Various Questions??

[harribobs]

we've been once.....


we sat there for 20 minutes and were ignored

[harribobs]

btw....

Bigal

are you the same Bigal from the thassos forum?

[bigal]

btw....

Bigal

are you the same Bigal from the thassos forum?

No I am not. I am al from Glasgow

[shinaria]

Just want to say that we never made any bad experience with christos. Friendly staff, good food and one of the most beautyful locations to have the dinner. Not the cheapest, but they even created some specials for our little children that were not on the card. And if you were overcharged it may just have been a mistake and no intention?! In all the years I can only remember a single time when we were fooled by a staff-member and that was in a place at Frangocastello: 95DM [about 50€now] for two "sardines",chips,a poor salade and portokalada. But this Taverna is no longer there. Some of the other Tavernas at the seafront in Plakias give us the feeling to sit in an aquarium cause of the plasticwalls around. Except the tables in the first row.

Bon voyage
shinaria

[George]

we've been once.....


we sat there for 20 minutes and were ignored

That happened to me once, we got up and left, and haven't been back since!

That was a long time ago though.

george g...

[ostraco]

we've been once.....


we sat there for 20 minutes and were ignored

That happened to me once, we got up and left, and haven't been back since!

That was a long time ago though.

george g...

I've had some good food at Christos - the Shrimp saganaki is popular with my frinds (tho a bit spicy for me)
so, I'd rate it about 6/10 - and as so many other places get 9 or 10 - why bother to return?

[Noopsy]

Noopsy, welcome back to the forum. Was Plakias as good ever? how did you get on with the buses to the airport?

Greecemad

Hallo Greecemad,

Yes, Plakias was lovely. I posted an update on the situation at the time in "Reporting In" but there was no reaction from anyone. Was it something I said?  

I had your instructions with me but when the bus stopped at what appeared to be the place you described I chickened out and didn't get off. [Blushing with shame.] I waited until the bus reached its destination, and then, in more familiar surroundings, followed Stuart & Hilary's directions to Elefterias Square, and caught the airport bus from there. (Thank you Stuart.  )

But next year I promise to be brave  and try catching the airport bus earlier from the stop that you mentioned.

Noopsy

[Mike G]

Haven't been to Christos since our first year. No real reason apart from at the time it didn't take credit cards and aslo i'm not a big seafood fan. May try it again this year if only for the location.

Hello Paul,

I'm interested to hear you use your CC to pay for meals. A couple of  questions. Is there resistance in the tavernas to this as they must pay commission to the CC company? Do you pay in € or do they convert to £ (at a disadvantageous exchange rate to you)? I find my CC exchange rate is much better than that obtained changing £ to € and with a Nationwide one there is no commission.

Mike

[Ploppy]

Hi Mike,

We used credit cards in the first couple of years due to not taking enough cash and lack of cash machines.
Now use the CC less but it still gets a fair bashing  

Yes it is billed in Euros and then then converted to sterling. Must admit I have never checked the exchange rates and compared CC Transaction vs Cash withdrawal (I do get charged £1.50 for a foreign Cash withdrawal). Might go back and check last years.

Not really noticed any resistance from the tavernas against paying with CC.

Cheers,

Paul

Haven't been to Christos since our first year. No real reason apart from at the time it didn't take credit cards and aslo i'm not a big seafood fan. May try it again this year if only for the location.

Hello Paul,

I'm interested to hear you use your CC to pay for meals. A couple of  questions. Is there resistance in the tavernas to this as they must pay commission to the CC company? Do you pay in € or do they convert to £ (at a disadvantageous exchange rate to you)? I find my CC exchange rate is much better than that obtained changing £ to € and with a Nationwide one there is no commission.

Mike

[Graham_and_Karen]

Haven't been to Christos since our first year. No real reason apart from at the time it didn't take credit cards and aslo i'm not a big seafood fan. May try it again this year if only for the location.

Hello Paul,

I'm interested to hear you use your CC to pay for meals. A couple of  questions. Is there resistance in the tavernas to this as they must pay commission to the CC company? Do you pay in € or do they convert to £ (at a disadvantageous exchange rate to you)? I find my CC exchange rate is much better than that obtained changing £ to € and with a Nationwide one there is no commission.

Mike

We have a Nationwide account with Debit Card. We get money from ATMs at a good rate (1.47 last month) and no commission, then pay for meals with cash - that way everyone's happy.

[Chas]

... Must admit I have never checked the exchange rates and compared CC Transaction vs Cash withdrawal (I do get charged £1.50 for a foreign Cash withdrawal). Might go back and check last years. ...

Hi, Ploppy,

I may have misunderstood that bit .... but NEVER use a CREDIT card to withdraw cash unless there is no other option!

First off, the card company will start charging interest from the date of withdrawal - no grace period (and depending on which card company, at a higher rate than normal).

Secondly (again, depending on which card company) any payments you then make into the account will be paid-off against purchases before cash withdrawals - so they give themselves a bigger bite of the cherry.

Last but not least, any business which accepts card payments will probably charge an extra premium, to cover their charge from the card company.

I would always try to draw cash on a DEBIT card and use that to pay - assuming I hadn't got enough cash to start with.  

Next time you see that ad. that asks "What's in your wallet?", you'll know the answer is "You thieving b******s!".

[Stuart & Hilary]

"Last but not least, any business which accepts card payments will probably charge an extra premium, to cover their charge from the card company."



As in this country we never tend to carry much cash. Even in places like Sougia more & more Tavernas are accepting cards. The exchange rate last year was 1.4826 on Nationwide. No taverna has charged a premium and its not all bad news from their point of view taking cards. It attracts extra business, from people like us, the money is in their account overnight (very important if they are operating on an overdraft). Its probably the same as in the UK that the banks don't like handling cash and charge for paying cash in anyway. Also cash can be mislaid and paying money in must be a headache in some of these villages such as Loutro.

Stuart

[Ploppy]

No I never use a CC to get cash out (can't remember the PIN for starters), thankfully these days with Cirrus and Maestro you can use a debit card pretty much anywhere in the world to get your wedge out.

I've never had a surcharge added by somewhere in Plakias. I think most retailers accept the charge. Indeed as proven by us some places like Christos were losing out because they did not accept CCs so it makes business sense to take the hit.

[Ali & Dave]

I think cc are becoming more common over here and are being introduced into more tavernas all the time.  

But it is still very much a cash economy over here, cheques are only issued through business accounts and people still like having the cash in their pockets.  But as I say it is slowly changing.

I think the only time you get charged for using credit cards is buying cigarettes, because the government controls the price and the profit margin is so small, shops will usually charge up to 3% to cover the cc charges.

Ali

[Noopsy]

cheques are only issued through business accounts

Ali,

Do you know what tavernas in Plakias are like for accepting euro travellers cheques in payment?  I've never been brave enough to try offering them - after my experiences on Cyprus - and always convert them into cash first.

Noopsy