What we are doing?
Well its coming up to our official opening date of the 1st of May and Samantha & I are in Kefalonia working our socks off trying to get Vassaliki back from the clutches of mother nature and the hurricane of September 2020.
The resort was in a really bad state with several trees down, pool bar roof gone, toilet roof lifted and leaking and all 100 metres of our wooden fencing ripped out of the ground (including cement foundations) and thrown across the road.
Samantha and I travelled out to Kefalonia via Athens on the 23rd March, this was a very stressful trip as we had to leave our car and Lucy dog back in the UK to fly. The trip went well but required a lot of extra paperwork and several small cotton sticks to be inserted into our noses until they hit our brains!!
We arrived and immediately started our 7 day quarantine in our villa, with the help of Kerry and Marina’s Market who took charge of ensuring food and wine deliveries for our short period of incarceration. By the 30th March we were allowed to start set up, but this year we are on our own, without our amazing team of British volunteers due to travel restrictions. So we set about the massive task ahead.
We have been working every day now and are really pleased with the results we have achieved. At the time of this newsletter going out we have got the pool clean and full both at the resort and at the villa, the gardens are looking a lot better after weeks of weeding, cutting and trimming, plus reception has had a very overdue makeover. But most importantly the bar is almost ready and the beer machine is waiting for you all!
We now start with the rooms. One by one each room with be inspected for damage. Regular repairs and maintenance will be done, which includes painting, plumbing, cleaning and an inventory to make sure the rooms are in the best condition for the coming summer.
At the moment (as we know things change every day) Vassaliki will open the gates to guests on 23rd May but I won’t be there for this momentous occasion as I will have flown back to the UK to pick up the truck and Lucy dog to drive back to Kefaloina with essential supplies.
Covid update (boring!)
We are all sick and tired of hearing about this virus now and the people here in Kefalonia are so desperate to get this summer under way. So what’s going to happen?
Well we still don’t really know. The Government here in Greece are opening up cafes, bars and restaurants on the 3rd of May after the Orthodox Easter weekend and there will no longer be any quarantine required for guests flying into Greece.
We understand that all travellers may require either a vaccination certificate or a negative covid test. We are still in the dark as to how these certificates are going to be issued and talks are happening as we write this newsletter to what kind of covid test will be required. We hope that a simple lateral flow test at the airport will be sufficient (just as we did on arrival to Athens) as PCR tests are expensive and take time to produce results but we wait to see.
Talks of a traffic light system to be in place will allow people to travel to countries with low covid rates with minimum restrictions which luckily Greece & Kefalonia have been since the start of the pandemic.
All we know is travel has to restart soon, the trade is on its knees and if the governments fail to allow us to operate, Vassaliki along with many more companies will cease to trade in the future and that really is something we don’t want to happen.
What we do know is, if you do make a booking with us and you are unable to travel due to flight or covid restrictions we offer a full refund or we will transfer your booking to a different date or next year.
Book Now!
If you have not already booked your holiday in the Grecian sun, we still have availability!
As we are opening from 23rd May, we have availability for the rest of May, throughout June up to 6th July.
We then have various availability from1st August until 1st September.
Lastly from 19th September to 9th October (we will close on 9th October for a private wedding.)
The Vassaliki team
We are really pleased to introduce Graham to the Vassaliki family. Graham lives on the island just a short drive from the resort. Graham has a massive knowledge of Kefalonia with many years experience of working in the tourism sector. Graham is joining us this summer to help in the pool bar with food and drinks service but I am sure he will be helping around the resort with all the jobs that need doing. We think he will be a great asset to our company.
We are really pleased to announce that Sam ‘Tinkerbell’ & mum Sheila will be back ensuring your rooms are spotless, plus Kerry will be with you each afternoon with the melon and happy hour! So a great team awaits you at Vassaliki.
Elfie – where is she now?
For those of you who stayed with us in 2019 you will have had the pleasure of meeting Elfie. Elfie joined us for the summer after finishing six form school. She very quickly settled into the Vassaliki life and became a very loved member of our team. Her energy and kind heart were very much appreciated by our guests and she has since gone on to do great things.
After finishing the season Elfie took the money she had been able to save and joined the church mission YWAM London Radiant. She is training with the group as well as helping with local communities in and around London.
She continues with her normal uplifting spirit to help raise money for the mission with the result of helping others.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/elfiecheethammissions
