Corfu Holiday 2016: Eriva Apartments, Acharavi

We've just spent a lovely holiday based in Acharavi on Corfu.

We travelled with Thomas Cook and the journeys out and back went like clockwork.

We stayed in Eriva Apartments, which is an attractive set of buildings in a pretty setting, a short walk from the beach, although it is very narrow and stony where you come out.

We had clean towels and bedding 4 times while we were there, including tea towels. It wasn't obvious that the rooms were cleaned, but as there were only two of us and we're fairly clean, that wasn't a problem. Bins were emptied every other day and there were brooms and mops available to be used. As we were staying in an "apartment" consisting of the main room with bed, a small kitchen and a bathroom as well as the balcony area with room to sit and eat breakfast, perhaps we should not have expected a cleaner. It was not a hotel as such.  One loo roll was provided when we arrived, but no more was supplied during our stay, which wasn't a problem either. It might have been nice to know about some of these things in advance, though.

The walk to the beach: Eriva apartments is to the right of the photo.

 

Looking back to the mountains 

Looking to the side of the apartments 

                                                               The view from our apartment

Inside the apartment: The room was not excessively wide, but there was quite a bit of room behind where I'm standing to take this photo as well as a couch/sofa bed against the wall behind me.  A dressing table was to my left and a wardrobe was to my right. There wasn't much in the way of drawers for clothes.

The kitchen:

and bathroom

West Coast of Ireland, July 2015: Ballinderreen

As we'd enjoyed our short break in Dublin so much last year, hubby and I decided to have a holiday on the West Coast of Ireland this Summer. We booked ourselves into Bertie's Cottage in Ballindereen, which was an attractive, quaint thatched cottage about 200 years old, possibly more, but recently refurbished and modernised by the present owner, Michael.

We arrived at Shannon airport on Saturday evening and were pleased to find that the Tesco's in Ennis stayed open late, so we bought fish pies for dinner and some other things we thought we might need and drove along the N18 and beyond it in our hire car until we came to Ballindereen. We drove the last stretch in heavy rain.

We'd phoned the owner, Michael, to let him know we were on our way and he was waiting for us when we arrived. The cottage had been beautifully renovated. There was a modern kitchen with a cooker, fridge and a kettle as well as a toaster and some kind of mini oven. So we had a cup of tea and cooked our pies and peas. We were pleased to find some fresh scones in the cake tin afterwards. Michael had also provided milk and teabags.

There was a pleasant dining/living area

Ballinderreen is a quiet, rural village situated on the N67 between Kinvarra and Kilcolgan. It has as a garage with a small shop and a pub.

There was a farm behind us, which we could see out of the kitchen window, but we didn't hear or see much activity there, so it certainly didn't disturb our peace.

In the other direction it was mostly fields. The local church is the modern St Colmans church, although there is the ruin of a much older church nearby.

Whitby, April 2015

We spent a few days in Whitby, just after Easter this year.

Dublin, September 2014

We stayed in Malahide, which is just north of Dublin, for a few days last September, which was the first time we'd ever been to Ireland.  Malahide is a coastal town on the Broadmeadow Estuary, just 16 kilometres north of Dublin and seems much like one of its suburbs.

Aghia Marina, Crete, July 2014

There was a lovely sandy beach at Aghia Marina, but it was very crowded.

Our Trip to New Zealand: In and around Wellington

Wellington is one of the smallest capital cities in the world and it could well be the most attractive, too. 

The modern architecture is quite striking, not least the beehive to the side of New Zealand's parliament building.

The older parliament building remains to the right.

Our Trip to New Zealand: the Lord of the Rings Tour

                             

Much of the filming was done in and around Wellington. This is the tree where Frodo, Merry and Pippin hid from the Nazgul horseman, and on the other side of the path is the actual dip they hid in.