jaffa
New Member
Posts: 5 
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Post by jaffa on Apr 27, 2013 20:08:47 GMT
Hi! Can anyone tell me anything about 'Villa Petraki', don't seem to be able to find out much about it, don't know if this is good or bad!! Any info will be very much appreciated, thanks!  |
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jaffa
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by jaffa on Jul 14, 2013 18:31:09 GMT
I'm going to reply to my own post as we've just returned! I'm sorry to say we won't be staying at 'Villa Petraki' again.
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Post by kalliopi on Jul 14, 2013 21:58:58 GMT
Oh dear , that bad? Somewhere to sleep and keep your clothes, I hope you had a good holiday ( accommodation aside) |
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Post by ruffers on Jul 15, 2013 20:34:19 GMT
Sorry to read that you did not like the Villa Petraki - visitors who book the apartment seem to rebook year after year - hence why it is usually very difficult to find it available throughout the season.
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Post by Liz on Jul 16, 2013 9:07:11 GMT
I'm going to reply to my own post as we've just returned! I'm sorry to say we won't be staying at 'Villa Petraki' again. Would you tell us why ? ...its always good to have peoples opinions good or bad  |
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Post by jamesthebutler on Jul 16, 2013 10:49:33 GMT
There are some differing opinions expressed on Trip Advisor, the most recent 'bad' one being about cockroaches but as you say, Liz, feedback helpful to others.
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Post by Gilly on Jul 16, 2013 11:26:28 GMT
Hi Jaffa, Can you tell me why you won't be staying at 'Villa Petraki' again? We've just booked the villa and paid the deposit for our stay there in May/June 2014. We usually travel indepedently staying with Halkidirect who are wonderful, but as our youngest daughter is to be married in the July of that year we thought we'd take the cheapest option and travel with Olympic holidays. I now think maybe we should cut our losses and rebook with lovely Caroline which is what we'd originally planned to do. I'd be grateful to know your reasons for not staying there again are? Thanks! Not too worried about the odd cockroach but would be if you'd had an infestation!
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Post by jamesthebutler on Jul 16, 2013 12:35:39 GMT
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Post by Kinygos on Jul 16, 2013 14:48:52 GMT
The Trip Advisor complaint related to Cockroaches and Air-conditioning. It could be said that in the 21st century the presence of the former and the lack of the latter is unacceptable. Those of us who regularly visit Halki are mostly made of sterner stuff and “Keep calm carry on”. There can also be mice, large centipedes, cats spraying and no ATM! Can I deal with the first two, from the complaint?
Cockroaches 101. They are active nocturnally. Their bodies are flattened dorso-ventrally to the extent that they can squeeze under any door. They can certainly enter any traditional Greek house, like the ones on Halki. They are like dragonflies in that from the egg emerges a nymph with legs etc. Initially white they feed and grow turning brown as they go. However these tiny nymphs share the adults’ enormous antennae. So, if all you see are adults they are probably just passing through, but if you see small brown insects with long antennae round the kitchen units at night you have an infestation. My house has been visited a lot lately! There is a spray that will kill them. Put it round the edges of the floor in the kitchen and at the base of the doors. If it works “Quelle horreur!” you will find dead ones about the place. If they are visitors you will find the odd one on a daily basis, if an infestation you will be sweeping them up every day!
The point is they are endemic around Halki. I have watched loads of them scuttling round one and up and down the Tamarisk tree in Apostolis in the late evening. It is impossible to eradicate them outside, and it is nobody's fault.
MYTHBUSTER: Finally in the event of nuclear war if we died out so would the common cockroach. They rely on our dirty habits for their very existence!
Air-conditioning 101. We Brits mostly do not have air-conditioning at home, and therefore do not know how to use it. In a property owned by a good friend I found that some previously visiting friends (of my friends!) had set the air-conditioning to 18 degrees! Need I say that this was costly for my friends and not the thing to do with air-conditioning? It is this kind of stupidity that causes the Halki residents to not install air-conditioning. So, at the risk of patronising the intelligent readers of this site, what should you do and indeed not do?
1) Do not set the air-conditioning to 18 degrees and leave the doors and windows open.
2) Do use the air-conditioning with the doors and windows closed and set it to say 25/26 degrees.
At the moment as I write this it is 30 degrees outside and I am sitting in 25 degrees inside and I have a ceiling fan on slow speed. It feels really cool; simple, economical, and effective. The fan is moving dehumidified air which cools the body by evaporating sweat. For sure I am paying the electricity bill here and holidaymakers are not, but consideration in this case is just common sense. If you want the doors and windows open rely on the wind and/or a fan!
There is a warning here too. Assuming that you will be out during the day in the heat you will need to acclimatise. You will never acclimatise if you return to a temperature of <22 degrees at night. That is the path to heat-stroke; deep folly!
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Post by carol on Jul 16, 2013 15:10:30 GMT
Thanks Simon, I do wonder if the cockroach problem is why Jaffa will not return, none of us want them in the properties we rent but unfortunately as you say they are everywhere, if there is an infestation I would hate it but one or two are not a problem, may I hasten to add we have never had any where we stay, they wouldn't dare be in there !!!! Joking apart, hopefully Jaffa will see these posts and reply. Air conditioning is a bonus, when we first visited Halki hardly anyone had it, lately it is becoming more common but it is not to be abused, having said that we are struggling in 28 degrees here in Cardiff at the moment and we are making do with using fans, no air con for us !! See you soon  |
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Post by Kinygos on Jul 16, 2013 15:47:43 GMT
"they wouldn't dare be in there!"
So, you are laying down a challenge to the cockroach population of Halki?
I am going over tomorrow and I will have a word with them, then we shall see!!!
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Post by carol on Jul 16, 2013 15:52:09 GMT
I didn't mean because of me, our owners would be horrified as you can imagine |
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Post by Di on Jul 16, 2013 18:26:39 GMT
In somewhere like Halki (and Tilos and Lipsi)with a dry, rocky terrain I think, unfortunately, you are always going to have cockroaches (we had hundreds of the little buggers in our "ethnic hovel" in Symi years ago, but ours were big, orangey brown and flew - nice  ). Saying that, I wouldn't want to re-live the experience, and whilst we've seen loads outside, fingers crossed we've never had them as room-mates since |
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jaffa
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by jaffa on Jul 17, 2013 13:34:27 GMT
Hi! Oh my, I didn't expect quite a response to my own reply!! No, the cockroaches were certainly not a problem, we only had a couple and that was at night time. We found Villa Petraki to be very dated and run down and in need of a serious need of a make over and good clean.
Each room is full of dust gathering clutter and the cupboards full of 'junk'. The furniture has seen better days, the cupboard in the small bedroom is held together with masking tape; the dining room table is covered in paint stains; and the table on the balcony is melted as candles have been left to burn on it. The electrics are extremely dated and all the sockets are overloaded, in the small bedroom the plaster is cracked around the socket, we never used it. Even though we were disappointed it never spoiled our holiday,we just felt that looking at the standard of other properties we drew the short straw. It's a shame that it's not been given the love and attention it so badly needs. We're returning next year but unfortunately we will be staying elsewhere. I hope this answers everyone's questions.
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Post by carol on Jul 17, 2013 13:52:47 GMT
Thank you Jaffa, good to hear it didn't spoil your holiday but it is disappointing when the property is not up to an acceptable standard, no excuse for it as it is one of Olympics most popular rentals.
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). Saying that, I wouldn't want to re-live the experience, and whilst we've seen loads outside, fingers crossed we've never had them as room-mates since