Rosemary scented stories
About us and Villa Meraki
04-12-2023: becoming a wild woman
I have just come back from Crete. I was there for a month and I’m still nurturing the island energy within me. Especially with the extreme cold we’re experiencing in the Netherlands at the moment. As I’m writing this, all the rooftops I can see from my window are covered with frost and there are some remnants of the snow that fell yesterday. But when I close my eyes, I can still hear the rustling clouds of pink and orange bougainvillea that covers the front of our house, mixed in with the heavy scent of jasmine, speckled here and there with the perfect little flowers of the blue plumbago. I’ve sat for hours, looking at this floral cloud that is the epitome of beauty and life to me. Its beauty seems fragile, almost crepe paper like, but don’t be fooled, these bougainvillea trees are some of the strongest trees in the garden. Jasmine can grow safely in the knowledge that some of her species are known to be poisonous, as is blue plumbago. In Greek mythology more often than not, women and nymphs had to be wary of the attention of both men and gods and find ways to protect themselves, outsmart and hide, sometimes in plain sight. I guess the same goes for beautiful plants and flowers on this island of the gods.
"We will look at the sea during the day and see the starry sky melt in with the lights on the shoreline at night. We will just be. That."
The weeks before my birthday seem to always be filled with heavy contemplation and reflection, and as this year is no different, I was grateful to spend the weeks before my imminent 33d birthday on the island. And though, there’s no need for hiding from the gods anymore I suppose, I find myself surrounded by women in this little village called Káto Pinés. Or as I like to call us; the wild women of Pinés. Somewhere during the course of my 32nd year on this earth, I found myself gravitating more and more towards sisterhood. That might sound odd. After all, I am a woman. I’ve always belonged to the collective sisterhood of women. But something inside me yearned for a softer approach in life.
This year, the world proved hard for me and quite a few of my beloved. And it suffices to say that I witnessed resilience under the bleakest of circumstances. I was in awe of women’s strength in particular, their inherent force to go on. And their sheer power of protection when they close ranks around another sister in grief. If you would ask them, I don’t think they would quite see it that way. They would mention lacking, tears, the constant notion of failure. But quite the opposite is true. I’ve never seen such strength and determination. And it made me wonder why it is that, while we are so strong, we often mainly focus on our weaknesses.
In July, my dear Benthe came to visit me on Crete. We had planned to start organising our yoga retreat. And as we always do, we walk every day and dive head first into life. How is life at the moment? Are you happy? Such seemingly simple questions that unfold into the most heartfelt conversations about life, love, happiness. Never grasping an opportunity to make your point or be right but rather unwrapping issues together, finding solutions and mostly, truly hearing and seeing one another. You see, Benthe and I, we are a sisterhood. Aware of each other on every level. mood changes, tone of voice, a different vibe in a single text message. People always mistake us for sisters in Crete but I guess they might actually be right. As we have synched up over the years, we might have started resembling each other in spirit as well.
As our conversations flowed, rolled and stumbled through the Cretan mountainside, the vision for our retreat became quite clear. A retreat to this beautiful island, where showing up is quite honestly enough. A safe space where we listen to our bodies and to each other and where we celebrate who we are, just the way we are in that moment. Nothing more than that really. We decided, that it is really important for us to convey that although we are offering yin yoga, we really want to emphasise the ‘no previous experience required’ part. Because just like those beautiful flowers embracing the door to my island home, however strong we are at the core, there is a frailty about that phrase isn’t there? ‘No previous experience required’. How often do we sign up for something, that we don’t actually need to know anything about it? And how comfortable are we doing so anyway? You might wonder whether you actually do enough yoga to book yourself into a retreat, whether you’re flexible enough. There is so much courage required to sign up for something when you don’t exactly know what you’re signing up for.
But we’re here to let you know that, with our retreat, we invite you to a gentler gathering of sorts. We’re not going to tell you not to drink coffee in the morning. Or that you should change anything to your daily routine. We’re not going to expect you to know the Sanskrit or English name for a yoga pose. To be honest, we’re not going to expect you to know any poses at all or identify as a yogi for that matter. We’re simply going to enjoy a week of who we are and that we might find solace in a magical embrace together. We will introduce you to the bliss and benefits of yin yoga, we will show you the abundance of the island nature and Cretan hospitality, all mixed in with ample time to relax and soak up the sunlight. We will look at the sea during the day and see the starry sky melt in with the lights on the shoreline at night. We will just be. That.
As the snow starts falling again now, I remember the last time Benthe came to visit me on Crete, three weeks ago. We soaked up the sunlight, we swam, we ate delicious Cretan food and we celebrated having the first few people sign up for the retreat. On the last day before Benthe’s departure we had our yoga photoshoot at Villa Meraki, which was a nerve-racking endeavour for me as I never really have my picture taken. But I took the plunge, safe in the knowledge that Benthe and my favourite photographer and long-time friend Charlie, would take the lead and guide me through this. And the result of that cocktail of excitement, nerves, passion, hard work and a tinge of sleep deprivation, turned into something else. We managed to capture the absolute magic of Villa Meraki and what’s to come for our wonderful retreat in May, 2024. We so look forward to welcoming you.
Lots of love
Anne
02-06-2023: A green year
This year is of great significance to me and my father. Over the last couple of years, we have really poured our hearts and souls into Villa Meraki. the last big project we did, was renovating the entire basement into a luxurious extension three years ago, which turned out to be a great success. In addition to having gained another enormous bed/bath, with the original rock wall as its main feature, We have also created a beautiful indoor yoga studio. About which you might learn more very soon…
For a month now, my father has been traveling around the globe. A very well-deserved journey that he’s thoroughly enjoying. Every week he calls me and he gives me an update on his whereabouts and adventures. My father has always been the real adventurer of the two of us. He loves an upbeat traveling lifestyle, whereas I prefer staying in one place (preferably Crete) for a long time. But I love hearing about these faraway places, and traveling with him in thought, through his stories. Anyone who has ever met my father knows that he possesses eternal youth and has the energy of someone half his age. Compared to him, I sometimes feel old. But while he has been exploring, I have not been idle. Over the last couple of years, my project (in addition to all the other indoor projects) have been focused on making Villa Meraki more energy efficient and sustainable. Because as much as I adore this house, it didn’t sit well with my philosophy about sustainability and reducing our carbon footprint. And this year, the biggest goals were achieved! As this is a new blog, let’s do a quick recap, shall we?
Five years ago, we started off with replacing the grass lawns in front of the bedrooms for sustainable herb gardens. Then, while renovating the basement, we removed the grass lawn in front of the living room. We then connected all of the air-conditionings to a wireless system and added new solar boilers. we also connected the terrace of the guesthouse to the ancient donkey road, adding greenery as went went. At the beginning of this year, we built a pergola in front of the living room to keep it sheltered from the sun, which looks absolutely stunning and then, as the cherry on top, two weeks ago 23 solar panels were installed on the roof. And ultimately, we gained a sister home; ‘To spitáki ston ílio’. We look forward to a succesful collaboration with this colourful home, that lies at 500 metres (a 10 minute walk) from Villa Meraki!
All of this really wouldn’t have been possible without our dear return customers (over 50% of our guests come back every year) who kept coming to Villa Meraki, even in years when almost everyone stayed at home. We are so utterly grateful to still be able to welcome guests and for me personally to still work together with my father. Even when I’m knee deep in rubble or labelling endless piles of mysterious keys, he manages to get a laugh out of me. these are precious moments shared.
And now, we’re already well into our booking season for 2023. We look forward to welcoming you this summer, autumn and winter!
