Dear Graham,

today I visited Akropolis and took a lot of photos, some are presented on this page. Please don't mind the missing design, I just lined them up here. It may take some time to load (3 Mb).

It's a peaceful place there, things are in an acceptable condition although some humour - as always in Greece - helps to enjoy this country even more.

Here is my interpretation:

The house is located on a large rock,

which itself is located at the countryside, that's why some things (like fences) are slighty more rough than e.g. on the north coast of Crete with its larger cities. In Rodakino people's income is mainly based on their hands' work, they are not dependent on tourism like more than half of the inhabitants of Plakias. So does Nikos, the owner of Akropolis: he works with olive trees, sheep and bees.

These pipes at the edge of the garden are used for the olive trees' irrigation. Well, they are there, without looking too charming.

So do the nets which are necessary for harvesting: spread under the trees olives are collected while someone takes them down with a machine or by hand.

Don't mind the poles standing unaccurately - the holes for them are hand-digged.

This is an interesting one, from left to right:
- cables, left there by the electricity company 10 years ago ("avrio" means "tomorrow", it can be heard many times in Greece ).
- metal fence to protect the lately planted tree from being eaten by sheep.
- barrel, serving as waste paper basket. Unfortunately painted badly.
- lately planted tree
- my motorbike.

The playground is indeed unuseable, sheep don't eat these dry kind of plants growing there.

Garbage: it was hard to find real garbage. The yellow piece next to the pole is. Maybe someone missed the barrel which is as well painted badly.

The back side of the garden is occupied by the same robust plants as the front side. The ground mainly consists of stones and few humus, so it would be a big effort to keep it green. Now as I see this image I remember that it is forbidden to light an open fire during summer season, bbqing is nearly impossible here.

This one is with little charakter: the ground floor is still unfinished.

90 degrees to the left it looks better.

Inside: it's simple and clean.

The road is in a good condition.

See what these rent cars are capable of !

Today an excursion by an elementary school hit the place, it was crowded. This is Koraka Beach, 2km away from Akropolis.

Following the road there are further beaches and tavernas. Here at Panorama we had dinner with five persons for about 30€ alltogether two weeks ago.

At this taverna I had a salad and two beer today for seven Euro.
Do you see the house in the background ?

There they managed to keed a small area in green condition, accompanied by roses.
To the left there's a footpath leading to Agia Marina, a very nice beach behind the rocks which is reachable by car as well.
While Koraka Beach is acceptable, the beach near these tavernas is a bit small. Agia Marina is best but without any taverna at all.

These places are far off any professional tourist indistry (like Chersonnissos near Heraklion or Rethymnon / Panormo in the north) , that's why people's smile is meant the way you see it.
The accommodation is as authentic as the surroundings.

The nearby village of Plakias may help to escape from nature, if necessary, with its shops, bars and tavernas.
Although the first impression may be unusuable it's a jewel at second sight.