First, to Almyra, a modern and modern hotel located on the coast, a few minutes walk from Paphos, the fishing village that turns into a youth activity when the sun goes down. Owned by the Kikkos Monastery since its launch in 1973, the 158-room hotel has had such a makeover that it reminds me of Clint Eastwood remade as Brad Pitt.
I was in villa 10, which could be inelegantly described as a modern semi-detached bungalow, even closer to the water than the main blocks. All white on the outside, it is equally clear on the inside. You look across the room to your private concrete deck, from which you can go down three steps to a patch of grass shared with your neighbors, with the beach below (you also share your flat roof with them, again white, it has been sculpted with white seats and it gets pretty sexy at night). The room, thanks to French designer Joelle Pleot, who had earlier remade Thanos Michaelides’ house, had gray marble floors, pale white-gray walls, soft wood furniture with pale blue leather upholstery, and pillows. A futuristic stainless steel fan hummed overhead. The bathroom had a large rain shower, as well as a handheld unit and beautiful LaSource toiletries by Crabtree & Evelyn that matched the pale blue upholstery.
We meet for dinner at the open-air restaurant, next to the beach. The menu is international with a different twist. Fish and chips here is a basket full of fried calamari, served with a metal pot of fries and another pot of tartar sauce. When I returned to my villa, I found the bed facing down and a red apple on a round card, on which was written ‘Happiness does not reside in possessions or gold, but the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul’.
In the morning I did an energy walk before breakfast along the coastal path, coinciding with some young revelers who were still coming home from the night before. The fishermen were already preparing to leave. I returned, to be ready for breakfast, in another outdoor area. I checked the huge lobby of the hotel, which is actually only used during the winter months unless, like me, you wanted WiFi (perfect reception here, which is not usual on this island). Pleot has deliberately turned the lobby into a residential house, albeit huge, with many different chairs, different seating areas. In winter there is a giant log fire. His sense of color is manifested in the bright orange chairs in the bar area. They offered me a round of golf, just 20 minutes away, but it was time to go.
Forty minutes later we were in the northwestern section of the island in the small coastal town of Polis. We head west towards the Akmasa Peninsula, and after four miles we veer off the oleander-flanked path onto the private path of Anassa (‘Queen’, named for Aphrodite, whose mythical baths are a few kilometers ahead). This leading resort, opened in 1998, cascades over 70 acres of rugged coastal terrain. Frankly, it’s huge. A water feature in the outer spinning circle and then a seven water jets honor guard greet you as you enter a honey-colored marble coliseum. To get to the sunset terrace, to look out to sea, it’s a 200 foot walk (I measured it), along wide open hallways, taking angles, let’s say past a large mirror flanked by a couple of lights green. Thanks to designer Darrell Schmitt, you can always see something intriguing, and there are strategically placed local flower pots, or modern icons, to add culture as you walk, or through beautiful, immaculately manicured gardens with lawns but also acres of natural shrubbery. a millefeuille of flowers of different colors.
The 173 rooms are distributed, as in a village, in blocks. I was in 73, a ground-floor suite with a private outside entrance, living room and bedroom, and a stone-walled terrace with a plunge pool. My rooms had light wood floors, cream walls, paint, and blinds covered with thin drapes. Here the fans were pale cream in color, hanging from slightly pointed cream-colored wooden ceilings. It had a bathroom and a half, with Bulgari.
I ran out to the spa, somehow finding my way through the ‘town square’ and the little church, contemporary to the resort, where a couple, attended by their ten-year-old son, were getting married. The spa is semi-underground, a real draw as it has 17 treatment rooms. They offer thalasso and Organic Pharmacy, the London firm apparently loved by Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow. I had an anti-aging body treatment, that is, a white sugar, salt and rose petal scrub followed by a day wrap and Andean rose petals, then a rose oil cream, then a body cream that included the following ingredients, Acid fatty green coffee, guarana, horsetail complex, ivy and meadowsweet – a 200ml pot from the Organic Pharmacy website will set you back £ 150.
There are five restaurants, cleverly, not all of them open every night. Wednesday is Cypriot night, a buffet with live dancing in the ‘town square’ and lots of fun (had I stayed another night it would have coincided with the weekly run cocktail party. The new chef here is Australian Ashley Goddard, who wants – as he did at Soneva Fushi – to plant an organic garden, for guests to visit.
In the morning the sun streamed in through the shutters that he had deliberately left open. I got up, looked over my plunge pool into an exotic bush, down to the ocean. A mountain bike was waiting for me and I got a good workout. Room service breakfast was simple in style, a large wooden tray with wonderful orange juice and a generous bowl of not sweet local yogurt. It had heart-shaped butter, French jams from L’Ancienne and local honey, a Frette napkin, and lots of tasty coffee. It was my acupuncture time, from an amazing local resident, Christine Whittaker, a Welsh woman who renounced the serious law for a lifestyle change, and spent four years studying detailed acupuncture in Beijing. I was supposedly fixing my face, but at one point I opened one eye and found myself lying with needles stuck in all my legs. I felt like Gulliver with the Lilliputians. And this one is for energy, he said, putting one on top of my head. She counted them, she counted them (fortunately the same).
Unfortunately there is no time for tennis or water sports or even to try all the restaurants. My car was waiting and I promised myself to come back (35% of all guests here are repeat guests). Well done Thanos and sisters!
PS: the next night Christine’s power needle went into effect. I woke up at 2 am brimming with creativity.