Makis Hotel ::...:: Skala ::...:: Kefalonia

Returned just last night from a fabulous week at this hotel, so the memories are fresh and accurate� With a relaxed yet professional atmosphere both the hotel staff who all spoke excellent English, and the Kosmar Holiday reps (all British and all of a certain age) looked after us brilliantly. Unusually for some holiday reps (past experience!) they actually did what they said they would do� They turned up on time, were always friendly and helpful, and nothing was too much trouble for them.

I was silly enough to forget to pre-book my hire car and wanted one after the second day�s chilling, but our rep John had one at the hotel in a flash. The next morning, just after dawn, I came down to find John testing the pool water, which he told me he did every week, for purity, cleanliness, the distance from the surface of the pool to the tiled edge, (an important safety feature) and various other checks, including really pulling at the handrails around the pool to ensure they were firmly fixed�

The bedrooms, which were advertised as being small, were no such thing! I�m six feet one and twenty stone, and I can assure you they were plenty big enough for me. The free air conditioning was reasonably efficient, adequate for September, (around twenty five to thirty degrees on most days) and, cleverly, switched itself off when you opened the window to avoid selfish people wasting electricity. With the odd exception (more below) the rooms were well maintained and very clean, and the vast majority had their own balcony facing the sea. The breakfast restaurant, which had it�s own very large balcony, was, as expected, clean and well run, with a good selection of continental breakfast foods.

The bar, (again, half outdoors and half in) was well stocked, relaxed and happy, the lovely Poppy looking after us during the hot and sunny days around the pool, and at night the �Iamas� man entertaining us with his good humour and brilliant cocktails.

The local restaurants were excellent, and there were at least a dozen within fifteen minutes gentle stroll from the hotel. This was important to us, as, whilst three of our party were in their thirties, my wife and I are well in our sixties. This is definitely not a noisy nightlife venue, although one or two of the bars in town offered good modern music, with various TV channels thrown in, many of which seeming to specialise in football, and all of them competing with the music� Almost without fail, the local people spoke good English, and we were made to feel very welcome to their island.

Any drawbacks? We would have liked a kettle in the room, and some lights in the bathroom (despite reporting the latter problem on our second day) but generally, we were more than happy with the hotel.

We met one lovely family from Warminster who were on their fourth visit to the hotel within the past two years, and we can well understand why. We will certainly come again next year!