VOTSALA HOTEL - THERMI
Pyrgi is just minutes from the old fishing village of Thermi and the thermal springs that give the area it's name. Here you will find small fish restaurants and traditional tavernas.
The area is unique and totally unspoiled by tourism offering the visitor an opportunity to experience rest and relaxation in the most stunning natural surroundings as well as the ancient archeological sites and traditions of unspoiled Lesvos.
The hotel has a water side terrace and dining room
The hotel itself is a two storey building literally on the shore of 800 metres of unspoiled natural coastline with quiet beaches and warm safe waters. The hotel owners are friendly and will offer you a warm welcome to their 42 rooms. Rated B class, the hotel has four detached buildings set in a massive 9 acres of beautiful gardens brimming with colour and natural flora.
The rooms are spacious with the added advantage of fridge and separate private entrance from the gardens. Each has a comfortable terrace or balcony overlooking the garden or facing the sea and the coast of Turkey.
Hotel facilities include a friendly reception where you will get answers to almost all of your questions, restaurant, interior and outdoor bars, water-side breakfast terrace and free use of the hotels canoes and peddle boats.
Less is often more, therefore we promise:
No disco in the hotel
Instead, classical music wakes you gently as you enjoy your speciality breakfast under the trees on the waterside terrace; traditional Greek music accompanies your dinner in the restaurant and cool jazz helps you relax after dinner as you enjoy a drink under the dazzling moonlit sky. (But if you really need a disco, the nearest one is 4 km away!)
No TV in the rooms
For a few days forget the television, just relax with a book, perhaps by one of the island’s famous authors or watch the slow action of the day unfold in front of you along the seafront and around the old fishing harbour.
No “Greek Taverna” in the hotel
A few minutes walk through the hotel gardens to the old port, you will find friendly local tavernas serving freshly caught fish at their waterside tables to both locals and visitors at very reasonable prices.
No mini-market in the hotel
Small shops in the old port offer all you need to fill the refrigerator in your room and won’t empty your pocket.
No “Greek nights” in the hotel
A 20 minutes walk away, in the old village of Thermi and you can have your hair cut, meet the locals and enjoy a coffee or an ouzo under the shade of the beautiful wisteria.
No roof garden
Nine acres of garden, full of Mediterranean flowers and fruit trees surround the hotel and lead down to the sea, with no road in between. And you can pick a lemon for your gin & tonic.
No air conditioning
The welcoming breeze from the Aegean, which cools the islands even in the height of summer, blows gently from your balcony through your room, providing the best air condition you could want.
No swimming pool
From in front of our hotel, for 800 metres, there runs an unspoiled, natural coastline, with quiet beaches and warm safe waters, which are pleasant for swimming.
No sauna, no hydromassage
Relax in one of the area’s Ottoman-built thermal baths and feel the power of the island’s natural hot-water springs easing the aches from your body.
No water sports
But if you wish to take one of our pedal boats or canoes, please feel free. And yes, they are free!
All in all Hotel Votsala is a happy, relaxing, informal place to stay.
All Votsala rooms have two facades. The entrance is from the garden at the hils on the west.
If you have children: In addition to the safe seaside garden the private entrance to each room/studio from the garden, the size of the rooms and their facilities make Hotel Votsala a children friendly place to stay. For a small child it is reasonable to book a Triple room with a third bed or/and a baby-cot in the same room.
For not very small children or teenagers the best is to book a Family room. For older teenage children we suggest that you book two different, next door rooms or even better rooms in separate buildings in order to make both parents and children feel free but still enjoying holiday together.
What we call a Family room is a two-bedroom apartment with a common bathroom.
The Family Rooms have some kitchen facilities (a refrigerator, a kettle and a sink for washing dishes) but no real cooking equipment, exactly as all the other Votsala rooms. The F.R. is designed to be located on the ground floor in order to offer easier access to the garden. The parent’s room is orientated on the seaside of the building and the children room is on the hills side.
No swimming pool: From in front of our hotel, for 800 metres, there runs an unspoiled, natural coastline, with quiet beaches to visit and warm safe waters, which are pleasant for swimming. The beach is not large but the water is clear and friendly. The coast in front of our hotel looks more like a garden beside a lake with trees very close to the seas rather than a beach by the ocean.
The nearest broad sandy beach is at 500 m away.
Between that popular beach and our hotel the land belongs to the ministry of culture and this is the reason why there is no road built along the coastline: because of its archaeological under-ground layers.
The land leading down to the sea forms a natural narrow coast of pebbles and sand at the bottom of the relative shallow water. And this is practically our own "private" beach, as most of the locals prefer to drive rather than to walk for a swim!
Description and photographs copyright © Sappho Travel 1999-2015
