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"Our repeated vacation experiences at the Stargazer villa are wonderful beyond words - breathtaking views, magnificent sunrises and sunsets, easy access to magnificent historical and archeological sites - in a word - a beautiful home and location- you have to experience it!" Laura, Raleigh, NC |
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Exactly where is Schinias located? Please refer to the map of the area for distances from Schinias to other places within the Athens area. In 490 BC the Battle of Marathon occurred at Schinias on the Marathon Plains where the Athenians defeated the Persians. The Greek army sent a runner to Athens, near the Acropolis, to announce the victory. This historical event gave birth to the modern Marathon Run. Today, Marathon Avenue pretty much follows the route of the original Marathon Run of about 40 kilometers (25 miles). However today, unlike in ancient days, travel time not distance is the primary consideration, especially during traffic hours. The following table gives times from Schinias to several locations within the Athens area and the local Marathon area
Schinias Beach is perhaps one of the best beaches in the world for small children and adults alike. The beach is located down the hill within a 5 minute drive. The water is crystal clear and shallow. The beach is protected and rarely has waves of any size. It does not have any currents or tides to endanger children. Small children can wade approximately fifty to one hundred meters (yards) out to sea and still be in water that is not over their heads. Adults must wade about 200 meters out to reach chest deep water where they can either laze around chatting with friends or swim long distances unimpeded by waves and currents. Unlike most beaches in Greece, Schinias Beach is a sand beach with a pine forest growing down to the water's edge. It is a perfect place for picnics. Needless to say, it is very popular with Greek parents. Located at the beach are numerous seafood restaurants and resort clubs offering a large variety of water sports. Access to the Beach from our community is immediately adjacent to our guarded entrance. Parking at the beach is plentiful and free. Yahoo Travel rates the Schinias beach in its list of the ten top attractions for Athens area. Here is what they say about Schinias: "The east coast of the Attica Peninsula can be reached within less than an hour from central Athens. This area is the site of Schinias Beach, one of the most beautiful bathing spots of Greece located near Marathon. The major draw of Schinias is the picture-perfect coastal pine forest that reaches the water's edge as well as the fine sand of the beach". A number of tavernas cater to the needs of day trippers from Athens. Hotels can also be found a few kilometres from Schinias. How far is your house from the sea? The distance to the beach is about 3km and a five minute drive down the hill. Our house is on the top of the hill (literally) directly on the shore of Schinias, overlooking the bay of Marathon in the south and the mountains of Gramatiko in the north. The terrain between our home and the sea is a rocky hill side with a winding road, overlooking the bay of Marathon, left mostly undisturbed from its natural state. The sea shore is covered in low shrubbery characteristic of a Mediterranean climate changing to a rocky marble shore line at the water's edge. The sea water is deep enough in many places to allow diving off the rocks into the sea. The water, typical of Greece, is crystal clear. Snorkeling and swimming are delightful. The rocky coastline provides ample places for swimming and sunbathing in private. Several of our guests have asked us if it is possible to walk down the hill to the beach. Walking down the hill takes about 15 minutes (depending on how fast one walks). It is a beautiful walk. However, coming UP the hill is challenging! I certainly have never tried it without getting in trouble and asking for a ride! How far is your house from the Athens Airport? The Schinias Marathon area hosted several Olympic events in rowing and kayaking. The impact of the Olympics on the area was immense from the perspective of transportation improvements to and from Athens and the airport. We now have a new four lane divided highway connecting us directly to downtown Athens and to its airport. The distance to the airport is approximately 50 kilometers and the driving time is between 50-60 minutes depending on traffic. Are mass transit services available? Yes. If you do not wish to drive into downtown Athens, you can take the bus that connects into the excellent mass transportation system in Athens (subway, surface rail, and bus, thanks again to the Olympics). Please be aware that driving around Athens is difficult because of traffic, lack of parking, narrow crowded poorly defined streets, and poor maps. I highly recommend public transportation. There are numerous bus stops in the Schinias/Marathon region. I prefer the one at Marathon because of the frequency of the bus service (every hour) and because seats are always available. The buses are all modern and new, again thanks to the Olympics. The buses are air conditioned and SMOKE FREE! The first morning bus leaves Marathon around 6 AM and the last bus from Athens arrives around midnight. The bus takes about 45 minutes to reach the nearest subway stop in Athens and between an hour and to one and a half hours or more to reach downtown Athens as the bus is captive to traffic the same as other vehicles are. The subway is immune to surface traffic and can rapidly take you to all of the sites of antiquity and museums, as well as connect you with high speed rail service to other Greek cities and to the airport. The subway also interconnects with Athens' new tram system serving the waterfront and Piraeus. The bus to Schinias leaves from Mavromateon Street at the Pedion Areos Park (the nearest metro station is Victoria).
For the current bus timetable call the following phone number 30 210 821 0872. We normally recommend that you drive to the town of Marathon, park in the municipal parking lot behind the main road and take the bus. You would be assured a bus every hour at least. We also prefer to ride the bus all the way to downtown Athens and back, thus being assured that we will always have a sit available, especially during high traffic. Many of our guests have driven into Athens especially on a Sunday and found it very easy to navigate and park. But, we would certainly NOT recommend it during the week. Do I need my own transportation? Yes. The distances from the house to the bus stops, local restaurants, super markets, etc. are too far for walking. You can rent a car from the airport or rent for www.clio.gr where many of our guests have rented from in the past with excellent feedback. How do I stay at Stargazer Villa? First, contact us. To reserve the house we require a 25% non-refundable deposit. The remainder of the rent is normally due 45 days before arrival. We can change your scheduled arrival or departure dates as long the changes do not impact another rentals. There is no charge for doing this. Before you send any money, either to us or anyone else, make sure that you have confirmed airline reservations to and from Greece. As I said, we do not mind nor do we charge for slipping or accelerating arrival and departure dates as long as it does not impact upon another rental. This is not the case with a lot of others. We would also recommend that you purchase some travelers insurance to cover you in case of illness or unforeseen circumstances. We always get one when we travel abroad on expensive trips. There are many of them in the market. We use American Express, because we happen to have a card. A we said, at the personal level we will try to accommodate you as much as possible in case of cancelation, but booking vacation homes in Greece is a lengthy process and it is normally done many months in advance, so a last minute cancellation would make it extremely difficult to book the villa. Exactly what is included in your vacation rental? All utilities and taxes are included in the stated rates. Cleaning services are available on the weekly basis. Additional services can be arranged as requested for 45 Euros a day (normally around 4-5 hours). Dependent upon your desires, we can be proactive in helping you plan your vacation in Greece and giving you assistance while you are here. For some of you who are traveling from afar and are in need of basic groceries to tidy you over for the day until you can do your own shopping, we will be happy to accommodate you. Just give us your list. At the villa, we have a three ring binder full of information on the villa and the area, including maps. However, having traveled widely ourselves to many foreign places, we know what it means to be arriving, with a horrendous lack of sleep and exhausted in a country that does not speak your language! It all sounds Greek to you! Well, don't worry, when you have arrived at the villa and rested a bit, we will be happy to drive you around to show you the area and familiarize you quickly with some of the local spots you will find very useful (restaurants, banks, grocery stores, the beach etc.) If we are not there at the time, then Rosa our property manager will handle everything for you. We will loan you a cellular telephone for your use in case you need assistance while staying in our house. We provide very detail maps to our home and have never had a problem with people getting there on their own. However, if required, we can arrange for you to be met at the airport and escort you to our house. Amenities:Gas Fireplace (from December through March) , Air Conditioning in all bedrooms and living room, satellite TV, Full Kitchen with Microwave, Convection Oven, Dishwasher, Refrigerator, Cooking Utensils. Linens, Washer & Dryer, Parking on the road. Central Heating. We finally have ADSL WIFI Internet access, so you can bring your laptop and enjoy the villa and the view while yo access your world any time at any place. If you use SKYPE, you can certainly enjoy using it as you are used to doing at home. In case you do not have your laptop with you, we do have a dedicated desktop for your access to web mail. We just ask you to be diligent about the use of the Internet and access to restricted web sites. We provide you with Internet telephony (Voice over IP). You have unlimited International calling. We just want to caution you that sometimes the Internet is not that reliable! If you need printer access or FAX just let us know, you can certainly use ours, when we are around. We have a library of travel books and novels. Since our grandchildren visit every summer, we have kids games (little kids), and a large assortment of movies (kids' too) all in English! By the way, we have built us a swing set out in the back for the grand babies. By all means you are more than welcome to use it. We have an assortment of beach chairs and umbrellas, beach towels and goggles and flippers, along with the various buckets and shovels etc. for the kids.
What is the privacy like in the vicinity of your house? Our community is one of the very few planned communities in Greece. Being on the top of the hill, our villa enjoys additional privacy and serenity, surrounded in the south by the vast expanse of the blue water and islands and the north by an expanse of the mountains of Gramatico. It is a prefect neighborhood for long walks. Most of the year, we have our property manager who takes care of everything for you. Not only does she speak several languages and has traveled all over the world, but she is also a close neighbor that can be available at a moment's notice! Steve and I normally come and go as we please, based on our travel plans and need to be with our grandchildren in North Carolina. We do like to spend a good part of our summer at Schinias, so, we do get to meet many of our guests. When we are not around, Rosa will always cover anything that comes up. The upper part of the villa is for our own use. Rosa's e mail address os rosatr@otenet.gr What makes the Schinias Community so special? Schinias is within the township of Marathon. Marathon is located on the fringe of the Athens urban sprawl but it still retains its rural character. Many of its inhabitants commute daily to their jobs in Athens using either their private automobiles or the local bus service. Day trips into Athens are easily done by private car or by using the local bus. Access to the national highway and day trips to other sites of antiquity are fast and easy. Our house is located within the planned community of "Dikastes kai Eisangeleis" on Schinias on the top of the hill by the sea. Most of the land within the Community Dikaston Eisaggeleon Schinias is set aside as "green" areas with only about 30% used for building lots. The Community Dikaston Eisaggeleon Schinias is gated with a guard and is very secure. The homes in Schinias range from small summer cottages to large villas. Our house is on the top of one of the hills of the community. Our lot is completely fenced in with a concrete wall. We have no through traffic, except of the occasional drivers enjoying the incredible view. During the week we have almost no traffic at all . On summer weekends, a lot of people from Athens come to Sxinias Beach and a few of them come into the community to swim in the beaches around our community. All of the geographic area of Schinias is a National Environmental Park as well as a European Union Environmental Preserve. Only one road enters the park and it has no exit. The only road into our community branches off the park's road and also has no exit. All of this means that we have very little automobile traffic. This makes our community very private, very quite, and very safe. The lack of traffic makes our roads ideal for walking and jogging. We have a road and walking path that parallels the coast line just a few meters above the sea that is great walks in the cool of the afternoon and early evening. (Due to Greece's location relative to time zones, we have day light almost until 10 pm during the first part of June.) If you are into hiking, one interesting day hike is to walk across country to the ferry port of St. Marina, take the ferry to the island of Evia, hike on the island then return to Sxinias. Is the Schinias Community secure? Yes. Community Dikaston Eisaggeleon Schinias is very secure even though access is not legally restricted. The community is gated with a guard. During the recent Olympic Games the countries of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and China rented homes here to house their Olympic rowing teams rather than have them stay in the Olympic Village. What about tours, taxi, day trips to Athens and other sites of antiquity? The best way to see Athens is to take the bus into the city and use it's excellent subway system. Three alternatives exist for visiting sites outside Athens such as Delphi, Epidavros, etc. The first alternative is organized day trip bus tours to these places. Their current fees vary from €50 to €100 Euros per person. The second is to hire a private tour which runs from €180 to €300 euros for the day dependent upon the distance. The third is to drive your self. Driving outside Athens is not difficult and easily done. For most groups, the private tours or rental car options are definitely more economical than an organized tour and are far more rewarding as you can stop or deviate when ever you wish. We recommend our favorite private tour service by "Stavros". A high percentage of our guests have used his services with excellent feedback. Stavros and his lovely wife Rosa, speak English very well, and have traveled widely around the world themselves. They can recommend wonderfully day trips and trekking spots (their specialty). They can tailor your stay and activity based on your interests, length of time you want to spend, where and how often you want to stop. All you need is ask. Stavros can drive his car or yours! Your choice! Just write to Rosa Our rates are posted on our homepage.
Rates may be lower if you are bringing children. Make sure you contact
us!
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