just returned from 2 weeks in kardamena staying at the kris marie.
firstly the hotel was uncomfortable,dirty and they charge more than a wounded bull(see my review)!the area is dirty and could do with a good scrub,street lights were broken, roads are full of pot holes, broken paving stones and the beaches were disgusting and full of litter,supermarkets seemed to charge what they could get away with. we found the whole experience quite horrible,on the upside the local bar/restaurant owners were the friendliest we've met on the greek isles. (and we've been to a few)they themselves are fearing for their livelyhoods as the island depends so much on english tourists,but if they dont clean and repair the place, people will stop going there,we wont be returning.
we found all the shops sold the same tat at vastly inflated prices. (i.e.keyrings 2.5 euro,fake handbags 40 euro)now i know that greece is in a recession but so are we!!.we made friends with a smashing guy yianni at the adams bar, he told us that over the years millions upon millions has been brought to the island in tourist money and he's at a loss to figure out whats happened to it,we decided to take the local bus to kos town,dont think if your first at the bus stop you'll be the first on, everyone just pushes you out of the way.(i had my walking stick with me but still had to stand whilst others who arrived at the bus stop later sat down!)upon arriving to kos town we were greeted with greek graffitti all over,broken pavements, cars parked half on half off the pavement and on zebra crossings.(i say parked but it should be abandoned)having been to other greek islands we have seen how they reveer their history,with archeology sites open to the public ,well laid out and with signs diagrams showing the history. sadly not the same in kos town! we decided to go and see the famous tree of hipocrates, again the wall was covered in graffitti,we then went to walk around the historical castle,walking in, there was a shed with two women talking away ,i felt quite guilty interrupting them to pay our 6 euro apiece entrance fee ,the views are spectacular out to sea, but looking inside it was overgrown with dangerous steps that wobbled when you stood on them. no handrails or safety barriers anywhere! and with deep drops at the sides i'm suprised no ones killed themselves in there,again litter everywhere but what i couldn't understand there was no information anywhere you were,for want of a better phrase,walking round a dangerous pile of rocks!!getting back to kardamena we found it tired, dirty and a total rip off .such a shame because it has so much potential
- Hotel Kris Mari
- Kris Mari
