This review was submitted before 2018 and has not been verified.
8/10 Good
Andrew P.
17 Oct 2017
Good base for visiting the area
After an initial misunderstanding about the time of arrival we had a very pleasant stay at Villa Fabrika. Following a couple of nights in some tourist rooms at Kalamaki, the house had an air of comfort and luxury! There’s one double bed with a soft mattress another one with a firm mattress and two single beds in an alcove of the living room with rock hard mattresses. The kitchen is well equipped, but apart from boiling eggs and making toast for breakfast, we didn’t actually cook anything. The house is opposite a goat farm , so coming from the countryside, this only enhanced our stay. Others however, might be perturbed by the flies and the smell? The morning sun arrives directly in the courtyard at the front of the house, so, despite a parasol being available, we ate our breakfasts inside with the doors and windows open.
The house is in the village of Faneromeni which is just a short drive from the market towns of Tympaki and Mires. There’s a couple of restaurants and kafeneios just 2 Kms away at Vori (20-25 mins walk) and various beaches 10 to 30 minutes’ drive. In Faneromeni itself there are two small village shops, a bar that is open in the evenings and a kafeneio. The latter, run by Dimitra and Vasilis Chaniotakis, turned out to be the delight of our stay. Having failed to stock up on beer for our Sunday evening apéro, and all of the local supermarkets being shut, we strolled the 100m up the road to see what the kafeneio could offer?? They only had small cans of Amstel but “beggars can’t be choosers”. We must have shown some hunger by grabbing a couple of packets of crisps but these rapidly became redundant as Dimitra produced two small plates of nibbles to accompany our beer/ouzo. Having worked in the mines in Belgium for numerous years, Vasilis speaks a smattering of French and Dimitra several phrases in Flemish. That with our beginners Greek, we managed to discuss the possibilities of restaurants in the area and were immediately offered pork and potatoes from the oven which magically appeared on our table within a short time. Washed down with a couple of bottles of Retsina, a gift of home-grown grapes and raki to follow, this “home cooking”, at very low prices rapidly turned our stay in Fameromeni into a memorable one. We returned 6 of the following 7 nights for more local delights. The generosity of the locals is overwhelming and at times embarrassing!
Would happily book again.
Andrew P.
Stayed 8 nights in Sep 2017