Aegean Village - a Karpathos Gem

It's partially a mystery to me why it's so hard to find information on the Aegean Village on the island of Karpathos. Partially because most of what is out there is in German, Dutch or Swedish... not in English. Then again, given that nearly all English-speaking visitors to Karpathos have ties to the island (ancestors, 2nd generation Greeks, etc.), most of the people visiting the Aegean Village are much much more likely to come from Stockholm or Roskilde than anywhere in the U.S.

Seems to me like a lot of Americans are missing out on an amazing island. For those of us who like to go to places taht are off the radar, that's a good thing. Karpathos is stunning... you'll find beautiful beaches, tidy mountain villages and extremely warm people. In the meantime, Americans and other tourists queue up for dinner in Santorini and Mykonos, paying inflated prices for subpar service. No thanks. I'll stick to an island like Karpathos and in particular to a hotel like Aegean Village.

So, what made the hotel so special? First off, the view... amazing! The hotel occupies a perfect spot on a promontory overlooking Amoopi. To the right is a rock outcropping that frames the area and to the left are the various beaches of Amoopi. A stunning one sits just below the hotel... a two minute walk from the pool area. Beach beds and umbrellas are available for 6 Euros a pair for the day.

The hotel has an on-site restaurant serviced by a friendly crew of Scandinavians - mostly interns and employees from Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands. Given their clientele, they can speak to clients in their native tongues although most conversations are in English since clients also come from Italy. The restaurant also serves breakfast and the bar/restaurant stay open until midnight. Charles, a Swedish chef who previously worked on a cruise ship, mans the kitchen and offers daily specials for lunch and dinner.

The hotels grounds are immaculately maintained. All rooms face the Aegean and have spacious balconies or terraces. Rooms are comfortable and include A/C, satellite TV and tidy bathrooms with showers. Some rooms are larger (the bungalows) to accommodate families traveling together. Most have twin beds (as is the standard in Greece) but some come with doubles. Just ask. Other perks include wireless access and computers for guest use although wireless works best in the lobby.

The beach below the hotel

...and a smaller, hidden nook in Amoopi

Manolis, the owner, truly cares about his guests. We really enjoyed his hospitality and the way he made us feel at home. In part, we keep asking ourselves, why did we come back? So many Greek Americans move to Karpathos and never leave. I understand why...

Our gracious host

Pigadia may have more restaurants and nightlife... Arkasa may be a quainter town... but Amoopi offers several great beaches, shelter from the strong winds, a handful of tavernas and a highly recommended Aegean Village hotel.

A Better Meal than Gyros and Souvlaki

Most people who visit Athens - whether for a night before heading off to an island or for a week in the city - opt to stay somewhere close to Plaka. The area is charming, walkable and in the shadow of the Acropolis. There's plenty of life and for someone new to Greece, it makes for an easy introduction to the city of Athens.

With the area's popularity comes a touristy side. Food is often marked up and restaurants tend to focus on the more common Greek fare... gyros, souvlaki, spanakopita and moussaka - Greek meals known worldwide. Unfortunately, that means that a vast majority of tourists miss out on more typical Greek meals. They tend to stick to restaurants with pictures of food and marked up prices. It's a shame because there's much more to be found.

I'll fill you in on a restaurant that doesn't fit this bill. While it's not necessarily a secret, it appeals to Greek tastes, has reasonable prices and is off the beaten path for tourists. The restaurant is Mani Mani.

Now... let's start with some background. What does Mani mean? Mani is a region in the Peloponnese in Greece. As someone told me in Karpathos, it is a hard region with hard people - in part because of tough geography and climate. So, Mani Mani focuses on food from this region. In fact, you'll find more dishes like rooster and less (none) like souvlaki.

Anything you order, be it an appetizer or a main course, can be ordered as a half or full order. We started by splitting three appetizers - haloumi (the best we had in Greece), typical Mani sausages with orange essence and a type of fried dough with a local hard cheese. We then ordered dishes that both centered on rooster - my wife had a Greek pasta with rooster, asparagus, mushrooms and sundried tomato and I had rooser served on top of a small Greek pasta. Both were great. Add a glass of wine and our meal was under 30 Euros, less than we would've spent at a touristy restaurant.

Mani Mani is only 5 minutes by foot from the new Acropolis Museum but feels like it is a world away. Located at Falikarou 10 in Makrigiani, Mani Mani is on the 1st (2nd floor) of a restored building. You won't spot it if you aren't looking for it so look for the street level sign and the lit up windows up top.

A Quick Sojourn in Washington DC

So here I am, sitting in a Washington D.C. hotel room on a Sunday night. I don't like business travel that starts/ends on a weekend but, in all fairness, our consultants do it all the time. I can handle it once in a blue moon.

I'm in town for a national conference and rather than staying at a $200+/night national chain (i.e. Hampton Inn, Marriott, Hilton, Embassy Suites, etc.), I opted for the Donovan House Hotel. The Donovan is the DC location of the small Thompson Hotel boutique chain. For $189.00/night, I landed a comfortable room in a stylish hotel that is a mere 10 minute walk from the convention center. $189.00 gets you plenty of space, access to a fitness center and you're only a 10 minute walk from this...

Not bad.

Now, I took the super shuttle from BWI to Washington D.C. The cost was $37.00 compared to an estimated $85.00 taxi fare (W-O-W!). Waiting for the shuttle took about 20 minutes and then the ride was maybe 45 minutes long. Thankfully, I was the first stop.

After I checked in, I decided to do some walking... down Vermont to the White House, around the Treasury Building and over to the Ellipse. I thought about walking over to the Washington Monument but decided against it. I would walking further and further from the hotel and I wasn't sure that I felt like it. So, I took a meandering route back to the hotel to where I would pick a place for dinner.

After a few searches on the Washington Post's page, I opted for Luigi's Famous Pizzeria. The editorial review was good enough and the restaurant was easy to find (about a five block walk), inexpensive (My total meal, with tip, was under $20.00) and apparently a Washington staple (in business since the 1940s). How was it? Pretty good... not great but good.

The restaurant had a inviting main dining room with a cozy atmosphere. The sunroom seating seemed a little cold to me and the upstairs room was larger and less cozy. To me, the main room was the spot. I started with a bell pepper bruschetta that wasn't bad and it was only $2.50 for two pieces. The bread echoed what I had read from some reviews - it seemed kind of stale. If it wasn't for the topping, it may not have been worth eating. I then ordered a pizza for one with mortadella, artichoke hearts and green olives. The pizza was big enough for 2 with lots of cheese (far too much for my personal taste) and piled with ingredients. It was a good pizza - heavy - but good. I would go back but not by myself as the pizza was just too much. I topped it all off with an espresso and, again, I was just under $20.00 (incl. tip). Not bad.

The pizza was weighing me down so I headed back to the hotel for an apres-dinner workout. The "state of the art" fitness center (as advertised on the page) includes 4 treadmills, 2 ellipticals and 1 recumbent bike. There's also a weight bench and a set of dumbbells, ranging from 2 1/2 lbs up to 50 lbs. That's enough to get a workout in. I ran through some supersets of compound moves like squats to overhead presses and then called it a night.

Here I am... tomorrow I'll head to the convention. After that, I planning on hoofing it to Union Station where I'll catch a MARC train to BWI. I'll let you know how it went.

Quick Pho Tip

Here's a quick dining tip... I decided to check out Tau Bay (not to be confused with Pho Tau Bay) today on the Southwest Freeway - a popular Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of 59 and Beechnut. Excellent place for pho. My boss and I went there for lunch and had two stout bowls of pho for $13.00. Not bad. A majority of the clients were Asian and the service was fast and efficient. Apparently the SW Freeway location is better than the Bellaire location as it is run by the original owner.

Tau Bay
8150 Southwest Freeway
Located in the same shopping center as the Carnaval night club.

Getting Ready to Discover Karpathos

So, I mentioned Sicily was off... well, where will be be going?

Karpathos

In fact, the page above, hosted by Sven Damm in Germany, is one of the main reasons we chose Karpathos, an island in the Dodecanese tucked between Crete and Rhodes. What a beautiful island! Gorgeous beaches, stunning and sometimes foreboding mountains, traditional villages and reasonable rates. It's also a bit off the beaten path... that means it is off the radar of most of the masses. Good news for us.

The island is certainly larger than Milos but still pretty manageable. From what we've road, most of our time will be spent in the southern half since the northern half is mostly wild and untamed. Getting to Olymbos via the main "road" on the northern half of the island takes 3 hours... apparently three grueling hours.

Anyway, we'll be staying at the Aegean Village (see below) in Amopi at the very reasonable rate of 70 Euro a night for a seaview room. Nice!

All we need to do now is rent a car and we'll be good to go. Otherwise, our stay in Athens will be in familiar hotels... the Athens Gate and the Sofitel.

Two reasons to visit El Preferido

There are many reasons to visit El Preferido de Palermo in Palermo Soho. Here are two - an ice cold chopp of Quilmes and a picada.

Ready Mady Itinerary in Sicily

I have to say I was awfully excited about heading to Sicily in September... we would finally visit a part of Italy neither of us had seen and we would be going without relatives. A good plan! We booked our reward tickets, came up with a whole itinerary and made all of our reservations.

Ai Lumi - 5 nigts at Ai Lumi in Trapani. Now, some might ask, why Trapani? Simple... the ferries run very frequently from Trapani to Favignana. If you catch the hydrofoil, you're there in 20 minutes and the hotels cost 1/2 of what they would on the island. Trapani is know for excellent cuisine and it's also close to places like Erice. But Favignana... that's what we were looking forward to visiting. A gorgeous island know by few Italians and pretty much no Americans. It would've been a dream.

Casale Corcella - 2 nights in Scopello. Now, this simple farmhouse not only had an amazing view of the Golfo di Castellamare, it was a nice property, had beautiful rooms and was near the very charming town of Scopello. Everything I had heard about this area was fantastic - beautiful bays in which to swim, small trattorie and the nearby Riserva Dello Zingaro. Scopello is well known for a famous tonnara where one can swim in a gorgeous setting. The town, while tiny, is supposed to be a perfect little place. I was excited about the two days we would spend in this town. Segesta was just around the corner, too.

Casa Ruffino - 1 night in Balestrate at a very highly reviewed B&B. We thought... why stay at a mediocre hotel near the airport when we could stay in another seaside town in a B&B that sounds simply charming. Ahh... another tough one to pass.

Well, conflicts are conflicts and we just won't be able to go in September. In the future, we do have ready-made itinerary all in place. The hotels are selected, the towns are picked out... all we need are new tickets.

Now... that doesn't mean we're out of luck. We will get to go somewhere else...