Villa Kristina, Symi
Review Submitted: September 2, 2008
Date of Stay: August 2008
We rented Villa Kristina for 10 days (two married couples over 55, no kids) and had a very pleasant stay. The house is very tastefully designed and furnished and well equipped, with two terraces offering beautiful views over harbour and bay. A cistern and pump allow you to have water for showers etc. even if the mains pressure is very low, as it often is. Villa Kristina is 5-10 minutes walk from Symi center. Very steep steps up to the house, like most hillside houses in Symi. These need some care going up and down. It was very warm while we were there and we thought it might have been a good idea if there had been roof fans to move the air in the bedrooms at night since it gets quite hot in both in the evening even with open windows. There were two standing fans, one in each bedroom which helped a bit. Our contract stipulated cleaning every other day, with change of towels and bed linen once a week. When we arrived there was bread, tea and powder coffee, butter jam and water for us. The cheery local contact who met us at the ferry with a car said there would be cleaning twice a week. In practice, however, we did not notice cleaning had been done at all while we were there, but the towels and bed linen were changed as agreed. In practice, since we were out most of the time and did not prepare meals at home, this was not a problem, but some of our group were annoyed because there was a deviation from the contracted terms. On the day we left we could not get a taxi to the hydrofoil, but our friendly local contact drove us there for 20 Euro at our request. Some of our party thought that was a bit stiff (though we did not know what a taxi would have taken), but we were grateful for the offer as it was a very warm day and our bags heavy. Symi is a very beautiful and compact island, and we used all possible opportunities (boat taxis, hire car, mopeds) to vist the various beaches and other places worth seeing. Beautiful clear, refreshing sea and views. The house owner and their local contact were helpful in recommending good places to eat. The most reasonable in price-quality terms is "Mythos" rooftop at the end of the harbour on the way out of town, a close runner up is "Tholos" near the Nos beach - also a convenient place to swim, take sun and lunch if you don't want to take a boat to the other beaches. We very much enjoyed our stay in Symi and Villa Kristina and would not hesitate to recommend it to others, and to stay there again ourselves!!
Owner's Response: Villa Kristina is situated on a hill above the harbour (about 20 meters up from sea level) - hence the glorious views. The charm with Symi are the steep slopes with the houses perched like little temples in their Gothic architecture - no ugly high-rise buildings or concrete monsters on this island. - If the heat bothers you we would suggest coming before the end of June or after beginning of September. Symi does get hot in July and August and this is also the busiest time on the island. - As for ceiling fans we will look into installing those for next season. - Customer satisfaction is our main priority and we will certainly address all the comments made for next season. We want people to enjoy Villa Kristina and have a good time!
Kerstin
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Helpful votes: 8/8
marks the location of the property in Dodecanese
