Pension Dimitris Reviews

A truely emerald Greek Isle. We've done Corfu (Five times), Santorini, Skiathos, Samos and Crete but found Thassos to be truely wonderful.

Golden Beach is good with lots of lovely tavernas (We did them all) and found our favourite was opposite the entrance to the Caravan and camp site on the beach. We think its called Falikas.
Favourite because of the quality of the food, the friendly service and the atmosphere. Fedra and Sontaris were good and its worth mentioning that the hospitality at Sotaris amounted to a complimentary shot of Oozo and at Fedra a complmentary creme caramel. None of these matched the sweet offered and taken at Falikas.
Drink Amstel if you must but Mythos is better. Do try the Amethystos white white and the Calliga white too.
Aliki was magnificent. Worth a visit. Trek the coast path after you've looked at the ruins on the beach. You'll find the quarries. Lumps of stone hued out of the ground, looks just like an area where the geology took over but in fact the ancient greek population ruled the waves. (Look for the square shapes on the sea bed!)Abandoned pillars of stone litter the quary.)

Do go to Thassos town and visit the ruins. Ask if the Amphitheatre is open before you make the trek uphill to it!
Patchis beach is the best on the island, 20 minutes west/anticlockwise from Thassos. Gently sloping beach, crystal clear seas and one of two beach bars to wet the thirst. The nearby hotel/taverna was not tested.
Go to Theologos, taste the wild kid.

Palinga is better, search for the famous bridge over the mountain spring, commit to your partner! But don't leave it there, climb to the top of the old island capital and take in the view.
Dimitris place is fine. Kept very clean by the nice cleaning lady who may be related to Dimitris.
Breakfast is not very good, boiled eggs, rolls, jams and tea/coffee, all pushed down before the wasps get to it. Freindly wasps they are, they don't sting but do anoy. If you must, take you breakfast indoors, but don't let is spoil your holidays.

Mosquitoes there are, just as there are on any greek isle, so be as prepared as usual.
Would we go back, YES of course.
We're off gto Greece again next year!

Our holiday in Thassos was excellent. Of the numerous places we have visited in Greece, it is now one of our favourite destinations.

The Journey
The transfer over on the ferry was very well organised and not at all a problem. Thompsons took care of our luggage at the airport and had it delivered to our accommodation by truck. The ferry was waiting for us at the harbour and the ferry ride itself only lasted 35 minutes. It was actually a very nice way to approach the island. Two Greek guys were on board the ferry playing Greek music on an accordion and a guitar (on the outer desk) which set the atmosphere very nicely.

The Island and the Resort
The island is very green like the Ionians but also has picturesque mountain ranges. Driving to the resort on the coach felt a bit like 'The Italian Job'. The resort we stayed in 'Golden Beach' (Greek name Skala Panagia) was very spread out but very quiet and relaxing as a result. It is relatively unspoilt and not at all over-commercialised. The beach is absolutely superb and is nothing like any other beach we have seen in Greece. It is 8 miles of fine, almost white, sand. There was of course plenty of room for everyone and was only slightly busy on the main stretch near the resort centre.

The Tavernas
The resort centre (if you could call it that) consists of about 5 restaurants/tavernas and a handful of under-used café bars. The nightlife there was very much about going for a long relaxing meal with a carafe of wine and then maybe going for a nightcap before bed time. The emphasis was on quality of the tavernas rather than quantity. Apart from serving very good food, they had some of the very best views we have had in Greece. Most of the tavernas were situated on the front itself with excellent views of the bay into the distance and were only separated from the beach by a recently built and lit promenade.

The prices were reasonable and the portions very good.

The Fedra gets a lot of mentions on this page but we only ate their once. The service was friendly but slow, even by Greek standards. The food was average and they when the bill eventually came they erroneously tried to charge us for wine we had not had.

Our favourite taverna was the Sotiris on the front, which did not look as modern as the Fedra but served much better food.

The Vigili is the other famous taverna at Golden Beach. The views are admittedly spectacular and the food is good but they get very busy especially on Greek dancing night. Incidentally, if you wish to go to this all you need to do is buy a drink in the bar at about 10.00pm, as this is where the dancing takes place, not in the restaurant. Don't order the squid if you are squeamish - it is delicious but comes whole!

A special mention must be made in regard of the Cavo Doro restaurant near the main entrance of the camp site. Apart from cooking traditional Greek dishes and having a very relaxed atmosphere, the pizzas they cook here surpass anything I have eaten in a bona fide Italian restaurant. They are baked in a stone oven, which is fired by local olive wood. The chef gets the bases extremely thin without them becoming crispy and the toppings they use are very fresh, with a bit of individual flair. We normally only eat Greek food when on holiday there but someone else recommended the pizzas at this restaurant and we were very glad we tried them - we even went back a second time.

Fellow Holiday Makers
There was a very diverse range of people holidaying there from English, to German, to Scandinavians, to Poles and Czechs and numerous Greek people also taking a beach holiday there, which you do not often see.
The resort is very much a place for couples. There are many steep inclines around the resort which make it unsuitable for families or for those with walking difficulties.

If you want to visit an a resort with a loud or vibrant nightlife, then do not visit Golden Beach! In fact the rest of the island is pretty low-key although we are told that Thassos town get livelier in the height of summer.

Our Hotel
Our hotel, the Hotel Dimitris, was well appointed for Greece, with a fridge, a TV and air conditioning (charge payable) - a first for us in Greece. We were lucky enough to get a corner room which meant that our balcony stretched around two sides of the building and had view of mountains and olive groves on one side and more mountains and olive groves, plus a distant view of the sea on the other. The only down-side for us was that we both work full-time and like to have a lie in on holiday. Breakfast was served from 8.00am at the hotel on an outside terrace and most people in the hotel seemed to go to breakfast at this time, which frequently woke us up.

The owner, Dimitris, lives on-site next door with his parents and is a lovely bloke. He always had time to be friendly and have a chat. He even sympathised with us when England got knocked out of Euro 2004 - although I swear he had a glint in his eye at the time!

We were on a bread and breakfast basis and the breakfasts were very good and filling, although repetitive. The frequency with which they supplied us with a boiled egg for breakfast (10 times out of 14) became a bit of standing joke.

Places To See
There are plenty of places to visit. We made the obligatory visit to Thassos town. At first we thought it was the usual kind of Greek island capital with numerous bars, restaurants, a harbour side and ubiquitous gift shops but we were surprised to find, almost in the centre of the town, extensive ruins of the Island's ancient civic centre. Several columns were still standing and the foundation stones were in very good condition - the floor plan and temples could clearly be seen.

We also visited the village of Panagia in the mountains. This was very picturesque village with a small square surrounded by tavernas, a fantastic church and man-made waterfalls to the high elevation of the village. Several naturally occurring mountain streams run through the centre of the village and these are channelled into a small paved square area, which has a bridge and then a drop to a lower channel where the waterfalls are created. The whole area and a walk-way down to the main square of the village are lit on a night-time by carriage-style lights.

Conclusion
We had a great holiday in Thassos. Although we would not go there every single year from now on, we would definitely go back there in the future.