We stayed at Kallisto for a week in early Sept and really enjoyed it. We've never had such a warm welcome, with Markos coming up the road to the taxi to meet us and relieve us of our cases before proudly showing us his hotel and the amazing view.
The hotel isn't cheap by any sense of the word, with quality rooms and furnishings, impeccable service and delicious breakfasts and at 280 euro a day we felt we'd got good value for money in our junior suite.
Of the three hill towns Fira, Firostefani and Imerovigli which practically merge we thought the latter was the prettiest and most relaxing. It sits above the other two and 'wraps around' the headland where Skaros rock is to be found. Kallisto occupies a position near the top of Imerovigli looking southwards, so you look down on Firostefani with Fira just out of sight behind it. You also see about 80% of the caldera from up top and can watch the cruise ships come and go. You can even see across to the eastern coastline, and on a good day south to the mountains of crete. Take the biggest pair of binnocs you can pack!
Of course, its a bit of a walk back up hill especially after a meal down in Fira, but you can actually manage to eat fairly well locally. Only the local pizza house disappointed us of the five restaurants we tried in the area. Santorini isn't for those with difficulties walking and climbing stairs, but I would say that Kallisto is one of the few hotels where people of partly limited agility could enjoy a taste of the island. Its near the local shops and restaurants and still manages to be in the quieter part of town. Although we had a public pathway in front of our patio it never became intrusive.
Kallisto has one of the biggest pools we saw during our stay, and diagonally it was possible to swim five or six strokes!. Most places seem to have nothing more than a plunge pool. The temperature was a bit 'bracing' on some days, but once in the water it was very pleasant.
Breakfasts were very good indeed, consisting of crisp bacon, omelette, greek yoghurt with honey, bread jams etc, fresh fruit cake and coffee. We needed a good rest to digest all that before getting out and about.
Markos is the manager and he's ably assisted by a small staff as well as his parents. They're all tremendously friendly people and keen to make you feel at home, which they seemed to do without being intrusive. If you prefer shade to sun they make sure the umbrellas are constantly in the right position and at night if you sit down where one is spoiling the view its quickly moved out of the way.
I could go on and on, but in short, Kallisto is quality accommodation, great service, great location, stupendous views and perhaps just a bit more expensive than most.
We seldom go back to the same place twice, preferring new adventures each time, but this might be an exception.
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