Testimonials and feedback about Dolphin Hellas Travel & Tourism: year 1998

Aliki:
As Jan and I were reminiscing about our wonderful trip to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, we remembered that, in our hurry to get back into our routines of everyday life, we never gave you our sincerest thanks for all the work you did for us. We cannot imagine being able to have such a good time without all the extra effort you put in for us. We truly did appreciate it. Please pass this on to your boss so that she knows also what a great job you did!

THANK YOU for your help!

Forrest and Jan K.

Kostas,

I thank you so very much for your expert and quick action in changing our reservations. We wish you many blessings for this Christmas and New Year.

Barbara, Lou and Doris

PS: I'm glad you clarified the difference in names. Somehow or other Lou and I thought we were communicating with a very nice woman, but when your colleague sent us a message that Kostas (HE) was out because of illness that dawn finally came that we were dealing with a very nice gentleman. Kostas Kefallonitis we salute you.

Dear Kostas,

Now that I am (unfortunately...) back to Munich, I would like to thank you very much for the good organization of my stay at the RIVA Hotel in Athens. I was very pleased to find your letter and some folders (even in German language) about Athens when I reached the hotel.

Due to bad weather conditions, Lufthansa cancelled my flight to Athens at 11 a.m. on Thursday. I was booked on the Lufthansa flight at 7.30 p.m., which meant that I missed my first concert at the Megaron!!! I was very sad about that, and it was dull to spend the whole day at the overcrowded Munich airport. As Lufthansa could not tell us whether the plane at 7.30 p.m. would be cancelled, too, I asked Olympic Airways whether I could book a seat on their evening machine. This was possible. The Lufthansa was delayed and said to depart at midnight. I did not believe it (and it really was cancelled, too, after all!). So I took Olympics (which finally departed at 10:30 p.m.). My luggage was left behind in Munich as Lufthansa did not manage it to deliver it to Olympics. What a chaos! I reached Athens at 2.30 a.m., 12 hours late and long after the first concert at Megaron. But I was there! Although there was a taxi strike, I was lucky to be able to share the only taxi waiting at the airport with two men who wanted go to a hotel nearby the RIVA. It was 4 a.m. when I got there... But everything was prepared so well for me. Two hours later, I woke up and phoned the airport in order to claim for my lost baggage. As I was awake anyway and did not want to loose a minute of time, I had breakfast and then went for a walk to Plaka and the Acropolis. The sun was shining, it was warm, Athens looked so charming to me, Plaka and the ancient monuments were so beautiful, and I knew I did the right thing - just come to Athens, no matter when my luggage would reach the town (well, it was delivered to my hotel at 10 p.m. on Friday)... I was on holiday, and everything was fine. People were friendly (also especially EACH of the receptionists at the RIVA!!!), the sights were not at all overcrowded - yes, Kostas, I had a great time. Also yesterday's concert at the Megaron (a performance of "Salome" with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and A-class singers!) was really, really wonderful and worth coming to Athens. I am sure I will come back some day and of course book my trip again with your travel agency. To my Austrian friend Andrea, who wants to visit Athens in January, I can only report the best things about your beautiful town.

Thank you again for everything!

Best regards from Munich, Blanka

Kiki,

Thank you very very much. I have told one of my friends that is going to Greece next year to use you. We hope to again soon in the future. It is cold here too, well about 55 degree Farenheit but that is cold for Houston.

Thanks again for helping to make a great honeymoon for us. Amy

Dear Aliki
Thank you for helping us with all of our travel arrangments. You made the trip much easier for us. We had a wonderful time in Greece and hope to return some day.

All the best, -Dana

Hello Kostas:

I was going to write to thank you for the excellent service you kindly provided us. The entire trip was absolutely perfect and it was the most organized trip we ever had. Athens was spectacular as was Crete. I could hardly believe it but we had the entire palace of Knossos to ourselves and were even able to go there by public bus ( as a personal challenge ). As for the particulars as you requested:

1) Drivers: All of the drivers were extremely courteous and prompt. They arrived on-time and were extremely polite. Our Athens driver ( whose name I do not remember) was particularly noteworthy as he made us feel extremely welcome, gave us excellent review of Greek History and would not leave until he made sure all of the plane reservations were correct and that we had found our way to the gates. He was even awake at 3:29 AM !!!!

2) Hotels: The Divani Acropolis was a good recommendation. They furnished a large clean room with a view of the Acropolis. The staff was very helpful and the location close to the Plaka was very convenient. We would easily stay here again. Candia Maris : This was almost empty but a truly first class experience. The room and view were excellent. The staff, especially a desk person named Dora, were extremely helpful. The grounds are well maintained. Their breakfast was the best we had during the entire trip.. We had only one lunch there on arrival - a moussaka which was the only bad meal we had during the visit. As a result, we went into town for the other meals. The dining room was quite lovely and we don't know if the chef was on vacation or whether someone in the kitchen had one bad day!! Nevertheless, we would highly recommend this resort to anyone and would like to come back here in the summer!!! Opa! St. George Lycabattus - The location was excellent as it gave us an entirely different perspective on Athens. The rooms are well maintained though quite smaller and noisier than the Divani Palace Acropolis. We would also stay here again without question. It is important to bring a map since even one of the local policeman could not find the hotel and had to use his radio to ask for help. We did find an excellent local restaurant which had a French flair added to Greek ingrediants which also gave us a new perspective on the local cuisine.

Even Olympic Airways was rather prompt and managed to deliver our luggage without problems. We will definitely consider a return here in the near future as it is a wonderful country.

In fact, a woman in the department who is of Greek heritage has a daughter who is planning a honeymoon in Greece. I have given her your name with my recommendation and hopefully they will contact you soon.

Thank you again for the bookings and the lovely posters. We look forward to working with you in the future.

All the best Steve and Leslie

Dear Aliki,
Thanks for all the effort you put into our travel arrangements for Mykinos and Rhodes. We thoroughly enjoyed both islands and the accommodation was well located and of a high quality. We also appreciated you checking on our safe arrival in Rhodes, when all the flights from Athens had been delayed.
Thanks again, Jenny and Bruce C.

Dear Kostas,

I just wanted to thank you for resolving the hotel issue for us. We do appreciate it a lot. Also, I wanted to let you know that we really liked
the hotel in Greece. It was lovely and very well-equipped for children. Our daughter loved it.
We very much enjoyed our trip to Greece and look forward to hopefully visiting again. Thank you very much for all your help.

Sincerely,

Sarah H.

Dear Catherine !!!

Thank you very much again for your efforts to organise the hotel accomodation for my relatives and friends during the last week-end.
...
To be honest my schedule was completely crowded because I have to look for my relatives and friends and I never found the time to say thank you to you personally. I want to apologize that and will make another trial when I will pop over tro Athens next time, ok ?

S' efcharistume para poly....
Kind regards to all of your "crew"

K. Schutte

Dear Aliki,

We just returned from Paris after a lovely holiday.
My wife and I wish to thak you for the flawless arrangements you made for our holiday. If you ever need any help re India--or wish to travel
here yourself, please do email us.

We thank you once again.

Warmest personal regards,

Marut S.

Dear Kostas,

Thank you very much for all your help and assistance. I am so glad I found you. I do not think others will give me such good service.
I guess credits should go to the person created www.athensguide.com for recommending your company.
...
Thanks again.

brgds,
Vincent

Dear Aliki,
Once again, Howard and I would like to thank you for all your assistance and caring attitude as you helped us plan our recent trip to Greece. Everything worked out perfectly! As a trvel agent I can only hope that my own clients have half as much luck in their travels as we had in Greece. Everyone knew that we were coming and what our needs were. They did their best to meet those needs. You gave us the one gift that a traveler cannot buy -- respect.
I am now back to work in my travel agency and telling everyone to "sell Greece." It is truly wonderful.
Our driver, George Hatzokos, is a very special person and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have spent time with him. He is extremely knowledgeable and informed and is very able to share his knowledge with you. In addition he is pleasant and very willing to assist whereever possible. What a treasure he is!
As I mentioned to you, I will be sending you a summary of our experiences. However, this week is our holiday of Thanksgiving and we are busy with that.
Please accept our heartfelt thanks for a very special experience -- sharing your country.
Howard and Pat B.

...

When we first contacted you about 18 months ago we asked if you thought it  would be possible for us to see Greece while using a wheelchair as a means of transportation. Your answer was that you thought it would be difficult but mostly possible. We have just returned from 2 weeks in Greece and it was wonderful.
Things worked out perfectly but only because of the hard work of Aliki. Even though I am a travel agent here in Baltimore we decided to have her do all the arrangements. After all, she speaks the language! We visited Rhodes, Santorini, a car and driver outside of Athens for 5 days (Delphi, Olympia,
Nauplion) and then Athens for 3 nights. Our driver was outstanding (great English and a non-smoker) and in addition to educating us about his country he also imparted his love of his country to us. We now have a new friend in Greece -- George. When we got to Athens we met Aliki and even took a picture of me with her. She is truly a special person. While we were in the Plaka we bought gold jewelry from the shop you recommended. (And told them why we were there!) The trip was a very special one for us and we appreciate your Greece
Newsletter's contributions to it.
Thank You!
Howard and Pat B.

Dear Kiki:

You may remember me from last summer. I am the American law student from Boston who visited Greece for the whole summer.
I wanted to write to say formally thanks so much for helping to make my trip to Greece so special.
I really had the time of my life and your country is one of the most beautiful in the world. I am sorry I had no time to visit you once more before I left. By the way, everything at Hotel Attalos wa fine. It was reasonably priced and convenient to Plaka which was great.
I will be back in the near future.
Best wishes.

James (Jim) P.

Dear Aliki:

Thank You for making our trip to Greece a success. We apreciated your help planning the trip as well as your help when we needed to make changes during our trip. It was great to have a travel agent that really cared.
We will tell anyone planning a trip to Greece that you come highly recommended, and we will certainly book our next trip to Greece through you.

Thank You again, we had a wonderful time.

Sincerely:

Jim F. and Jane T.

Just a note to say thanks for helping to arrange a great trip for us. We loved the windmill house in Sifnos; the Adrian Hotel was just right in terms of location, price, quality and friendliness; the rental car was great. Everything went very smoothly (except the hydrofoil to Sifnos, which was pretty bumpy!), and we appreciate everything Dolphin Hellas did for us.
Thanks, both to Kostas and to the woman who helped us on the day of our arrival (Aliki), when Kostas was in the hospital. I hope all is well with Kostas.

--Many thanks, Betty W.

Dear Aliki, we had a wonderful vacation in Greece. We were very pleased with all of the arrangements that you made for us. I know that Cheryl particularly appreciated the cleanliness of the hotels. It was so nice of you to call our hotel in Paros to check on us.
The weather was as expected. Many good days, a couple of not so good days.
Surprising to us we became very interested in your country's history and archeological sites. We especially enjoyed visiting the Minoaon ruins in
Akrotiri. So much so that we made a special point to visit the Archeological Museum in Athens to see the actual excavated frescoes. We bought a
reproduction of the fisherman fresco to hang in our kitchen. Being able to see the Parthenon from our room at the ... Hotel in Athens was a real treat.
Through motor scooter or car we were able to see most of Paros and Santorini. The marble quarry on Paros was fascinating. The caldera of Santorini is the most stunning vista that I have ever seen. People were helpful and friendly.
...
Thank you Aliki for all your help. You live in a beautiful country with a fascinating history and interesting people. We appreciate being able to experience it for a couple of weeks.

Best regards,

Clark and Cheryl W.

To Dennis and Kiki,

I recently used Dolphin Hellas to book room, air, boat and tour reservations while on my trip to Greece. Thanks for all your help!
I did have one snafu -- I was not picked up the hotel you told me to go to for my one day trip to Delphi. A last minute phone call and a speedy (though pricey) cab ride got me to Key Tours in time to catch the bus (even though the bus had just taken off, it had to make a u-turn and the staff at Key Tours flagged down the bus in time). It was a nice respit from the congested city and the visit to Delphi was memorable.

Though I did end up spending five great days with friends at the end of my trip on Lesvos, the most memorable part was my time spent on Skiathos. Your accommodations at Villa Nefi were just perfect. Skiathos is my size island! And I made some new friends that roomed next to me -- the Taylors from New Zealand.

I know I'll be returning to Greece -- probably in a few years. I'll be sure to keep you in mind when booking my arrangements while there.
And I'll be glad to pass along a recommendation for Dolphin Hellas to friends who may be heading your way.

Thanks again for all your help. Calendars and pictures of Greece adorn my office walls as reminders of my pleasant time spent there.

Lyn Gray

Hi Kostas,
... I, too, was sorry not to meet you in Athens. We fell in love with Greek salads and ate them twice a day. Also, I have been making them at home since we returned. On Santorini we found a restaurant that actually had fish (we were astonished that it was so hard to get fish - plenty of kalamari and seafood, but fish was rare) that the owner caught himself. We went there twice (our first and last evenings). I loved the excavation at Akritori, and we rented a car so we were able to get around the island easily. We swam in the Agean SEa, so warm and nice. The pool at ... was too cold for more than a dip, but we really liked the location at Imerovigli just above Skaros (I think that is the name of the land formation that sticks out and makes a great hike - we climbed up on top of the rocky formation). We also had a great night at Oia at a restaurant that claims to have the best view of the sunset.
The owner spoke good English and cooked pasta for my husband that was the best he ever had, then Takkis sat and talked with us until we were ready to leave. It was quite interesting. In Athens, we liked the Eden restaurant best and went there twice, also. It was really great. Another time, we followed your map and instructions and walked up the acropolis through the charming  restaurants and around and down the other side to the Piano restaurant for vegetarian food, but the piano was not being played the evening we were there and actually the food was not so vegetarian, but we enjoyed the walking tour of the Plaka very much. We did the Athens 1/2 day tour and enjoyed it, and the second day, we went to Mycenae and Epidarius, quite interesting as well. The rest of our trip was in Italy and France.
...
Of course, I'll let you have a stab at finding us a place in Greece, when we come again, but you will probably be operating on the internet by then and technology will be such that you'll be ble to pop up pictures for us as we "chat" - won't that be fun? It will be a while before we can afford to
come again, but we did enjoy it.
Well, I didn't mean to write such a long letter. I'm so glad you're well!
Please stay that way.
Yia ssou,
Carolyn

To Dennis and Kiki,

I recently used Dolphin Hellas to book room, air, boat and tour reservations while on my trip to Greece. Thanks for all your help!
...
I know I'll be returning to Greece -- probably in a few years. I'll be sure to keep you in mind when booking my arrangements while there.
And I'll be glad to pass along a recommendation for Dolphin Hellas to friends who may be heading your way.
Thanks again for all your help. Calendars and pictures of Greece adorn my office walls as reminders of my pleasant time spent there.

Lyn G.

To Aliki and others who helped with our travel arrangements:
Thank you so much for all your help. Our trip was wonderful and all our hotels, car arrangements, and the ferry arrangments worked perfectly.
My sister and I loved Greece and had a great time.
...
and again, thank you for all your help. I will definitely recommend you to anyone I know who is traveling to Greece. You made our trip much easier.

Mary T.

Aliki-
...
I would like to thank you for the wonderful job with the arrangements! Our trip was a smooth success. I was nervous about making reservations over the net at first, but you made the experience a truly positive one. Thank you!

Lorianne S.

Eleni

I wanted to drop you a line to say that we were very pleased with all your arrangements for Sharon and I last week in Greece. We both had a
wonderful time in Athens and Santorini. Thank you for all your help!

Eric and Sharon.

Eleni & Kiki -

Thank you for your assistance in making reservations for our trip to Athens and Santorini. We enjoyed our time in Greece and were very pleased with
the accommodations.
We appreciate all of you help and would gladly use your agency again and recommend it to anyone travelling to Greece.

Many thanks,

Sharon Y.

Kiki,
First of all, Thank you for your wonderful hospitality! I am sorry, my courtesy has been so late. We loved our visit, dinner and all of your great
accomadations.
The hotels, especially the ... were wonderful. I tried to make contact with you when we returned to Athens, but already knowing you, and your
schedule, you were working!
Our whole experience was wonderful, and I promise, if I never do personal business with you again, which or course I hope I will beable to, I will
praise your professionalism, great choices of hotels, and details over the USA internet!
...

Kiki, again thanks so much, hopefully we can be travel friends in the future,

Claudia G.

Dear Kiki,
We would sincerely like to thank you for the work you did, in organising our recent trip to Greece. Everywhere we stayed, we were warmly welcomed.
The hotels were great and in fabulous positions, that allowed us to easily walk to the main parts of each town. We have both fallen in love with your
beautiful country, and the absolute generosity of the greek people made it very hard for us to leave.
We also appreciate the many changes that you made once Joanne joined the trip. It must be frustrating at times, to communicate by the internet, when
you cannot speak face to face.
Again, many thanks and we are sorry that we did not have a chance to meet you in person while in Athens.
We hope to return to Greece some day and bring our children so they can get to know the beauty of your country.

Efkharisto !

Karen L. and Joanne G.

Dear Kiki:

We had a marvelous trip to Greece, thanks to you. Of all the places we went and saw, Bill said he'ld like to go to Mykinos and Santorini again. Our trip home was long and uneventful.
...
Again, Kiki, thanks for all that you did. You put the trip together beautifully and everything went like clockwork. It was wonderful!!!!!

Fondly, Jeanne

Aliki,

I just wanted to say thank you very much for your help in our honeymoon. We had a wonderful time. I think we went at the right time.
It never felt that crowded. The weather was great, the food was wonderful, the wine was tasty and the people were friendly. The
accomadations were wonderful. We easily could have stayed in Santorini for the whole trip. It was beautiful. Alot of stair climbing though.
Thanks again

Sergio L.

Kostas - Greetings from San Francisco! We got back Saturday. I'd like to thank you so much for all of your good work! We all had a WONDERFUL time - Greece is more beautiful than I ever thought! Can't wait to go back! Thanks again!
Grace A

Aliki,

We had such a GOOD time on our honeymoon. You picked out wonderful places for us. We were just talking about Santorini and Sifnos.We were saying how Sifnos is not listed in all of the books. I am so glad that we found a nice out of the way wonderful island. EVERYTHING was just so wonderful and we are ready to return.
You have won permanant friend in the U S. We hope to do another trip very soon.
THANK YOU AGAIN........JIM AND BONNIE C.

Kostas,

I just wanted to drop a note and say thanks again for all of the arrangements you made for me. My husband and I enjoyed Greece very
much and all of your recommendations were good ones. Thank you for doing an excellent job.

Linda D.

Dear Kiki:

We arrived in Athens to a packet of vouchers and a perfectly detailed itinerary from your Agency, and have returned from our vacation in Greece with a lifetime of magnificent memories.
We enjoyed every minute of our time in your beautiful country - particularly our accommodations in Santorini ... and Naxos .... and the Plaka area - was ideal for our first night in Athens.
...
Please accept our most sincere thanks for your efforts in arranging such an ideal trip. I truly appreciate your kind attention to every detail. We will be sure to recommend you to friends who we are encouraging to make this wonderful trip.

Thank you, again.

-Cynthia P.

Dear Aliki,

Thank you so much for helping Jeff and I have the best vacation ever! All our hotels were great but of course, best of all was the Atlantis Villas. We can't say enough about our room, the location, the view and the staff. Everyone there was just wonderful.
Based on our experiences, please recommend to your clients to: 1) bring a wash (face) cloth, 2) bring sleeping pills (the beds are very lumpy and the pillows flat and hard) and 3) above all else, do not stay overnight in the city of Irakolian (the noise level was impossible - planes all night, chairs scraping, doors slamming, people talking, cats fighting, dogs barking, etc.).

Thanks again for all your help in planning our vacation. You have a beautiful country.

Best regards,
Cindy Byron

Dear Aliki:

We just got back from our month long trip and I want to thank you for the excellent arrangements you made for us. We had a wonderful time in Greece!

The hotels were all adequate and I'm very pleased that we chose to stay at Tolo as you recommended. The King Minos is a very nice hotel and excellent for its price!
We also enjoyed walking around the village, and as you said the climate was more pleasant than at Nauplion.

I also want to comment on our driver, George Hatzokos. He was really superb! He spoke very good english, was very knowledgeable about the countryside, chose the most interesting routes, places to eat, etc. and really made our trip a memorable one. I would recommend him 100%.
Again, thanks for everything.

Sincerely,

Annie Thompson

Hi Aliki,

I just wanted to say thanks for all your hard work to make our honeymoon as great as it was.
All the hotels we checked into were just great and the people were really nice too.

I will certainly refer you to any of my friends travelling to Greece in the near future.

When we met the first day, I was suffering from major jet lag, so I am sorry if I didn't appear more with it, but you were very nice and extremely helpful.

Thanks again.

Michelle Robinson (new last name)

Aliki, having arrived home last night, I wanted to thank you for the reservations you made for us in the Peloponnese, Central Greece and Attica. The Byron in Naufplio and Acropole in Delfi were fantastic and so wonderfully located. The view from the Acropole was reason enough to be there! The lodgings in Olympia and Glyfada weren't as exceptional, of course, but they met our needs sufficiently.

We enjoyed the play in Epidavrous, too, although it was difficult to follow, of course. There was a one page summary in our program and enough "body language" to help us along. Don and I were certainly able to enjoy the two goddesses who appeared naked on stage! The amphitheater was awesome, particularly for an American from a society which tears things down after 50 or 60 years! What acoustics!
...
Yours is a beautiful country and this visit gave us a much greater opportunity to experience it. Your help made that possible.
Thanks again. I intend to write some sort of article(s) in which I'll praise your help so maybe some work will come your way. I hope so.

John Bryant

Dear Kostas

Just a quick email to say "thank you" for your help with our trip and it was good to meet you and your colleague. The Hotel Hera in Vouliagmeni was very good as the owner there was so helpful and made us feel very welcome. We managed to hire a car for a day, go on a one day cruise to Agina and Poros and Hydra, doing the true "tourist thing" (that's what we were - tourists!!), but it was a good way to experience a little taste of the islands and good value for money and even see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace on Sunday!! Generally a full programme!!

Anyway thank you from both Tatyana and I for your help and I will certainly pass your name on to anyone who needs a Greek travel agent.
And if I ever decide to get married and set up a Web Page all about it, I will make sure you are the first to know!!!????

Best Regards

John Sidgwick

Thank you very much Aliki for your professional help rendered to us concerning our recent visit to Greece. Everything, down to the last detail,
worked out exactly as we had hoped, and as you had represented that it would.
Rest assured that I will use your services again, and will certainly recommend your services to others.
Don't hesitate to e-mail me from time to time and let me know how it's going.

Thanks again !!!! your friend, Mark M.

Dear Aliki,
Thank you so very much for all of your help, expertise and time you put into for our trip. Every connection we made was perfect, all of the accomodations were outstanding and the 'filoxenia' was heartfelt. We had a fantastic vacation and cannot believe we saw so much of Greece and had a relaxing time. It is difficult getting back into 'real' life but have some great memories to take us through.
We look forward to our next trip to Greece. Thank you again very much.

With warm regards,
Penny and Bill Halvorsen

p.s. Very happy to hear Athens was chosen for the Olympics in 2004!!!!

Dear Aliki,
Just wanted to let you know that everything went very smoothly.
The hotels you recommended were wonderful.
The Herodian was in a great location and very nice.
There was an overbooking at Volcano Villas in Santorini, but they transferred me to a place called Nikkos Villas near Oia that was that was absolutely perfect.
The S. Nikolas is also very nice and the owners were extremely helpful.
So thank you for making my stay in Greece a very pleasant one.

Sincerely,
Patty Buss