Smaragdi II Studios

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We stayed at the Smaragdi II for two weeks in Aug 07. My partner and I had one room and his 12 year old son had a room next door.
The room had everything you needed. The shower was good, but in typical greek style there is no shower curtain so everything in the bathroom gets soaked every time the shower is used (had a couple of mishaps with the loo rolls!).
The kitchen area is tiny, but you have the basics -a fridge and kettle. We didn't use the mini 2 hotplates. We were on the bottom floor of the studios. From the entrance you have to go down a level to reach these rooms as it is built on the hill side.
I don't know whether there was more air movement on the upper floors, but we really suffered from the heat at night (no aircon and no fan in room). We ended up damping down our top sheets before retiring. The view from the terrace was lovely, right down over Golden Beach.
I must admit the hill up to the studios got to me after 2 weeks, it was a killer, but it made for a nice view and burnt some calories!
The studios are kept reasonably clean and the linen is changed regularly, certainly no problems with that.
The studios have use of the pool at the Emerald just across the road as they are owned by the same family. There are loungers and chairs and tables here, as well as the bar. Costas, one of the owners, runs the bar and his sister Villy was over from Athens for 3 weeks to help out while we were there.
Together with Sylvia, an English lady who has lived in Thassos for years, it was a really friendly place to pass the time. Costas' frappe coffees with a touch of Baileys are out of this world and I only discovered their Emerald cocktail at the end of the holiday, it was lovely.
We did find the bar hours to be a bit erratic - it was very disappointing to think after dinner that we would climb the hill and have a drink by the pool only to find they were closing or closed. There should either be a strict closing time or they should stay open as late as guests want to drink.
Upsides: The view, the bar, swimming pool, friendly staff/owners.
Downsides: The hill, the lack of fan/air con, varying bar hours.