Many of our visitors notice small details and ask us questions that the answers to are not always so obvious. After all, running any business means making decisions that may not always be the easiest or most commercial. They are the ones we considered right for the house, the neighborhood and the village.
These are some of our “strange” choices
Why we didn’t build a road
The truth is that we could have built one up to a point.
When we started the renovation, there were ways to ensure easier access by car to the house. It would have been more convenient for us. Maybe for some visitors too.
But any such intervention would have permanently changed the character of the neighborhood.
Lagadia, a traditional settlement of Gortynia in Mountainous Arcadia, is a village built for people and not for cars. Its routes are made on foot, the houses are connected by cobblestone streets and passages, the courtyards open onto each other.
So we preferred to adapt ourselves to the neighborhood rather than have the neighborhood adapt to us.
And so we gained something that is difficult to design in an engineering plan: a summer living room under the vine, the apple tree and the young walnut tree. A space that smells of lavender, oregano and wet soil after the rain.
Why don't we have a Nespresso coffee machine?
This is perhaps the question we hear most often.
The first answer is simple. We try to limit everything that creates unnecessary waste.
But the second is better.
In Lagadia,as in many villages with a square, coffee is drunk in the square.
There, the people of the village meet, share their news, discuss the weather, their jobs, and life.
We don't believe that all guests should follow this habit. But we believe that it is worth getting to know it. If not, we have the appropriate equipment.
Sometimes, the most authentic experience is not found inside the accommodation but a few meters below.
That's why we clean the spring and the paths
But that's not the only reason why we clean the spring next to us and the paths around us several times a year at a considerable distance.
The spring in the neighborhood does not belong to Gileri.
The passages do not belong to Gileri.
The paths do not belong to Gileri.
They belong to the village.
We try to keep small public spaces alive that would otherwise be abandoned. More here about our attitude towards the place.
Not because they are a sight to see.
But because they are part of the daily life of the place.
And so we encourage visitors to get to know it by walking around it.
Why do we still build with stones?
The short answer is simple. Because we are Lagkadia.
The more complex answer is that we believe that, if you are going to do something in a place like Lagkadia, you have to do it right.
Not as it is convenient or costs less.
But as it suits the place.
Stone is neither an easy nor a quick solution.
But it is the solution that belongs here.
Why don't we always do all the favors
We always try to help our visitors. To find solutions. To serve. Woe betide us if we didn't.
But there are times when we prefer to protect the character of the place rather than satisfy every demand.
Not out of intransigence.
But because we believe that the visitor doesn't come to Lagadia to change it.
He comes to get to know it.
And sometimes, though, we really can't. The possibilities of the place are not unlimited.
At the end of the day
Gileri remains a living house, a neighborhood and a way of life.
That's why some of our choices may seem strange at first glance.
For example, it would be easier to pave the garden of Karydia than to clean the grass 4-5 times a year. But what would be there then?
All our choices serve the same idea:
to enable the visitor, even for a few days, to feel more like a resident of a traditional Arcadian village than a guest of an accommodation.
George Ploumbidis
Gileri eco & design Residences, Lagadia Arcadia
Gileri Eco & Design Residences is a small complex of traditional residences in Lagadia, Gortynia, in Mountainous Arcadia. This article describes the small decisions that shaped it.
More about us
The truth is that we could have built one up to a point.
When we started the renovation, there were ways to ensure easier access by car to the house. It would have been more convenient for us. Maybe for some visitors too.
But any such intervention would have permanently changed the character of the neighborhood.
Lagadia, a traditional settlement of Gortynia in Mountainous Arcadia, is a village built for people and not for cars. Its routes are made on foot, the houses are connected by cobblestone streets and passages, the courtyards open onto each other.
So we preferred to adapt ourselves to the neighborhood rather than have the neighborhood adapt to us.
And so we gained something that is difficult to design in an engineering plan: a summer living room under the vine, the apple tree and the young walnut tree. A space that smells of lavender, oregano and wet soil after the rain.
Why don't we have a Nespresso coffee machine?
This is perhaps the question we hear most often.
The first answer is simple. We try to limit everything that creates unnecessary waste.
But the second is better.
In Lagadia,as in many villages with a square, coffee is drunk in the square.
There, the people of the village meet, share their news, discuss the weather, their jobs, and life.
We don't believe that all guests should follow this habit. But we believe that it is worth getting to know it. If not, we have the appropriate equipment.
Sometimes, the most authentic experience is not found inside the accommodation but a few meters below.
That's why we clean the spring and the paths
But that's not the only reason why we clean the spring next to us and the paths around us several times a year at a considerable distance.
The spring in the neighborhood does not belong to Gileri.
The passages do not belong to Gileri.
The paths do not belong to Gileri.
They belong to the village.
We try to keep small public spaces alive that would otherwise be abandoned. More here about our attitude towards the place.
Not because they are a sight to see.
But because they are part of the daily life of the place.
And so we encourage visitors to get to know it by walking around it.
Why do we still build with stones?
The short answer is simple. Because we are Lagkadia.
The more complex answer is that we believe that, if you are going to do something in a place like Lagkadia, you have to do it right.
Not as it is convenient or costs less.
But as it suits the place.
Stone is neither an easy nor a quick solution.
But it is the solution that belongs here.
Besides, Lagadia is famous for its stone masons. Stone is not only a building material in Lagadia. It is part of the architectural identity of the village.
And we are part of it.
And we are part of it.
Why don't we always do all the favors
We always try to help our visitors. To find solutions. To serve. Woe betide us if we didn't.
But there are times when we prefer to protect the character of the place rather than satisfy every demand.
Not out of intransigence.
But because we believe that the visitor doesn't come to Lagadia to change it.
He comes to get to know it.
And sometimes, though, we really can't. The possibilities of the place are not unlimited.
At the end of the day
Gileri remains a living house, a neighborhood and a way of life.
That's why some of our choices may seem strange at first glance.
For example, it would be easier to pave the garden of Karydia than to clean the grass 4-5 times a year. But what would be there then?
All our choices serve the same idea:
to enable the visitor, even for a few days, to feel more like a resident of a traditional Arcadian village than a guest of an accommodation.
George Ploumbidis
Gileri eco & design Residences, Lagadia Arcadia
Gileri Eco & Design Residences is a small complex of traditional residences in Lagadia, Gortynia, in Mountainous Arcadia. This article describes the small decisions that shaped it.
More about us
