(English post, Romanian introduction)

Anul trecut am fost pentru prima dată în Grecia – îmi doream mult să vizitez meleagurile elene şi îmi doream să scriu. În ultima zi m-am separat de grup şi am rămas la hotel, la umbra măslinilor, pentru a aşterne rândurile pe care le aveam deja notate în minte. Am păstrat textul şi a venit vremea să dezvălui un review despre o locaţie care mi-a mângâiat sufletul, pe care o recomand cu multă căldură şi unde sper să mă reîntorc. Pentru că am vrut ca proprietarii să-l poată citi, fiind şi primul review, am scris în engleză. Vă invit să trageţi aer în piept, să vă relaxaţi şi să păşiţi într-un loc unde timpul trece mai greu: Ipsario, micul hotel al Sofiei şi al frumoasei sale familii:

First guests, coming from Romania, with love

I found myself writing an email home while I was on vacation, although I usually don’t use the online post when on holidays. It was just a work/ leisure mail that ended with one question: “How’s the island?”

I should say it’s my first time on Thasos and first time in Greece – I’ve been wanting to visit this country for quite some time, it was worth waiting.

Returning to the question in my email, this is how I began answering: “Thasos, the island, is superb. Actually, it all starts with our hosts – we’re their first guests. I’m experiencing this relaxation feeling I haven’t had in quite a while. It has one floor, a of 8 rooms, all with the same view: to the big swimming pool and to the sea. Now I’m writing to you from my balcony. It’s late, I can see tiny lights far away, I can hear crickets, the diffuse lights in the swimming pool keep changing color, it’s what I imagine when I say good atmosphere.”

The hosts are so relaxed and we just felt like at home, only that nothing was missing (food and drink related) and it was always clean 🙂

Food & family

Sofia, our main host, cooks deliciously any type of food: Greek (loved the zucchini balls with a touch of special, fine, tzatzyki sauce, the salad with nuts, sun dried tomatoes and olive oil – of course), meat (we tried the beef steak with home cut French fries, tzatziky and the Greek salad), I’m sorry we didn’t get to try her seafood pastas.

Sofia and her husband have 2 lovely blonde boys, a blonde dog (girl), a funny looking cat and beautiful stories they will tell you. The hotel you’re going to call “home” if you chose to stay at Ipsario Garden has a big, wonderful, swimming pool, a playground quite far away from the windows while you can still see the children, it has a bar with a cozy terrace, half covered in case of rain, a nice place where you can have breakfast, everything surrounded by flowers and green nature.

At home, in Thasos

You feel safe and it’s a pleasure to spend time “at home” when in Thasos. I was actually writing to my friend in the email I was telling you about in the beginning of this review that “to be honest, I would have liked to have spent more time at home”, at the swimming pool, in my room – the beds are amazing: big, with comfortable pillows, you have both sheets and soft blankets if you need to cover yourself nighttime, tv (few channels), integrated air conditioning that works instantly and perfectly if needed, the room is painted in soft pastels, you have a big closet, more than enough space for two. The bathroom is big, with good, warm, lightning, a generous shower and plenty of towels, including two for the swimming pool. If it were to be the usual hotel, my personal ranking would be 4 stars. But it’s not a hotel, it’s a 5 stars vacation home.

All the details are taken care of, I’d like to point out the comfy slippers that are hand crafted by people with special needs.

Send me to Paradise!

We’ve played games, swam in the evening in the swimming pool, had breakfast (included in the room’s price) and we spent a of 7 nights. Needless to say the conversations with our hosts were lovely. Oh, and did I mention that all these views – from the windows you can see both the sea and the mountains – all the vacation story and memories, everything is happening in an olive garden, would you believe me? It’s like you wake up in the middle of Greece’s Heaven.

I’m telling you, this place is poetry. Perfect for a romantic escape or for a lovely, chill, family holiday. I will remember my first time in Greece as my first time at Ipsario Garden and I won’t need pictures to see the beauty again, as it’s all well written in my mind. Enjoy your stay and make the best out of it!

Love,

The first guests: Olivia-doll & Adrian, Ingrid & Cosmin