Aldemar Resorts and Aegean Airlines – a winning combination

Gary recently co-hosted an educational trip to the Peloponnese with Aegean Airlines.  Here’s how they all got on:

On behalf of Workham Hotels, I enjoyed the great privilege of co-hosting an educational trip with Victoria O’Mahoney from Aegean Airlines to the beautiful Peloponnese region of mainland Greece. This is an area of this beautiful country which is simply bursting with the prospect of more tourism, but with a very careful eye on sustainability.

With our various VIP guests from leading British travel companies, we flew from London Heathrow to Athens. It was great to be on board a flight with crew that seemed genuinely happy in their work, with hot food and drinks included for all, including us in economy class. A breath of aviation fresh air!

On arrival in Athens (all on time by the way!), we swiftly collected our luggage and as soon as we knew it, we were in our Mercedes transfer and on the way to our resort hotel Aldemar Olympian Village.

It was a long transfer, and it’s noteworthy that international airports Kalamata and Araxos are much closer. However with a quick break for a coffee and a Greek pie on the way, we soon found ourselves at the resort and we were ready for a welcome drink and a good nights sleep in the super comfortable accommodation provided.

What a blessing it is to wake up in the Mediterranean, and after a gentle sunrise stroll around the resorts running paths, we were ready for a hearty buffet breakfast ahead of our site inspection of the property. At breakfast we were greeted by the senior management of Aldemar including the wonderful Mandy Kallionitzi, the Commercial Director and her brilliant boss from the owning family, the one and only Mr Alexandros Angelopoulos. Our hosts treated us like VIP VIPs for the entire stay. The essence of genuine Greek hospitality indeed!

The property is vast and comprehensive, but it was an absolute pleasure to gain that oh so precious insight into the marvels of this particular destination resort. After all, isn’t it just fantastic when you can simply say to your customer “I’ve stayed there, I know it and I love it”?  And of course we were blessed with a particularly sunny Saturday morning.

After a quick pitstop on the beach to enjoy a cold drink, we soon found ourselves in a cooking class to enjoy a gentle insight into true genius at work. And by the way, who doesn’t enjoy the food of Greece? And thus what a lovely opportunity to learn just a little about Greek cuisine and how some of the favourite dishes are put together. Nothing serious, and of course we managed to enjoy the results of our one hour experience! Delicious, this particular hotel company just adores food and is justifiably proud of its farm to fork flavours.

Fam Trips are also about enjoyment – yes enjoyment is always one of the key objectives, if not the key objective. So a little down time was essential to enjoy the sandy beach, the warm sea water and the beautiful swimming pools during that sunny Saturday afternoon.

And then one of the true highlights of any Mediterranean day – the sunset. And Aldemar Olympian Village is just perfect for a golden hour shot – after all, the resort faces west towards the close by island of Zakynthos.

We then headed for a genninely gorgeous Italian evening meal at the the wonderfully al fresco restaurant venue La Pergola. Followed of course, by some lovely drinks and entertainment at the main bar which is called Apollo.

Sunday was soon upon us and in keeping with what Workham Hotels really likes to showcase on our fam trips, it was time to enjoy the local environment. And being more or less around the corner from our resort, we headed off to Ancient Olympia for a fully immersive excursion visit to this most fascinating of historic sites on mainland Greece.  And when better than during an Olympic year! By the way, the Peloponnese region of Greece is still relatively unexplored, so it might just be a great idea to hire a care during your visit. Why not, the roads are super-quiet and the scenery delightful.

Soon we were whisked back to Olympian Village for the ‘classic’ Mediterranean Sunday lunch overlooking the beach and sea. Beach Restaurant Thalassa is one of those ideal locations to enjoy even more of that amazing Greek hospitality.

After some free time, we headed towards the fabulous wellness facility, the all encompassing Royal Olympia spa + thalasso. All fam trip attendees participated, but we kept the official photographers away from that particular experience!

As you can imagine, Sunday evening was enjoyed back on the seafront for yet more sunset photos and our stay concluded with the most delicious gourmet experience at the resorts stunning fine dining restaurant which is simply called Marina, but the food was far from simple. After all, Aldemar Resorts are the founder of Sympossio, Greek Gourmet Touring.

Alas Monday morning was soon upon us, and it was time to be transferred back to Athens airport for our flight home. There was a wonderful buzz on the way back to the capital. New friendships made, and some wonderful memories to take home with us. And Aegean Airlines not only got us into their wonderful business lounge at Athens airport, we also landed at London Heathrow on-time. Not a given these days!

Thank you to Aldemar Resorts, Aldemar Olympian Village and Aegean Resorts for their fabulous hospitality.  Thank you too to the following companies for joining us:

Dnata Travel Group, Cyplon Holidays, Wexas Travel, Colletts Travel Limited, Global Travel Collection, Traveller’s World, Salisbury.