A wonderful traditional greek living experience!! Mixing old and new in the beautiful village of Koskinou, built in mid 1800s and it is completely renovated in 2016.
Villa Sofia is named after Sofia, my great-grandmother who I stayed with in this house when I was a child. She and her husband renovated the house in 1920 but the house is older than that. When tourists started to come to Rhodes in the 60s Sofia opened her house for them to see and experience something original greek. Now I want to do the same! The house is completely renovated 2016 so it has all the modern amenities but I have kept the traditional feel of a Koskinou village house. You will not be disappointed!!
Opening the metal door to the courtyard everyone gets a smile to their face. You see a stair up to the roof terraces and a beautiful pattern pebble floor.. A few steps in you pass the outside bathroom and see the dining area with a big barbecue especially built for kontosouvli (meat that is put on a 2 meter long metal pole and grilled rotating slow for 2 hours.. Absolutely amazing!).
If you now decide to go up the stair you will come up to the first roof terrace with an old-style sitting area. What better than to have your morning coffee here.. Or maybe a glass of wine when the sun is setting. If you have laundry that needs to dry this is where you hang them. Up the next stair is the big roof terrace, with another dining table, a pergola-sofa-bed, some nice chairs and a sunbed. Whatever you decide to do up here the view is amazing! You will see the town and the ocean and all of the village..
Downstairs on the courtyard there are two door in to the house. The one on the right leads to the kitchen and the one straight ahead leads to the main room - which is also one of the bedrooms. This room is the most characteristic, 5 meter to the ceiling with a big arc in the middle. Most of these houses in Koskinou are a little dark since they don't have so many windows but when Sofia renovated the house in 1920 they opened windows on the back wall. This gives the room a wonderful light and if you open the windows in the summer the breeze will cool you down.. There are family pictures on the walls, old plates, bowls and glasses, golden frames, another amazing patterned pebble floor and two pataros (loft beds) that each have a comfortable double bed. Under the highest pataro is walk-in closet!!
There is a door from this room that leads into the kitchen, which you can also access from the courtyard. Here you have everything that you would need for cooking. Even a little coffee station! Since it is also located in the middle of the house, the person who ends up cooking is a part of the socializing and everyone can give a helping hand when they walk through.
The next door leads to the other bedroom where there is a fireplace for the winter! This use to be the old kitchen and the fireplace was used for cooking actually, that is why it is much higher than a normal fireplace. The sofa turns into a really comfortable double bed and there is also another bathroom that is accessed from this room. Internet and a TV with most cable channels is another nice little feature in this room. Per request I can arrange for a work-desk to put in this room too!
Welcome to Villa Sofia!!