This time yesterday I was sat with my two most favorite people in one of the most beautiful resorts that I have ever been lucky enough to have seen. The sun was scorching down onto our skin and the suns reflection off of the pools and off of the beautiful clear somewhat never-ending sea was almost magical.
I've always been a lover of the heat, I'm a summer person and though I love the rain, I cannot stand to be cold at all. So the Greek weather last week whilst on holiday to Levante Beach Hotel in Rhodes was very welcome indeed.
I was somehow lucky enough to win our holiday to Greece earlier this year. I had to place a pin on a map to find the 'buried treasure' at a blogging conference I attended in June. I'm not a traveller, I'd been abroad only twice before. I am (or I was up until Levante) a homely person. So whilst others stood there working out where they'd traveled to before and placing their pins on that location. I decided to stick mine right in the middle of the ocean, all by itself with no expectation of winning, whatsoever.
So when the email came from Mark Warner the following Monday I sort of believed they had the wrong person and I just stood there astounded. I'd won a 5 star holiday to Greece.. I'd never imagined I'd ever win anything like that in my life! I don't think many of us do.
Fast forward a good few months and a whole passport drama with Snappy Snaps - who I will never use again. And there we were, all three of us, sitting on a plane about to take off!...I'm not fond of flying, I hadn't flown in 8 years but the flight chartered by Mark Warner with British Airways was brilliant! (Asides from a minor freak out that I had when we first took off because, well.. I'm just a big silly wimp!) ;)
Sadly I feel that I am going to have to cut what I'd like to say right down, because I don't want to scare off anybody that has read this far with a huge big mass of text or anyone that may be more of a visual person like I am (hence the many photos between my text!).. But I really do just HAVE to say a few more things about my favorite aspects of our holiday before I absolutely burst so I do hope that that's okay?!
THE FOOD & THE RESTAURANT STAFF. Oh my god - the food. I need to talk about the food, a lot! .. We're all vegetarians as you may already know if you read my blog a lot, and so I worried that being half board and having a buffet style dinner and breakfast everyday - we would struggle. (I struggled so badly on an all inclusive holiday to Spain previously, that I ended up eating the same thing every single day and now I can't even think of that meal without feeling sick.) But with Levante, oh my - it was PURE heaven! I had nothing to worry about! The choice every night was beyond anything I could have ever wish for. We ate like kings daily! (Seriously!) And the local restaurant staff.. I actually REALLY miss them! I missed them as soon as I finished my last meal there because every morning and night they were simply amazing! Nothing was ever too much, ever. They consistently went above and beyond for every single guest at the hotel. I felt sad going home knowing that we wouldn't see them again. One night I asked if they ever did meat free cottage pie for the kids or anything like it. And then the following night they had made one especially for Ethan!.. How can you top that?! The chefs and the local restaurant staff so much deserve to be recognised for their amazing services! They were all brilliant and we truly will miss them.
THE CHILDCARE & CHILDCARE STAFF. Mark Warner offer childcare at Levante for children and babies but to be honest, I was so reluctant to use it. I don't like the idea of Ethan going into any sort of childcare, not until he's a little older.. It's just a personal choice perhaps because I was a clingy child myself and hated the thought of being left. But I'd read amazing things about the childcare service from Mark Warner and Katie from Mummy Daddy Me had told me how brilliant it was. At first I held off but I'd see the kids, the toddlers and the babies all in their little groups (depending on age) around the resort, singing and doing fun activities with the Mark Warner staff and I really wanted Ethan to be a part of it, for his sake - I sort of felt like he was missing out. So we took him along to a few mornings and was introduced to his key worker - Beth. Ethan's a clingy baby and he cried, a lot. But I found the strength to walk away knowing that he'd just love it as soon as I left. (Which he did.) Beth was beyond amazing with Ethan and so patient and caring. I watched her with him from afar one time and she never left his side. He went from not wanting her to touch him to smiling at her and letting her read books to him with her holding him on her lap. I was proud when we came back and he was sitting there with all the staff and the other toddlers joining in with singing and games, that I had a tear in my eye. I never knew it but whilst checking out at reception on the last day, a piece of kids artwork caught my eye and it had Ethans name on it - it was his, he'd done it with Beth at childcare and she'd left it for us as we hadn't collected it before. I instantly had tears in my eyes.. Ethans first piece of artwork! And then I spotted an award rolled up neatly next to it.. it was also for Ethan and it was a 'Turtle award'.. I opened it up and it said 'For Ethan, for coming out of his shell.'.. And well, that had me and Adam (who never cries!) in floods of tears! We couldn't have been more proud of our little boy at that moment and we couldn't have been more thankful to Beth. The childcare team were absolutely amazing, and I really do feel so grateful to Beth for taking such brilliant care of Ethan. If by chance you ever read this Beth, (well, you probably won't) - but thank you!
Oh how I loved Levante and oh how it has captured mine and my family's heart.
I didn't know that holidays as relaxing and amazing as Levnate could exist for us with Ethan the age he is.
Mark Warner seem to have absolutely nailed it for families, couples and individuals.. For people who love to relax, or to be sporty or to eat until their belly's pop (that was us!).
I expected our flight and our holiday with a one year old to be difficult - I was wrong. I expected our eating to be difficult due to being veggies - I was wrong again. We did a bit of everything, ate a bit of everything and made memories that I never expected I could ever make. To Mark Warner and everyone at Levante - thank you so so so much. I think we'll find it pretty much impossible to ever top a holiday like this one.. We are eternally grateful and I so hope that we'll go back one day.
**I was not asked to or required to write this post by Mark Warner. But if you're reading this and thinking of booking Levante - I cannot recommend it enough - you really won't regret it.
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