A Glimpse of Paradise (Pegasus Hotel, Roda, Corfu)

Member Name: kelr101

Product:	Pegasus Hotel, Roda, Corfu
Date:	08/10/05 (1562 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Family Run hotel, plenty of sunbeds, relaxed and happy atmosphere

Disadvantages: Greek toilet system!

Holiday Destination: Pegasus Hotel, Roda, Corfu, Greece

Holiday Duration: June 20th to June 28th 2005.



*Roda, Corfu*

The Pegasus Hotel is situated in Roda, a small village that was originally used mainly for fishing, but is now an ideal spot for touring the north part of Corfu. Roda consists of several well-managed restaurants and bars that offer something suited to couples, single persons or families, and boast's one of the loveliest sandy beaches in Corfu.

Roda's local inhabitants are all very friendly, and nearly all offer welcome greetings as you pass them on your tour of the village. The restaurants are nearly all owned by Greeks, with the odd English bar representative, and this enables the tourist to enjoy the plentiful Greek food whilst being able to converse fluently with the restaurant staff. In Roda, Greek specialities include fresh mussels, swordfish, Stifado and Moussaka, whilst other restaurants to be found include a Mexican, a Chinese and the odd English Bar. Overall this is a fairly typical Greek resort, which has not yet been changed to resemble an English resort.

Other facilities available in Roda include, bike and car hire, boat hire, parasols and sun-bed hire, a plentiful array of tourist and Greek shops, and companies offering day trips to nearby resorts, or across the Ionian Sea to Albania.


*The Pegasus Hotel, Roda*

The Pegasus Hotel itself was built in 1991, and consists of 39 rooms that sleep 2 or 3 persons. The hotel is very family orientated and is actually run by a local family that live in Roda. All who work at the Pegasus are extremely friendly and helpful, and enjoy making you stay as pleasant as possible. The hotel is open between 1st May and 31st October.

Reservations for the hotel can be either booked through your local travel agents, or via the hotel directly using the web submission form on the hotels website which can be found here: http://www.pegasus-hotel.com/html/res_request.html

The rooms themselves are traditional Greek rooms with white washed stonewalls, bathroom with shower, and a private balcony with inland view. Due to the drainage systems in Greece, individuals are required to place their waste paper into bins, but to minimise hygiene problems these bins are collected and emptied daily by the cleaning staff. The cleaning staff also changes the towels and sheets on a 2/3-day rota basis, and providing your room is empty (or you are happy to allow them whilst using your room), they will also clean the marble floors and the balcony. This is generally done between 10am and 12pm allowing guests to use the afternoon time for a siesta if they are so inclined. The rooms are very basic and have little of the pleasantries you will be used to at home, but they are very clean and comfortable sleeping quarters. Checkout time is 12noon on the day of departure but if availability permits, you can ask to keep you room for the final hours of your stay for EUR 30.00 (GBP 20.00), although a courtesy room is provided if you do not wish to do so, of which provides a shower and changing room space.

With regards to the rooms on the right hand side of the hotel, I would recommend hiring a fan, as these receive the full brunt of the afternoon sun, and are therefore extremely warm during the evening hours - almost to stifling point later in the summer months when the temperature is at its hottest.

All rooms are non-smoking, but ashtrays are provided for those who wish to smoke on the balcony area, as there are around the many bar and seating areas.

Within the hotel reception there is also a currency exchange function, whereby traveller's cheques can be converted into the local Euro currency. Daily exchange rates are consistently displayed in reception.

At the front of the hotel, on the right there is a reasonably large seating area, for the use of guests either relaxing, to provide seating whilst drinking from the bar or to relax in whilst playing pool. The pool table is situated to the left of the seating area and costs EUR 2.00 to play. The bar itself is within reception, and to the top left of the seating area (see picture below), and is equipped as per a standard bar, with several lagers of draught, cocktails, soft drinks, seating areas and an indoor television. Drinks purchased can either be settled directly or the bar staff will bring your receipt and drinks over to you, for the bill to be settled at the end of the night.

Also with the large reception foyer area, is a seating area that is generally used for guests just to relax within, but several nights a week the hotel show releases of the latest films using a projected cinematic screen. For example in June 2005 both "Batman Begins" and "Mr and Mrs Smith" were both shown.

Downstairs, and behind reception is where the breakfast restaurant can be found. This also used to be an evening restaurant, open to the public, but sadly demand was not sufficient enough to keep this open and it was closed last year. Breakfast is served between 7:30am and 9:30am and each room is allocated a permanent table to be used during their stay. Breakfast consists of Hard or Soft Boiled Eggs, Bread or Toast, various fruit juices, various jams, tea and coffee, and local ham and cheeses. Each accommodation is classified as B&B so the breakfast is included within the price of the rooms.

Other facilities available at The Pegasus Hotel include a 24 hour covered reception, hire of security deposit boxes, and the hire of fans, both with a local charge payable.

Accommodation prices vary according to the different websites and the different holiday agents, but the hotel owner advised that the average price was around EUR 39.00 (GBP 26.00). For a duration of 7 nights, within 20th to 28th August we paid GBP 240.00 per person, but this also included flights, airport taxes, transfers between the airport and the hotel, and a meal during the flight, so prices are extremely reasonable for this hotel.



*Pegasus Swimming Pool and outside facilities*

The Pegasus Hotel boasts the largest single swimming pool in Roda, which is also available for the public to use. During June this had no adverse effect, and there was never any overcrowding or excessive use of the area. There is a pool bar within the swimming pool, which is accessed by small bridges either side of the bar. The bar is also closest to the shallow end of the pool as due to the depth of the pool being under 3 metres the hotel were advised no lifeguards were required, so this way swimmers in the shallow end do have some protection. The pool bar is open from 10am to 7pm and has a variety of drinks available, including soft drinks, bottled beers, cocktails, and the local beer, Mythos, available on draught. The average price for a pint of Mythos is EUR 2.50 (GBP 1.70), soft drinks EUR 1.40 (GBP 0.95), and cocktails EUR 3.50 (2.50) of which prices are the same as the majority of restaurants and bars in the village. Currently the bar is managed by employee Spiras, who is also a close friend of the hotel owners, and his lively banter and conversation kept us amused for hours during our visits to the bar area.

The parasols and sun beds surrounding the pool area are all free, as are the mats available to use on top of the sun bed (similar to a mini mattress), which ensures greater comfort whilst sun-bathing.

Within the grounds of the hotel, there is also a small snack bar, which The Pegasus Hotel let out to other Greek locals to run, assisting with local employment. Here a small selection of snacks can be purchased for example Greek Salads EUR 5.00 (GBP 3.50), Bottles of water EUR 0.60 (GBP 0.40), various toasted sandwiches and baguettes EUR 2.50 (GBP 1.70), plus chips, and various flavoured ice cream.

There is a small games section towards to north of the hotel grounds, where table football and several arcade games can be played for EUR 0.50, although several of these were not working properly during our stay, but were due to be repaired shortly. There is also a tennis court to the north of the grounds, but this was generally only used later in the season.


*Personal opinion*

Our stay at The Pegasus Hotel was easily one of the best holidays my partner and I have had, and we thoroughly enjoyed the welcoming attitude and overall friendliness that this family run hotel provided. Each member of staff did there best to make us feel welcome, and several of the group would keep us entertained within the main bar during the evenings, either by sitting and talking to use, or challenging us to games of pool. The lively banter from Spiras and his delightful assistant constantly kept us amused and we would talk for hours about Greek economics (after the recent Olympic Games), Football (Spiras was a Liverpool fan), the restaurants and bars we'd been to, and being a Greek national would often encourage us to try other restaurants and foods.

Overall the accommodation prices were very reasonable, as were the local bar and snack bar prices. Admittedly we got a bit carried away with the cocktails but at roughly GBP 2.50 (when we pay GBP 5.00 in our local area) we just couldn't resist!

I thoroughly recommend The Pegasus Hotel in Roda, Corfu, and hope that any other tourist who finds there way to this delightful hotel and village enjoy their time as much as I did.


Thanks for reading
Kels

Summary: A Glimpse of paradise was certainly found in this delightful family run resort