Graham.
I'm so glad the Acropolis is still there! Will be able to pay a few visits during our weeks break. The Greek Wedding experience sounds lovely..you lucky things....:)

The food at Fiorentino is very good.

It's run by a lovely couple - Frank (who's German) and Roxani (who's Greek).

We first went there in May 1996, it was their first season and we were pretty much their first customers.
Roxani used to try out recipes on us. We loved everything she cooked.

We went back to Tsilivi in September 2001 and Fiorentino was VERY busy.

We did see some places that did sunday lunches and bangers & mash, but we gave those a wide berth.

We didn't have any trouble finding places that did Greek food like Kleftico.

i suggest you go on the tsilivi .co.uk website and ask the same question, i am going in 4 weeks and also have a no british policy when it comes to food,

They had a Macdonalds when we drove through in 2003 Put us off so we didn't stop! Whole resort seemed very busy to us far too many people for our liking - we didn't even see the beach just carried on driving.

not really in a position to give an opinion then

Daveeboy
that's very true!

There's probably a MacDonald's in every city and most towns in the world.
Yuk!

I do know there's one just across the road from The Temple of Luxor in Egypt, but that doesn't mean that you can't get good local food in Luxor.

You just have to look past these places - if they're not your cup of tea - and they certainly aren't ours - just don't frequent them!

I don't think you can dismiss a place just because there happens to be a MacDonald's on the High Street.

Polly

Actually in all the years we've been going to Greece Zante is the only place we've ever seen a MacDonalds - the fact that they chose to open up there tells you something about the type of people that go there!
Personally for us although we stayed in Old Alykanas which is very quiet and beautiful, Zante was the most commercialised Greek Island we've ever been to. Brits everywhere wearing either their Union Jack shorts/t-shirts or football strips - lovely!!!

There are actually 48 McDonald's Restaurants in Greece and the first one was opened in Athens in 1991 (Syntagma Square).
So, I guess you're lucky that you've only stumbled upon one so far.

I do agree with you that Zante is commercialised, as I said, we first went in 1996 and noticed a real change (in our opinion, for the worse) when we returned in 2001.

I doubt that we'll go back to Zante, we're trying Lesvos this June.
From all I've read, it's very unspoilt despite being the 3rd largest island in Greece.

Polly

Lesvos is lovely, very Greek. We have thought about taking an AOA to Zante for May Bank holiday but after reading several reviews, fear the worst (it sounds very 'ungreek'). We are still undecided. There will be 4 of us, me my hubby, my dad and our 11 year old son. Any comments appreciated.

Off to Zante soon and although with some trepidation now,having read all the recent reviews,I WILL make the most of it. Have prepared myself! (Had enjoyed some lovely holidays there during the nineties) I won't be eating anything from McDonalds though,never do and don't intend starting now. Will travel around a bit and see different parts of the island. Have also been to Glyfadda/Athens,Crete,Corfu,Rhodes and Kos...so far my favourite has been Crete.
ooh!...the weather in the summer months,in Greece can be phenomenal!
So,at least expecting some nice weather,albeit only May.

I'm sure you'll have a great time in Zante, Fiona.

There'll be lots of goods places to eat, without having to resort to McDonalds.

Polly

Thanks Polly, I'm sure we will! No offence to anyone who enjoys McDonalds,but I just hate that sort of food. (My husband had two double cheeseburgers,fries and a Mcflurry the other night and he was very sick during the night. )

Fiona you'll be fine - there are some lovely bits to Zante our absolute favourite was Dafni beach in the Vassilikos area, it's a bit of a hairy drive down to it but definitely worth it for the peace and quiet and the lovely sand.
As you're going in May you probably won't find it half as busy as we did - we were there in July so I guess that explains why it was so awful! (I must admit though that people watching was a lot of fun!)

Polly I think we've just chosen well which is why we've only stumbled across one Macdonalds. We've avoided islands like Corfu, Kos and Rhodes and tended to go to places where you can only fly from Gatwick/Manchester if we see lots of flights from regional airports then we don't go. I'd rather have a 3 hour drive to Gatwick then be surrounded by Brits when we get there!

Diane

so no brits fly from gatwick and manchester?

I know what you mean Diane. I think you will find, Duffi, that some of the least commercialised Greek destinations only fly from Gatwick and Manchester.

Hi Diane
That's a very clever way of choosing a less commercialised resort (flights from Gatwick/Manchester only).

We used to go to Greece a lot in the mid 1980's to the mid 1990's but then discovered Sri Lanka, Goa & the Far East so haven't been very much since.

I'm sure some of the lovely islands we visited 20 years ago would be unrecognisable to us if we returned now.

We hope we'll like Lesvos, I've also heard Parga is very nice, but I'm not sure how commercialised it is.

If you've got any recommendations on quiet, unspoiled (as in no 'Roast Beef Sunday dinners, no Bangers, Mash and Onion Gravy, no Big screen TVs, few or no discos and definitely NO 18-30), I'd love to hear about them.

Our first visit to Greece was Kavos on Corfu in 1985, it was just a sleepy fishing village then! That's definitely NOT on our list to return to!

Cheers
Polly

Hi Polly

We're heading back to Gialova on the Greek mainland this year. It's in the Peloponnese and Kalamata is the nearest airport. It's a small seaside village with 6/7 tavernas and surrounded by some of the best beaches we've ever come across. Voidikilia is one of them its in a protected area so is completely unspoiled no sunbeds no tavernas etc. Hardly any Brits as only a couple of expensive tour operators go there - (we're travelling independantly) lots of other nationalities pass through mostly in their camper vans. We love it there and will keep returning until the dreaded commercialisation finally arrives! The link below will give you some idea of what the area is like.
Parga is another favourite of ours its one of the prettiest places we've ever been to, lots of tourists but all nationalities so not aimed at the Brits which is good. We stayed at Valtos which is a huge beach just the other side of Parga and we'd walk in at night or take the water taxi. Beautiful area definitely worth a visit.
Skala Potamia on Thassos is also stunningly beautiful and again not many tour operators go there, it's somewhere we would like to return to.

Hope this helps a bit
Diane

Thanks for that, Diane.

I've made a note of these 3 places and I hope we get chance to visit them before they become too commercialised.

Polly

Hi all

My wife and I are thinking of going to Tsilivi on October 14th for a week for her 30th birthday. However we are a bit worried that nothing will be open.

Can anyone enlighten me as to whether the place will be completely dead or not!!!

Ta in advance