Christina's Villa with pool in Dafnes - a wonderful place for a relaxing break! The villa is great, rooms are a good size and styled out in character with the build of the villa. All the small essentials are already there so that you don't need to rush out to buy them to enjoy the property and your holiday. Lots of character pieces of furniture and fittings - this isn't a bare canvas home - there are lots of decorations and little touches that make you feel that you are in an authentic home. Outside the villa the outdoor living spaces are just as well thought out - a choice of places to sit, shade from the building or from the trees. And then there is the pool, a great place to retreat to when it gets hot. You do share the pool, but in our case we didn't share it with any guests in the other property but with the local swifts, during the day, and the local bats during the night. Being in the pool and having the swifts darting in to catch an insect, or a sip of water - really great and unusual. The views from the pool, and the house, across and down the valley also gave us the chance to watch birds of prey - eagles in the distance and hawks much closer, at one point flying past no more than 10 metres away.
Then there is Christina and her family. Always ready to help, any little problems with the house sorted out quickly and efficiently (we had a minor problem with the WiFi but Christina's daughter sorted it out for us quickly). And when we asked about recommendations for a restaurant to celebrate our sons birthday, not only did we get three or four recommendations, and she checked for us on table availability, but Christina also dropped by with an ice cream cake for us to celebrate in the villa!
Friendly neighbours, who always said hello (and gave us gifts of food) and I think enjoyed watching us manouevring our large car in the somewhat tight alley leading to the house. Its not too tight, but, in an unfamiliar hire vehicle, we always took extra care to make sure we didn't hit anyone's house on our way in or out.
Unless you are looking for a real chill out holiday you will need a car, as Dafnes is quite small. But there are a number of food shops, a couple of tavernas and a pizza restaurant. There are also excellent wineries. We had a tasting session at the Douloufakis winery - a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon out of the sun.
So thank you Christina for making our holiday extra special - your villa is great and your service better.