Paul and Mrs. Jacqui
United Kingdom
25 September 2015
Beautiful garden
Large swimming pool
No close neighbours - peace and quiet
Ms Mary's welcome and introduction
Having to leave
“We called this villa "The Garden of Eden"”
Villa Litsarda is one of the best villas we've rented in our many visits to Crete over the last 23 years. Its position, in hills above Almerida with no close neighbours except sheep, suited us well as we come here for peace & quiet after a busy season at home. The bells the sheep wear became the pleasant background sound to our stay.
The villa is very well equipped and everything, including the free WiFi, functioned perfectly. The eco design is interesting and the decor pleasant. Everywhere there is a feeling of spaciousness and having a large bathroom to each bedroom is useful.
The jewel in Villa Litsarda's crown for us was the beautiful garden and large swimming pool. The planting of lantana right next to the terrace is a bonus that we hadn't come across before; it attracted many sorts of butterflies, moths and bees right up to the terrace. Also good to see that the 3 Cretan palms in the garden are thriving and haven't fallen prey to beetles. Many of the shrubs and flowers attracted bees and butterflies and there was a constant happy buzz whenever the sun shone. The range of the Lefka Ori in the distance completes a wonderful picture. The gardeners/pool maintainers are to be congratulated. The garden has been beautifully planted and is well looked after. The pool is an absolute delight; large, deep and cool and one of the cleanest we’ve ever seen.
One thing we did notice is that at the time of year that we stayed – late September to early October - you do get more sun and warmth on the coast than in the hills above. For many days during our visit the clouds over the mountains spread low enough to exclude sun from the villa and garden, whereas we could see from our balcony that the coastline was in full sun. I don’t think this would be a problem at all during the summer months in fact the slightly lower temperature that comes with the higher altitude would be welcome.
A small thing to point out is that no pools towels are provided, so do bring your own.
Although we were just a couple staying at the villa, there is certainly plenty of room for 8 people as the proportions of both internal and external spaces are generous.
There are plenty of good beaches within a 15-minute drive. Almyrida and Georgeopoulis are probably the best known but our favourite was a long quiet stretch of sand west of Kalives. Turn down the little road to the sea opposite INKA supermarket, then left when you reach the beach. There are a couple of places to have coffee and eat but mostly it’s just sand, sea and views to Akrotiri.
The booking was extremely well handled by TheHotel.gr including assistance during our stay and an extensive and interesting introduction by Ms Mary.
We had a lovely time at Villa Litsarda and hope to return one day.
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