Vouliagmeni is a coastal peninsula on the Saronic Gulf, half an hour from Athens, where pine forest comes down almost to the sea. The Margi stands inside it, at 11 Litous Street, Vouliagmeni, Athens Riviera, a few steps from the sandy beaches and still within reach of the historical sites of the city. Scented forest on one side and clean sand on the other make it a base for a stay that mixes the coast with the city.
The family that built it still owns and runs it, and the kitchens are fed by land the family bought for that purpose.
The house the doctor built
In 1960 a doctor, Yiangos Stavridis, supported by his wife Katy, began building Margi House in the pinewood at Vouliagmeni, a complex of 18 luxury apartments. He was one of the figures behind the early-1960s plan to make an Athenian Riviera of the Saronic coast, and he named the hotel after his two daughters, Maria and Gina. The press of the day called it a private initiative that honoured Greek tourism.
It has been family-run ever since, and the third generation of the Stavridis family holds it now, with Theo Agiostratitis as head of operations and the architect Yiangos Agiostratitis in charge of the renovation that took the building to 89 rooms and suites over five floors. They look out either to the sea or into the forest behind.
The farm at Kalyvia
Land of its own, enough to supply the household, the hotel and the restaurants, was the family’s ambition long before it found any. The ground it bought is an olive grove in the Kalyvia area of Attica, chosen for environmental conditions that will grow almost every Greek fruit and vegetable. The Margi Farm, ten acres at Kalyvia, Attica, about 20 minutes away, now holds a vegetable garden, that olive grove and vineyards, and raises chickens, goats and horses. Produce goes to the hotel kitchens daily, and the farming follows the natural practices of the family’s ancestors.
Guests can go and see it. The farm takes visits by arrangement, with group bookings by reservation, and a tour there ends in a Greek farm dinner on the land the food came off.
Three rooms to eat in
There are three restaurants: GiO, Patio, Nilaya. GiO is the Italian room, with a summer and a winter season, built on traditional recipes and hand-picked produce. Nilaya is where breakfast is served, Greek and Mediterranean, laid out as a buffet and an à la carte menu.
Patio sits in the hotel’s inner courtyard, beside the wine cellar, and seats nine tables for dinner alone, by advance reservation. Panagiotis Giakalis cooks there and at GiO, and at Patio he works in degustation menus, dish by dish off the farm, with a dish called “The Fish and the Farm” on the card since the room opened and presented by the chef himself. Patio holds one Michelin star and one green star for sustainability. The sommelier has built four wine pairings to run alongside the menus, drawn from local varieties and from the major growing regions abroad.
The two villas
The house also lets two villas: 200 sq m beachfront in Vouliagmeni, 600 sq m on Mykonos. The Vouliagmeni one is modern, a few minutes from the hotel, with four bedrooms and room for up to ten adults, and the hotel’s service reaches it. The Mykonos villa is a whitewashed cubic house for up to 12 adults, with an infinity pool above the water.
Who is this for
The house suits a traveller who wants the Attic coast and the city in one stay. It looks over a bay with a yacht marina, 23 kilometres from the airport, and a day can be spent at the outdoor pool or in the spa, which has three treatment rooms, a couple’s suite, a steam room, a sauna and an indoor pool. There is tennis at a club nearby and golf close by. Children are welcome, and so are dogs.
