The Lothiarika Coincidences — Woody's Wax Works

View from Lardos beach towards Pefkos 1991

The Lothiarika Coincidences
Many moons ago Thomson (now known universally as TUI or flightdelay plc) used to offer twin-centre vacations. They still do, but now it's usually two islands, which are are relatively close to each other. In those days you could pick 'Town & Country' or 'Beach & Beauty,' etc. And on one island there were plenty of alternatives. Also a 3rd week was thrown in for a reasonable price.

We once escaped to Kos and from the airport were taken to the port of Mastichari. From there we were transferred to Leros via Kalymnos for a week. Then it was back to Kos Town for a week. It was a good way to see other parts of the Dodecanese, such as Patmos.

Anyway, we picked a 'Beach & Beauty' holiday in Rhodes. You had one week in Lardos & the second week in nearby Lindos. It sounded ace. Lardos is in Lothiarika, which then was virtually deserted. There was a large building on the beach but little else. There was one taverna, where Luka worked as a waiter. Our accommodation was presented to us on the coach journey south. There was no road then from the airport across to the east of the island and no highway from Rhodes Town to the Lindos area. The roads now seem like Motorways compared with then and they're still dreadful. Just imagine the trek we made via Rhodes Town and down the old coastal route to Lothiarika. It took ages.

Still, we had reps on the buses then, who thought they had dream jobs and they would say things like 'ohrayah!' & 'yahhsass!' So, we were given an envelope and inside were the details of our accommodation. We were in the Sunview Apartments run by Giorgos. Also, we had a bonus. We had free use of the St. George's Club complex which was just over the road. This was a building which comprised a large swimming pool and offered camping and chalets for German tourists. They had a bar and a restaurant open to non-residents. Cool.

Our apartment was outstanding. We were accustomed to rather small spaces in Greece. Also, this was pre-aircon & Mozzi City! It was huge and a lovely open-plan design.

Outside was a short track down to the enormous mainly-deserted beach of Lardos.

No sunbeds. No water-sport. Just that taverna and the moderately-sized hotel down the beach

We discovered Gaymer's cider in bottles at St.George's Club.

Lardos beach now has everything, including watersports

The village of Lardos was a 10 minute stroll away through the lanes if you turned left out of the apartments.

Also they sold Strongbow there!

This was a novelty for Greece. It may seem strange to say this, but we did enjoy an occasional tipple in those days. Gaymer's and vodka are not happy bed-fellows, especially in 90 degree heat.

After a week in Lardos, we got a taxi up to Lindos and stayed with the family of the local policeman, Michalis, above Stavre Square. There must have been several generations at Michalis’ house. I did attempt to write down thr genealogical set-up in my notebook, but never got to grips with it. Rip, who owns the Calypso restaurant in Lindos, has threatened to take me up to the policeman’s house next time I’m there. Would they remember the time I offered them all some freshly-picked figs?

Fast-foward many years to the Pefkos Beach Hotel, a family-oriented place located centrally in Pefkos, a couple of miles from Lardos. We found it by accident, with our youngest pointing to a photograph of it on the web. That's how random it was. We stayed, got to know the barman, Costas, and his friends, George (Bakas) & Panagiotis (Pete). We saw Giannis in reception but only said, 'hello' or 'here's the key.'

We returned a couple of years later and much the same happened. Nothing. Just nice holidays.

In 2016 we were staying and I spotted an advert for water-sports at Lardos in reception. I asked Giannis if he'd fix it up. He organised transport and Billy, who ran the business with his dad, came to Pefkos to pick us up. All free. When we got back from being pounded on the waves, I thanked Giannis. I told him I hadn't been down there for years. He asked where we stayed and I told him about George & the Sunview Apartments. I said I hadn't been able to find it.

Pretend it’s a harbour. Use your imagination. Lardos has exploded.

"You won't," said Giannis. "It's no longer there. It has a different name." Then he smiled and said, "George is my uncle. I helped him build it!" I was shocked. I told him I still had photos of the place. When we got home I e-mailed him the old photos. He recognised the vehicle in it - it belonged to Panagiotis' dad. Panagiotis often helped Costas in the bar. Better still, Panagiotis' dad had been George's best man at his wedding. As they say, you couldn't make it up! [Needless to say, we don't just say 'hello' to Giannis anymore]

P. S. I was discussing the photos with Giannis on another occasion and chatting about Lardos. I told him about the beach taverna and the times we had spent with the two waiters who had worked there all those years ago. One looked like Tony Curtis, so we called him Tony. The other was called Luka." Luka!" Giannis blurted. "I just saw him on the street outside the hotel. He's working on the refuse lorries collecting the rubbish!"