The apartments are run by a lady named Efi. She is lovely and resides in the building. Efi takes a lot of pride in looking after the building - she does however run a fairly tight ship so be prepared for many house rules and at times, little privacy.
On the first night, we stayed in a different apartment. It was immaculately clean and well presented. It was however very compact and not spacious. We had 2 large suitcases with us and struggled to keep them out of the way. Whilst we were happy to oblige, Efi asked us not to cook in the kitchen that evening as she had guests checking in the next day and wanted to keep it clean which worked for us. The room had a fan and air con but there didn’t seem to be a remote for the air con so it was extremely warm in the small bedroom.
The second day we checked into the main flat which is the ‘plus’ home. It was designed in a very unique style and followed traditional colours. There was clearly a lot of thought put into the decorative aspects - for us though, we found it a little impractical because it lacked space for our own belongings. There wasn’t really anywhere to store our suitcases (other than the floor) or even put our toiletries in the bathroom as things were quite cluttered. There was one very small cupboard for storage. If you’re looking for a unique design though, and don’t mind about suitcases being on the floor, it was very lovely. There are also only very basic amenities, from memory it didn’t have any shower gel etc either so you’ll need to buy your own.
We had a particularly sleepless night one evening as there was a general mosquito problem and we seem to always get bitten by mosquitoes. The room was absolutely full of them even though we never had the door or windows opened. It was to the extent that we were constantly killing them and the next day when we purchased some insecticide there were several dead ones in one spot. This may not bother you, but it was unfortunately something that very much affected our stay.
Being a traditionally built apartment, there were some quirks. For example, there was an air conditioner and the water generated from it dripped into a bucket outside - which we emptied as it got full. This is obviously not an inconvenience however because it was in the peak of summer we slept with it on and it meant that we needed to be fairly prompt emptying it in the morning. Again, if you’re after more luxury and less of having to think about these little things - you may be better off in a hotel.
As for the location, it is fairly difficult to find but once you get there initially, it is straightforward. Whilst it is close to the town, the apartments themselves are a little isolated - it would be almost impossible to get around without a car. It is possible to go by foot to the town although takes about an hour and is up some steep hills on the return and in that heat, wouldn’t be enjoyable (at least not for us). We had a car though so that made things easy.
From a general location perspective - for us, we didn’t realise (which was our mistake) that the home was so far from what we considered to be Crete’s ‘main’ attractions. The beaches around the home weren’t really that amazing compared to what is on the other side of the island and generally in Greece. The water was murky and wavy and the sand was quite dark with pebbles. If you’re planning to see Chania and Elafonisi etc - this is not a convenient base. It really depends on what you’re after from your holiday but for us, this side of the island was a little too secluded.
Overall, the home has a unique design and Efi was always very bubbly and happy to help with our needs.