The Aegean Sea

We are sitting on the ferry having just left Naxos, and settling in for the five-hour journey back to mainland Greece where we have a taxi booked to take us to Athens. We are both quite emotional. We have stayed in many hotels around Australia and the world, but we’ve never felt like this on leaving any one of them before. We are sad because it feels like we have just said goodbye to dear friends and we don’t know when we are going to see them again. Some of life’s relationships can be personal and rewarding, but we’ve only been on Naxos for six days. The people we’ve met at the Hotel Grotta in that time have made those six days extraordinary.

Dimitri Lianos is the middle-aged hotel manager, a tall man with dark features and a charming smile. He makes his own wine and doesn’t bother bottling it – he keeps it in a tank and dispenses it to his hotel guests in generous glasses. We were greeted by such a glass on our arrival, even though it was nearly midnight. Over the week we’ve had several more.

His sister Nicoletta is pivotal to the everyday operation of the hotel, and she radiates happiness and fun. The first time you meet her, she instantly warms your heart with a smile, a hug and a reassurance that you are amongst friends. Her and Anne hit it off instantly, like two girls who’ve known each other from childhood.

The lovely Nicoletta - for us, the friendly face of Greece.

On arrival, we were picked up from the ferry by Christos, a young guy who proudly told us that his little daughter turns one year old in a few weeks’ time. He would give us many lifts downtown in the hotel minibus, going out of his way to manoeuvre the narrow laneways to get us to where we wanted to go. If we could coincide our return with a ferry passenger pickup, he would pick us up with his usual friendly greeting.

The day of Anne’s 60^th birthday began with the usual buffet breakfast in the restaurant. Large windows were like huge paintings showing scenes of a wide blue sea and a gorgeous little Greek town. At lunchtime Nicoletta presented Anne with a bottle of French champagne and a scrumptious chocolate birthday cake cooked by the hotel’s very own chef. She had already left a 2018 Naxos calendar as a birthday present in our room. The rest of the afternoon and evening was just as quietly momentous – an unforgettable milestone birthday.

Birthday cake and champagne at Hotel Grotta.

While some evenings would be spent down in the town, we spent most evenings in the hotel, either sitting in the restaurant, outside on the balcony or on the rooftop just admiring the view. Sunsets from the hotel were unmissable, each night was a spectacular show put on by Mother Nature who happened to place the setting sun directly over the Portara, the ancient doorway to the Temple of Apollo in the bay below us. Two young ladies looked after us each night – Despina on reception and Kalli behind the bar. We called them our “A Team” – they were meticulous in their duties and inquisitive about our day and wellbeing. Despina had just completed a degree in psychology at the University of Crete, and was earning some money before returning to Uni to do her Masters. Kalli had just finished studying Business and Accounting. Nicoletta confided in us that both girls were an asset to the hotel and she hoped to have them as employees for some time. We fully understood why – they were wonderful.

Sunset over the Temple of Apollo, while we sip wine on the roof of the Hotel Grotta.

Blessed with not being able to accept cruise ships, Naxos has few tourists and life is slow, leisurely, and relaxing. All the locals are friendly, helpful and hospitable, and the Hotel Grotta exemplified this. Our modern room had a beautifully comfortable bed and a view of the town and sea, and the hotel had an indoor pool, spa, sauna and steam room (hammam). A swim in the Aegean, however, was only a few minutes away. The weather was glorious, we hardly saw a Grecian cloud the whole time. We met many fellow travellers – couples from Broken Hill in Australia, Napa Valley in California, Toronto and Montreal in Canada, and Derbyshire in England. We discovered that many people come back to this same hotel, just like Steph and Tim back home in Tassie who made the recommendation to us in the first place. We are so very grateful that they did. But our enduring memory of the Hotel Grotta will be the hospitality and friendship of Nicoletta, Dimitri, Christos, Despina, Kalli, and everyone else at this amazing place.

The dining room with a million-dollar view.