Our story
An olive press, still pressing time
Built in 1870, silent for fifty years, opened again in 2019 as twelve rooms.
How it started
For a century this was where the east side of the island brought its olives. When the last harvest was pressed in 1962, the doors closed and the grove kept growing. We found it under fig roots and rain, and spent three winters listening to the walls before we touched them.
A short history
Four dates that shaped the house
1870
The press is built
Stone from the hill behind it, beams from the boats that brought the millstones.
1962
The last harvest
The final oil leaves in clay jars. The doors close for fifty-four years.
2016
We find it
Eleni and Nikos buy the ruin, the grove, the threshing floor and one old cat.
2019
Twelve rooms open
Restored by local masons with lime, oak and the original stone.
How we restored it
Slowly, and by hand
Three winters
Every stone, back in its place
Each wall was taken down and rebuilt with lime mortar, the way it was first made. The old doors were planed and oiled, not replaced.
Made here
Nothing from a catalogue
Beds by a carpenter in Lakka, linen woven on the mainland, ceramics from a potter who still fires with olive wood.
“We did not want to build a hotel. We wanted to open the doors of the press again and let people in.”
Eleni and Nikos, owners
What we care about
Small, local and honest
900 l
Our own oil
What the grove gives each year. You taste it at breakfast.
14 / 16
People from here
Staff who live on the island all year round.
0
Single-use plastic
Glass, linen and refills, everywhere in the house.
100%
Solar hot water
The sun heats every shower from April to October.
Come and hear the walls.
Twelve rooms, open April to October.