March 29, 2024

Just Moments

Travel Groove

In Athens, a New Boutique Hotel Energizes the Ancient City

As the innovative director of Shila, Eftihia is at the heart of this growth. “Shila came about serendipitously, as a have to have to develop a area where our pursuits, passions and desires would be expressed below a single roof, be it architecture, style, pictures, aesthetics, or internet hosting a good bash!” Athens’ burgeoning inventive group experienced been pining for a collecting house, she explains, as the resort scene in Athens felt sparse in comparison to other cultural hubs like London, Paris and New York. “We wanted to make a hub that concurrently runs as a lodge, but also acts as a space to showcase art, a phase for generation, a meeting place. A sensual and mysterious townhouse of kinds,” Efihia explains. Shila turned the bridge for these communities. Now, two several years later, it’s time to develop.

Whilst Shila is tucked absent in a modest guest property on a peaceful road in the upscale Kolonaki community, its new sister property, Mona, is found in Athens’ Psirri neighborhood in the coronary heart of cultural downtown. The neighborhood by itself presents a watch of the city’s earlier and existing, the place the Acropolis and historical Agora blend harmoniously with the city’s galleries, designer stores and trendy bars and places to eat. Housed in an eight-tale factory from the ‘50s, Mona plays on its wilder and additional industrial property: There is a daring iron staircase, terrazzo flooring, original metal windows, and a marble facade. Mona is the edgier aspect to Shila’s bohemian soul. “Mona is pretty a great deal a city girl,” says Eftihia.

The lobby at Mona.

Photograph: Courtesy of Alexandra Masmanidi