Well here's an absolute gem of a property that hasn't yet reached it's full potential.
It's a wonderfully designed, secluded and well-equipped apartment (Villa Engel 2), located amidst a valley of olive-trees and scented flowers.
At night we saw the most amazing starry skies, since illumination in the area is scarce (thankfully).
So, let's go with the positives and negatives, shall we?
POSITIVES:
- The apartment is very well located, roughly halfway between Rethymnon and Chania, and just minutes from a beautiful lake and some of the best bbq lamb I've ever had.
- The host is very knowledgeable, approachable and friendly. Anything you need to know, just ask Nikos!
- The apartment is spacious, with high ceilings.
- The water pressure deserves a positive note as well. Absolutely the best water pressure of anywhere I've stayed in Greece.
- The bathroom is also extremely well equipped with everything you could possibly need, including a hair dryer.
- The property is very enjoyable. The apartment has it's own "deck/balcony", from which you can admire the views of the olive-tree valley. Horses, goats and hens scampering about in the outlying plot of land.
- Privacy! 100% privacy!
- The cooking equipment is very adequate including pots/pans/dishes/silverware and a small oven/stove-top + fridge.
- Nikos provided us with a fan, which we used quite a bit.
- A large full-body mirror was provided
NEGATIVES:
- The double bed was not available. Instead there were two single beds with very rough spring mattresses.
- Only one night stand was available (not two as shown in the photos).
- There were no lamps on the night stands (as shown in photos), we had to request one.
- The mosquito nets were almost all broken, so we had to sleep with pretty much everything closed to keep bugs from entering the apartment during the night. With 25-30 degrees temperature this became very uncomfortable, and we sweated through most nights. Nikos provided us with a mosquito repeller, but the other (larger) insects didn't really care about that.
- The bathroom bidet leaked considerably, making the toilet into a watery mess every time we used it.
- The internet was essentially non-working, but this was fixed on the last day of our stay.
- There was no TV (although we do not watch TV, I feel that the service should be provided if it is advertised).
- The chest of drawers was inexplicably absent.
- We were given an extra pillow after three days of requesting one for my injured shoulder, although the original ad mentioned that there were extra pillows available.
On the whole we enjoyed our stay, but we were a bit disappointed with the maintenance of the property and the amenities, which were not up to par.