On course for summer
IT’S a tough life for a queen bee; her every whim is attended to by swarms of diligent workers, who feed her a diet of rich royal jelly. “But after two years in the hive we let her go and, unable to fend for herself, she dies,” explains Makis, a Greek bee farmer whose family has been producing honey in the herbcovered foothills of the Peloponnese for more than 100 years.
“If we left her there, the bees would end up killing her. They need a fit new queen.”
My excursion to the bee farm and museum is one of the few times I manage to wrestle myself away from my own temporary palace set high in the olive groves and overlooking the silky Aegean Sea.
Owned by the Aman group, masters in luxury, the colonnaded Amanzo’e resort was built to resemble the splendid buildings of Greek antiquity, but radiates modern grandeur.
Thick tufts of fragrant lavender and groomed, erect cypress trees lead to private villas, so big, at one point I get lost trying to retrace my steps to the front door. Natural light fills a spacious shower room, while a sunken bath and outdoor lap pool both look out to the rounded hilltops, rolling like the crests of waves.
But it’s the programme of wellbeing treatments that really tempts guests to switch plans from visiting nearby historical sights, such as the amphitheatre at Epidaurus, and instead relax at the resort and its private beach club, just a 10-minute cycle ride away.
I begin my day with a sunrise yoga session in a glass pavilion washed with golden light, and continue with a honey facial, where products from Makis’ farm are used as a very sticky but effective exfoliant.
It’s Steve Karle’s Aquatic Bodywork session though, that really leaves me glowing. With floats wrapped around my legs, I sit in a specially designed pool heated to 94F (skin temperature), while Steve guides me through a series of twists and turns, using a mixture of Watsu and craniosacral therapy techniques.
Results, I’m told, can vary from improved alignment to a powerful meditative experience. Some patients have even been known to imagine themselves as a dolphin, curl into a foetal ball, or burst into tears.
I sit in silence for half an hour trying to reconnect my limbs which now seem so distant from my body. I feel calmer than I have done in years.
It’s pure splash-out indulgence, as is my entire weekend at one of Greece’s most exclusive hotels. But for a short time it’s a sweet existence for a pampered queen bee.