Pefkos – never heard of it!

Pefkos was something of a revelation, though I’m not sure exactly what I expected.

The Stella Hotel stay was a last-minute deal too good not to take advantage of. Self-catering, so that gave me a few qualms in case we were miles from a supermarket and restaurants. I needn’t have worried, but perhaps the fact I did suggests Pefkos doesn’t sell itself to its advantage. There were plenty people there, many of whom were regulars who had discovered its joys previously. For anyone who, like me, hasn’t heard of it, then it’s a small (but growing) resort in the south-east of the Greek island of Rhodes.

Built in Greek style with a number of buildings within the small complex.

Rooms in the Stella are spread over a number of buildings, in a Greek village style. Our room was up a slope from the main entrance. We didn’t have a sea or pool view and got the early morning sun, but we enjoyed the view of pine trees  (from which Pefkos takes its name) and the coolness of our balcony, out of the glare of the very hot afternoon sun. There were no lifts, but the walk up slope and stairs helped work off overeating!

Most of my photographs are taken in the evening when it was cooler to stroll around before or after eating dinner in one of the many restaurants. Shops remained open till late, a nearby supermarket till midnight, open again just after six in the morning.

The pool was not enormous, but people often found they had it more or less to themselves, and there was no hassle over sunbeds. Plenty of them, and umbrellas, so no need for an early morning dash to bag one. You just wandered down when ready and took your pick.

A good sized supermarket forms part of the small complex and here we could pick up all we needed for salad lunches and any other requirements. Nearby was another supermarket and a shop selling Italian ice cream in a multitude of flavours if we wanted something to help us cool off.

Life is lived outside and eating dinners in the open air was a treat for those of us from cooler countries.

We couldn’t resist the attractions of this restaurant and ate here a number of times.

Pefkos, despite its welcoming atmosphere is a town for only six months of the year, between May and October. For the other six it closes down. No-one actually stays here, so for half a year it’s a ghost town, though it certainly doesn’t feel impermanent. It has a vibrancy and liveliness without any loud or loutish behaviour even when footie fans were celebrating a win, so no anxious feelings when wandering around in the evenings.

Now to the fun part. Whichever street we took was lined with restaurants and bars. Most of the food is Greek or ‘European’, but we also found Chinese and Italian as well as places with a more American influence. So we wandered along in the evening and took our time looking at menus, judging the ambiance, selecting which to favour.

Food is very good, prices are reasonable (though with the slide of the pound since the EU referendum, prices will now be considerably more – we timed our break well as we returned in the early hours of referendum day). Memories are made of meals eaten in leafy gardens or other enticing surroundings with great friendly service and often a side-dish of Greek patter in excellent English.

The area was experiencing an early heatwave so temperatures soared to July and August levels of nearly forty degrees during the day and between twenty-five and thirty in the evenings. So days were spent lazing by the pool (in the shade mainly) and evenings relishing meals eaten al fresco with no need to wear a cardigan over sleeveless dresses or tops. It was deliciously warm.

The food was excellent. Starters tended to be large portions so we slid into the habit of ordering bread and a plate of olives. Initially we opted for garlic bread but there was little garlic taste and the assortment of breads suggested that perhaps it was the previous day’s bread that was blasted in the oven and served up as garlic bread. So we changed to local bread which was soft, crusty and less than half the price!

Many of the bars and restaurants have football playing on large screens, and as we were here during the Euros there seemed no getting away from the game. Not being football fans, we made a mental note to avoid places showing it. No problem as there are so many restaurants to choose from. However, it seems nowadays football fans are the people catered for, and the rest of us just have to put up with it or stay in our rooms.

On our previous trip to Rhodes we had undertaken a number of trips, but apart from a visit to Lindos (more about that later) the heat meant we were happy to laze rather than sightsee, and enjoy the foodie delights of this small resort.

In another post I have some food photos to share with you and make you drool!