Hotel LOCANDA (Argassi, Zakynthos, Greece)
LOCANDA is a small hotel in Greece, located in the village of Argassi on the island of Zakynthos, and it is located right on the Ionian Sea, just 20 meters from the beach.
Note
The safe is not included in the room rate, and if you want to use it, then to activate it you will have to pay for it on the spot.
Disadvantages:
• there is not a single mini-locker or at least a “dead” shelf for bathroom accessories. All bathroom accessories and hygienic accessories, such as: toothbrushes, scissors, deodorants, hairbrushes and much more, had to be placed directly on the narrow and slippery edge of the washbasin.
• no electrical outlet.
How then to be if I shave only with an electric razor? The bathroom has a mirror, but there is no outlet. The nearest power socket is in the hallway, but there is no mirror in it. Absurd!
I had to shave in the hallway and watch the process in the bathroom mirror, which is two meters away. Well, under such idiotic conditions, you can comfortably shave without two-story swear words?
• chrome plumbing parts in some places “outlived” their time by adopting a rusty shape.
The bedroom is slightly elongated and narrow in shape, but in principle tolerable, you can survive.
Attention, be careful!
The most important thing to be careful when passing between the double bed and the wall on which the TV hangs. This bed is perpendicular to the length of the room, occupying almost its entire width. The remaining through passage between the bed and the wall is very narrow. Because of this, it is likely that your legs will sometimes "graciously greet" the bed. That bare toes "erotically" move apart from a random ram on the iron leg of the bed, then your shin will inadvertently "kiss passionately" from the iron corner of the bed, leaving a bluish trail of such an unexpected meeting. A blanket thrown over the corners - slightly softens the "joy" of colliding with the corners, but does not protect the toes from the legs of the iron "sadist".
Disadvantages:
• The glass cups in the room, which we found when checking in at LOCANDA, turned out to be poorly cleaned - this is of course the “minus” of the room service. And why was there only two glasses in the room for three people ?!
• lack of an electric kettle.
Well, Christmas trees, sticks! The fridge in the bedroom was placed, and on a cheap Chinese electric kettle, the hotel administration was stingy.
Any tourist can easily do without any microwave ovens and electric stoves in the room, visiting and eating in a cafe two or three times a day, unless of course he did not have a plan for preparing meals on his own, but it is very difficult for any person to do without a kettle.
The vast majority of people on earth like to drink tea or coffee, some a few times a day, some drink more often, drink at any time of the day and even at night. And we are no exception. We often lacked this ordinary electrical household appliance. And when there is no physical ability to boil water, the desire to drink tea or coffee increases even more, psychologically.
I understand that not all hotels have a kettle in the room. But in the hotel LOCANDA BEACH there is no round-the-clock bar, and even the evening one. Nowhere to go down and drink coffee. And therefore, in this hotel, the kettle must be in the room.
Note
Balcony sliding door interacts with air conditioning. When the door is open - the air conditioner in the room will not turn on. And when the air conditioner is on, if you open and close the balcony door, the air conditioner will automatically turn off after a short time. Those. if you want to hear the sound of the sea with an open balcony door and at the same time leave the air conditioner turned on so that it is not hot in the room, then you will not succeed. You have to choose one of the two, or the sound of the sea, but with a stuffy room, or a tightly closed room, but in a cool place.
That's not all. If you want, for example, to go to the store, or run to plunge into the sea, but leave the air conditioner on, so that when you return to the room it is fresh and cool, then this will not work either, because All power to the room is activated by an electronic card, which you receive when checking into the Hotel LOCANDA. If this card is installed in a special unit placed on the wall, then the power supply of the room is carried out. If you remove the card, everything turns off, even the light. To close the front door of the room with a key, you need to remove the card from the unit. If you do not remove it, then you will go to the store, but the entrance door will not be locked. Therefore, you have to remove the card and thereby cut down the power supply, and then return to the stuffy room.
Disadvantages:
• due to the small size of the room, it is difficult to adjust the air conditioning, i.e. where not direct air flow - still falls on any bed. This was especially felt at night, during sleep. If you turn off the condo at night, so as not to stifle it, and sleep with the open balcony door enjoying the sounds and freshness of the sea, then there is a chance that you will be bitten by night mosquitoes, anti-mosquito net no. And with the window closed and the air conditioning turned off - it will be stuffy. Here, and choose!
By the way, about the mosquitoes on the island of Zakynthos. Before the trip, we read horror stories on the Internet, that there are a lot of mosquitoes on Zakynthos and that we should take a lot of anti-mosquito means with us. What we did. But in fact, it turned out that these “songs” are too exaggerated. Yes, there are mosquitoes, but they are not a swarm. We in the suburbs of Moscow, these bloodsucking creatures are much more. Of course, I admit that in different parts of the island there may be a different situation with mosquitoes, but in Argassi, at the location of the Hotel LOCANDA, there were a moderate number of these insects.
Disadvantages:
• The solar panels of the LOCANDA hotel, installed on the front roof canopy, on the right side partially spoil the panoramic view from the balcony.
• on the balcony there is no dryer, and therefore no clothes pegs.
Drying clothes accounted for on the balcony railing. Large rags, like a towel, were kept on the railing normally, but small light objects, like swimming trunks or socks, all the time tried to escape from the balcony, even with a slight breeze. A couple of times we had to look for things in the grass and on the bushes. We couldn’t find the “fugitive” once, until we turned to the hotel employee, Nikolai, for help.
About Nicholas. Nikolai and his wife are employees of the LOCANDA Beach hotel. They are Russian-speaking, but they also speak Greek. By the way, if you do not know other languages and speak only Russian, Nikolai will be for you a “lifeline” about the hotel, which can understand you.
What are their posts, it is difficult to say for sure. But most likely, they, I apologize for the word, "black-workers". The wife of Nicholas is often seen in the hotel’s laundry window. She probably does laundry. Nikolay, most likely in the role of “skillful hands” - here to fasten, then to correct, there to move. And maybe they take part in preparing breakfast, watch and clean the dining room, we often saw them there.
Somewhere on the Internet, there are disgusting reviews that "Nikolai, with all his appearance, spoiled the rest ...".
Do not believe such reviews! It is not true. Yes, on their faces we did not see joy or smiles from ear to ear, but what do you want from them, Nikolay and his wife - people are already aged, they work from early morning until late evening. And they are laborers, not animators, to find fault with their appearance.
Hint
When leaving your room in the morning, do not forget to leave a coin (1-2 Euros) on the bed pillow, a cleaning lady, as a thank you for cleaning. Thus, when the cleaning lady will make your bed, she will understand that this money is “addressed” to her.
Returning to your room, you will not find this coin, but you will find that the room began to be removed somehow more carefully, and in the bathroom there may even be extra over-towels.
Most likely, this money will not be a big expense for you, but in the end, you will be better off and the cleaner will be pleased!
The dining room is on the first floor. Small but cozy breakfast room on the "buffet" system. The range of food - so-so, my daughter and I did not really like. This is mainly cold plain dry bread: bread, modest slicing of bacon or ham, boiled eggs, cheese, slices of cucumbers, tomatoes and some fruits, juices. From the hot was only tea and coffee. Maybe I missed something from this list, but the essence remains the same - the food is “Spartan”.
But for us, these free breakfasts, as well as the pool, were not particularly needed, and we settled in this hotel by chance, and not because of these so-called breakfasts. We love to eat more satisfying. For us, such modest breakfasts offered by the LOCANDA hotel are the same as eating grass from the lawn;
For all the holidays, I went to breakfast three times, and then, mostly just to drink hot tea. Yes, and eat on the schedule of the hotel, I'm not inclined to this. I like to eat at a time when I want to.
The spouse, unlike our daughter and me, oddly enough, turned out to be more punctual and “omnivorous,” and went to breakfast more often than we did.
The range of the bar is not large. In the menu: alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ice cream and food. The food is simple, without any frills, not very expensive, but tasty - we liked it.
The bartender at this bar was the same person who took care of the pool, followed the sun beds with umbrellas, and helped in the garden. He did all this almost at the same time, alone, but everything was in time. He was always ready to help in everything, was friendly and helpful. Well done!
I don’t even know what to tell about the pool. The pool is like a pool. He is of general use, and that says it all.
The fact is that we are not fans of shared pools, and we absolutely do not care if there is a pool at the hotel or not.
The communal pool is a generator of human hatred. Only in the general pool do you begin to understand how you "hate" other people's children and their parents who raised them.
Often, whatever the size of the general pool, it is not always possible to swim normally and calmly in it. Be sure there is someone unbearable teenager who will start jumping into the pool almost to your head. There will always be “bombardment” of the balls flying near your face or exactly at the “target”. Someone will dive nearby, someone will dive under you, someone will scream, and someone will cry hysterically with snot flowing from his nose into the pool. And their ill-mannered parents at this time will not make a single comment to their ill-mannered children, but instead will drift on inflatable mattresses in the middle of the pool, looking as if it is their private pool.
In fairness it should be noted that in the pool of the hotel LOCANDA - it was not always a herd of people. There were even moments when there was no one at all.
Disadvantages:
• the pool does not have an outdoor shower room where a person would be able to pre-doused with water before diving into the pool. Some sweaty people, sliding from their deck chairs, did not go at sea, but straight into the pool, transferring their sweat to it, in the “amazing” folds of cellulite.
• in front of the pool (from the beach) a special stone niche of the trough type is laid out, which is flooded with water and is intended for washing the feet so that your feet do not put sand into the pool. This niche is not just small, but very small, about 15 liters of water. The water in this niche is not flowing. There is not even a drain in the niche, which means that as water was poured in there, it would sour there and only add water as natural evaporation.
What fool thought to build such a niche with stagnant water? Does the administration of the LOCANDA hotel really not understand that this 15-liter trough for the feet of all guests is a real peddler of fungal infections ?!
• rooms with windows (balconies) towards the sea are fairly quiet, even with an open window.
• all other sides of the hotel - can be very noisy, due to the large number of quad-bikes passing along the road, which are farting loudly, from morning until late evening.
Convenient location on Argassi street. By the sea. In walking distance to taverns and shops. Satisfactory building architecture and landscape design. The presence of its parking, which was important for us. And the ratio "price-quality."
Hotel room
The room, which we got when checking into the hotel LOCANDA, is designed for three people and included: a small hallway, bathroom, bedroom and balcony.Entrance hall
In the hallway, a simple homemade-cooked locker of improvised building materials. In the closet there are several shelves and several dystrophic hangers for clothes. There is a safe on one of the shelves.Note
The safe is not included in the room rate, and if you want to use it, then to activate it you will have to pay for it on the spot.
Bathroom
In the bathroom: toilet, shower, hairdryer, washbasin with mirror.
Disadvantages:
• there is not a single mini-locker or at least a “dead” shelf for bathroom accessories. All bathroom accessories and hygienic accessories, such as: toothbrushes, scissors, deodorants, hairbrushes and much more, had to be placed directly on the narrow and slippery edge of the washbasin.
• no electrical outlet.
How then to be if I shave only with an electric razor? The bathroom has a mirror, but there is no outlet. The nearest power socket is in the hallway, but there is no mirror in it. Absurd!
I had to shave in the hallway and watch the process in the bathroom mirror, which is two meters away. Well, under such idiotic conditions, you can comfortably shave without two-story swear words?
• chrome plumbing parts in some places “outlived” their time by adopting a rusty shape.
Bedroom
In the bedroom: a double bed and one single, “tired” table with one chair (the chair had to be begged at the reception, as it was not in the room upon arrival), a mini-fridge under the table, two badly washed glass cups on the table, There is also a mini coffee table such as a coffee table, a flat-screen TV on the wall, two slightly skewed wall lamps, and an air conditioner.
The bedroom is slightly elongated and narrow in shape, but in principle tolerable, you can survive.
Attention, be careful!
The most important thing to be careful when passing between the double bed and the wall on which the TV hangs. This bed is perpendicular to the length of the room, occupying almost its entire width. The remaining through passage between the bed and the wall is very narrow. Because of this, it is likely that your legs will sometimes "graciously greet" the bed. That bare toes "erotically" move apart from a random ram on the iron leg of the bed, then your shin will inadvertently "kiss passionately" from the iron corner of the bed, leaving a bluish trail of such an unexpected meeting. A blanket thrown over the corners - slightly softens the "joy" of colliding with the corners, but does not protect the toes from the legs of the iron "sadist".
Disadvantages:
• The glass cups in the room, which we found when checking in at LOCANDA, turned out to be poorly cleaned - this is of course the “minus” of the room service. And why was there only two glasses in the room for three people ?!
• lack of an electric kettle.
Well, Christmas trees, sticks! The fridge in the bedroom was placed, and on a cheap Chinese electric kettle, the hotel administration was stingy.
Any tourist can easily do without any microwave ovens and electric stoves in the room, visiting and eating in a cafe two or three times a day, unless of course he did not have a plan for preparing meals on his own, but it is very difficult for any person to do without a kettle.
The vast majority of people on earth like to drink tea or coffee, some a few times a day, some drink more often, drink at any time of the day and even at night. And we are no exception. We often lacked this ordinary electrical household appliance. And when there is no physical ability to boil water, the desire to drink tea or coffee increases even more, psychologically.
I understand that not all hotels have a kettle in the room. But in the hotel LOCANDA BEACH there is no round-the-clock bar, and even the evening one. Nowhere to go down and drink coffee. And therefore, in this hotel, the kettle must be in the room.
Air conditioning
The presence of air conditioning in the room does not mean that you can use it. You simply can not find a remote control from him. Contacting about this to the administrator of the hotel LOCANDA, he will “please” you with the information that the console is issued for an additional fee. Well, do not hog ?! How have they not thought of the light in the rooms to provide for an additional fee!?Note
Balcony sliding door interacts with air conditioning. When the door is open - the air conditioner in the room will not turn on. And when the air conditioner is on, if you open and close the balcony door, the air conditioner will automatically turn off after a short time. Those. if you want to hear the sound of the sea with an open balcony door and at the same time leave the air conditioner turned on so that it is not hot in the room, then you will not succeed. You have to choose one of the two, or the sound of the sea, but with a stuffy room, or a tightly closed room, but in a cool place.
That's not all. If you want, for example, to go to the store, or run to plunge into the sea, but leave the air conditioner on, so that when you return to the room it is fresh and cool, then this will not work either, because All power to the room is activated by an electronic card, which you receive when checking into the Hotel LOCANDA. If this card is installed in a special unit placed on the wall, then the power supply of the room is carried out. If you remove the card, everything turns off, even the light. To close the front door of the room with a key, you need to remove the card from the unit. If you do not remove it, then you will go to the store, but the entrance door will not be locked. Therefore, you have to remove the card and thereby cut down the power supply, and then return to the stuffy room.
Disadvantages:
• due to the small size of the room, it is difficult to adjust the air conditioning, i.e. where not direct air flow - still falls on any bed. This was especially felt at night, during sleep. If you turn off the condo at night, so as not to stifle it, and sleep with the open balcony door enjoying the sounds and freshness of the sea, then there is a chance that you will be bitten by night mosquitoes, anti-mosquito net no. And with the window closed and the air conditioning turned off - it will be stuffy. Here, and choose!
By the way, about the mosquitoes on the island of Zakynthos. Before the trip, we read horror stories on the Internet, that there are a lot of mosquitoes on Zakynthos and that we should take a lot of anti-mosquito means with us. What we did. But in fact, it turned out that these “songs” are too exaggerated. Yes, there are mosquitoes, but they are not a swarm. We in the suburbs of Moscow, these bloodsucking creatures are much more. Of course, I admit that in different parts of the island there may be a different situation with mosquitoes, but in Argassi, at the location of the Hotel LOCANDA, there were a moderate number of these insects.
Balcony
The balcony was big enough and spacious for such a small and cramped hotel room. It is set fairly stable and heavy table, not plastic, as happens in some hotels, and even on the balcony there are two comfortable wooden chairs. View from the balcony towards the sea.
Disadvantages:
• The solar panels of the LOCANDA hotel, installed on the front roof canopy, on the right side partially spoil the panoramic view from the balcony.
• on the balcony there is no dryer, and therefore no clothes pegs.
Drying clothes accounted for on the balcony railing. Large rags, like a towel, were kept on the railing normally, but small light objects, like swimming trunks or socks, all the time tried to escape from the balcony, even with a slight breeze. A couple of times we had to look for things in the grass and on the bushes. We couldn’t find the “fugitive” once, until we turned to the hotel employee, Nikolai, for help.
About Nicholas. Nikolai and his wife are employees of the LOCANDA Beach hotel. They are Russian-speaking, but they also speak Greek. By the way, if you do not know other languages and speak only Russian, Nikolai will be for you a “lifeline” about the hotel, which can understand you.
What are their posts, it is difficult to say for sure. But most likely, they, I apologize for the word, "black-workers". The wife of Nicholas is often seen in the hotel’s laundry window. She probably does laundry. Nikolay, most likely in the role of “skillful hands” - here to fasten, then to correct, there to move. And maybe they take part in preparing breakfast, watch and clean the dining room, we often saw them there.
Somewhere on the Internet, there are disgusting reviews that "Nikolai, with all his appearance, spoiled the rest ...".
Do not believe such reviews! It is not true. Yes, on their faces we did not see joy or smiles from ear to ear, but what do you want from them, Nikolay and his wife - people are already aged, they work from early morning until late evening. And they are laborers, not animators, to find fault with their appearance.
Room cleaning
Cleaning was carried out regularly and well. The change of bed linen, if my memory serves me, was done once a week.Hint
When leaving your room in the morning, do not forget to leave a coin (1-2 Euros) on the bed pillow, a cleaning lady, as a thank you for cleaning. Thus, when the cleaning lady will make your bed, she will understand that this money is “addressed” to her.
Returning to your room, you will not find this coin, but you will find that the room began to be removed somehow more carefully, and in the bathroom there may even be extra over-towels.
Most likely, this money will not be a big expense for you, but in the end, you will be better off and the cleaner will be pleased!
the Internet
Wi-Fi is certainly not a fountain, sometimes it was buggy, but it worked all days. Internet slowdown was observed in the early morning and late evening, during those hours when the hotel guests were in their rooms and created the greatest load on Wi-Fi. By the way, on the Internet there are reviews about the hotel LOCANDA, which supposedly Wi-Fi in the rooms worked very poorly, and worked well only at the reception. I do not argue, everything can be. But the fact is that our room was five steps away from the reception, and maybe that's why the “Wi-Fi” was not as bad as the others.Dining room (breakfast)
Hotel LOCANDA provided free breakfasts. Well, how, free? - of course they are not free, but simply included in the price of the room.The dining room is on the first floor. Small but cozy breakfast room on the "buffet" system. The range of food - so-so, my daughter and I did not really like. This is mainly cold plain dry bread: bread, modest slicing of bacon or ham, boiled eggs, cheese, slices of cucumbers, tomatoes and some fruits, juices. From the hot was only tea and coffee. Maybe I missed something from this list, but the essence remains the same - the food is “Spartan”.
But for us, these free breakfasts, as well as the pool, were not particularly needed, and we settled in this hotel by chance, and not because of these so-called breakfasts. We love to eat more satisfying. For us, such modest breakfasts offered by the LOCANDA hotel are the same as eating grass from the lawn;
For all the holidays, I went to breakfast three times, and then, mostly just to drink hot tea. Yes, and eat on the schedule of the hotel, I'm not inclined to this. I like to eat at a time when I want to.
The spouse, unlike our daughter and me, oddly enough, turned out to be more punctual and “omnivorous,” and went to breakfast more often than we did.
Bar
Near the pool there is a mini-bar. He worked only in the daytime. After swimming in the sea, the appetite rises, and a light "snack" on the beach near the pool, was just the way.The range of the bar is not large. In the menu: alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, ice cream and food. The food is simple, without any frills, not very expensive, but tasty - we liked it.
The bartender at this bar was the same person who took care of the pool, followed the sun beds with umbrellas, and helped in the garden. He did all this almost at the same time, alone, but everything was in time. He was always ready to help in everything, was friendly and helpful. Well done!
Beach
The beach is sandy, clean. Log into the sea convenient, without pitfalls. The water is clean and clear. Sun loungers and umbrellas are free for hotel guests. The beach is unofficial, i.e. it has no name, and even this is not a beach in the literal sense of the word, but simply a seashore. And this has its plus - there is no human overcrowding, as it happens on official beaches.
Pool
The swimming pool is located between the hull of the LOCANDA BEACH and the beach, a few steps from the Ionian Sea.I don’t even know what to tell about the pool. The pool is like a pool. He is of general use, and that says it all.
The fact is that we are not fans of shared pools, and we absolutely do not care if there is a pool at the hotel or not.
The communal pool is a generator of human hatred. Only in the general pool do you begin to understand how you "hate" other people's children and their parents who raised them.
Often, whatever the size of the general pool, it is not always possible to swim normally and calmly in it. Be sure there is someone unbearable teenager who will start jumping into the pool almost to your head. There will always be “bombardment” of the balls flying near your face or exactly at the “target”. Someone will dive nearby, someone will dive under you, someone will scream, and someone will cry hysterically with snot flowing from his nose into the pool. And their ill-mannered parents at this time will not make a single comment to their ill-mannered children, but instead will drift on inflatable mattresses in the middle of the pool, looking as if it is their private pool.
In fairness it should be noted that in the pool of the hotel LOCANDA - it was not always a herd of people. There were even moments when there was no one at all.
Disadvantages:
• the pool does not have an outdoor shower room where a person would be able to pre-doused with water before diving into the pool. Some sweaty people, sliding from their deck chairs, did not go at sea, but straight into the pool, transferring their sweat to it, in the “amazing” folds of cellulite.
• in front of the pool (from the beach) a special stone niche of the trough type is laid out, which is flooded with water and is intended for washing the feet so that your feet do not put sand into the pool. This niche is not just small, but very small, about 15 liters of water. The water in this niche is not flowing. There is not even a drain in the niche, which means that as water was poured in there, it would sour there and only add water as natural evaporation.
What fool thought to build such a niche with stagnant water? Does the administration of the LOCANDA hotel really not understand that this 15-liter trough for the feet of all guests is a real peddler of fungal infections ?!
Parking
On site LOCANDA has parking, it was provided free of charge, but it could accommodate only a few cars. But in 2016, when we rested there, no matter what time we arrived at the hotel, there was enough parking space, because most of the hotel guests were without cars.Council on the choice of hotel rooms
If you are going to stay at the hotel LOCANDA Beach, and you are a big lover of silence (especially at night), then when booking a room, be sure to check with the administrator which way the view will be:• rooms with windows (balconies) towards the sea are fairly quiet, even with an open window.
• all other sides of the hotel - can be very noisy, due to the large number of quad-bikes passing along the road, which are farting loudly, from morning until late evening.
Summary
Despite some of the above drawbacks, in general, we liked Hotel LOCANDA.Convenient location on Argassi street. By the sea. In walking distance to taverns and shops. Satisfactory building architecture and landscape design. The presence of its parking, which was important for us. And the ratio "price-quality."
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