Stayed at the Ilissos Hotel from 30/08/15 to 06/09/15 for seven nights at half board for £945.00 all flights included.
The Ilissos is a seven floor business class hotel, fully renovated throughout in 2004, its proximity is close to the centre of Athens, with views to the Acropolis at the rear.
We stayed in room 303 with views to the front and its busy traffic, when originally booking, I had asked if we could have a room with a view to the Acropolis, however these rooms are subject to availability.
Our room was of a modern design in furniture and surroundings, with bath, toilet, shower, and washbasin facilities, free wi-fi, room service telephone, mini-bar, TV, digital safe, and most importantly of all, full air-conditioning, entry and exit into the room is by means of a swipe card, towels are changed daily, bed linen tree times a week.
Our outbound flight was delayed through a problem with the rear toilet, and the overbooking of four passengers, on arrival at Athens airport, we were quickly processed through passport control, etc, and ushered outside, where the 'heat' and a stream of yellow Taxis, were there to greet us, and the other passengers, the journey to the Hotel was around 40 minutes, we had been told that there was a set price for the fare; 38 euros, however I believe this has now changed to 42 euros.
At previous hotels we had stayed at, in cases where like this one our arrival had been delayed, and an evening meal paid for, the hotel had left several rounds of sandwiches in our room, only on this occasion, after explaining to the night porter of our plight, we were greeted with the words ' the kitchen is closed', we did however manage t get a drink at the bar, then gracefully retired to our room, where I raided the mini-bar, a big mistake!
Next day was spent exploring the area, found a local shop, for everyday needs, caught up with much needed sleep.
No holiday in Athens is complete without a visit to the Acropolis, so early the following day we took a six minute walk to the Metro where we managed to board the tube, packed in it like Sardines.
A short walk followed to the Acropolis Museum where we passed through their security, it was at this point, that my wife realized her purse had been taken.
On boarding the tube carriage, standing room, the only anchorage point available or holding handles were yards apart, so I had become separated from my wife, who was opposite the entry/exit door on a circular effect holding rail, holding on with one hand clutching her bag with the other, during the journey, a thin, black suited man feigned illness moving quickly between me and the wife, a second man had spread himself with both arms and legs across the exit door, when the train started braking, the suited man positioned himself at the side of my wife where somehow he managed to dislodge the glasses on my wife's nose, I heard her say 'ouch', and the man did apologize, only this was a distraction, as the wife had now released her grip on her bag, albeit briefly, while she place her glasses back on, she did not look comfortable with the situation, and I believe it was at this time that a third person lifted the purse from the bag, the bag was of the draw string type, similar to a duffle bag, needless to say we aborted our trip that day, returned to the hotel via visiting the ATM and later the police station, a must for insurance purposes.
Despite what happened, we enjoyed our stay in Athens, we visited the Acropolis and its museum, in the end we walked it, around 35 minutes, this event had been on the wife's wish list for years, so this was a must.
We also visited three Islands in a day! Hydra, Poros, Aegina, although only limited time was available for each Island the cruise, crew, weather, and food were superb.
Other trips out included a visit to the Temple of Poseidon, a marble shrine to the sea god, situated on Cape Sounio, and of course lots of walking and exploring.
The meals at Ilissos are good, breakfast is buffet continental style, in a large dining area, everything is there, cereals, jams, porridge, sweet pastries, omlettes, sausages, fried eggs, coffee, orange, to name a few, dining room opens 0700 to 1030, evening meals are served in the spacious lounge area, between 1930 to 2100,
Best meal for us there was the Lasagna, served in a ceramic dish, with a side salad,
second best the Moussaka, again served with a side salad, all main meals come with iced water and bread, we were a little confused with some dishes as on the menu they would clearly state, 'served with roast potatoes' only to find these had been substituted for rice, also found the pork and chicken extremely dry and hard to cut, however all in all, the food was good.
Would I change anything in our room at the hotel?
Yes, the only English speaking TV channels I could find were the DW TV, a German news channel and the Star channel, I know its Greece, and I'm trying to learn Greek phrases, only a few English channels would not go amiss.
The valve on the mixer tap is difficult to pull upwards when transferring the water to the shower head, a lever type valve, or one that incorporates a hook type would make this operation so much easier.
Would I change anything about the Hotel?
Yes, I was led to believe that there was a bar in the roof garden, there is not, there are facilities there for one, only its not in operation, maybe its just for private functions, for water there are vending machines there also, only these too are not in operation, so if you need a drink it means either a trip down to the ground floor to the bar there, or room service at 15%.
Apart from the items mentioned I believe for the price we paid for the holiday, is good value, and yes we would recommend this hotel to others.
A special mention to 'Suzanne' on reception who always tried to help that little bit more, Thank you Suzanne.
Thank you for reading and Happy Holidays.
