the capital letters and I am proud of being able to understand where the buses are going.

Εφαριστο

Tom

[Greecemad]

Tom,

Kalo Taxidi = Good Journey, or have a nice trip.

When I first visited Plakias in 1990, I remember seeing the structure of a huge bamboo hut at the back of Preveli beach. It wasn't in use then but might have been the previous year. It hasn't been there since.

Greecemad

[toma2]

Greecemad

Thanks for the lingo lesson

I stayed at Prevely in 91. The dwellings where ap. 100 - 200 m up from the beach on the east side of the gorge. Two of them had been built as winter quarters, one by a Scottish girl and her Greek Rastaman boyfriend the other by an Austrian/American couple. I stayed in a less permanent (and less waterproof) structure hidden between some palm trees.

We where raided by the drug squad twice that summer, but they newer found anything. When I came back in 93 I was told that the police had burned every hut and every piece of dry bamboo they had found.

We all ate and sometimes served at what is now Dionyssos Taverna (Drimiskiano Ammoudi). I found the place on the web and it appears to be booming. I'm glad that the commercialisation of the beach at least have meant something good for that family.

Tom

[Greecemad]

Tom,

It's a long time ago to remember, but the structure I am talking about would have been about the same place as you lived. It was very large and would have slept maybe 10-12 people and was very high - about 8 or 10 metres. I think it was only a structure, i.e. 4 posts making a pointed arch. This was at the end of April, so it may have been used the previous summer.

I didn't go back until a few years later and I heard then that the police had stopped people sleeping there. I hadn't realised people had slept there after 1990.

Greecemad

[toma2]

Hi Greecemad

In 91 there was no structure as large as the one you describe, my guess is that it had been torn down and the materials used for the smaller huts.

People have been camping in the gorge at least until 2000. On my way up the gorge that summer I saw two large tent camps with young Greek radicals. Hippies, if you like, but of the wrong generation. Already in 91 quite a few older Greek hippies from Athens spent shorter or longer periods camping on the beach so I think the place is fairly well known in Greece as a cool place to be in the summer.

I still think that spending a moonlit night on that beach, with the company of a bottle of wine and a guitar would not hurt anybody's soul. Although, these days there might be better places for doing just that.

Tom