ALMYRA, Paphos, Cyprus
The only way I can balance testing times, as well as constant work (I’m the global development director of charity mothers2mothers) and juggling family life is knowing that there will be moments when I can be with my family and replenish (the two are not always synonymous). The best way I know how to do this is in the sun and by the sea, with days broken only by a rhythm of sunrises and sunsets and, to be frank, some way of making being mum to three lively boys as easy as possible.
The second we walk into our interconnecting Kyma suites at the Almyra, I know that we’ve found a little piece of heaven. With a 270 degree view of the Mediterranean, we can even hear the gentle lapping of the waves outside (kyma, in Greek). The rooms have complete privacy (no one is able to hear how ludicrously early our children wake up), and are at ground level, so I know that our kamikaze three-year-old will stay relatively in one piece. The junior members of our crew are immediately entranced by their very own ‘three bears’-sized Almyra dressing gowns and an ability to make bathtime potions from the luxurious and liberally supplied
White Company products.
The rooms are stunning and, most importantly, the kind of rooms we would have stayed in pre-children; contemporary luxury (the Almyra is known as the Design Hotel within the beautiful family-owned Thanos group), think billowing fabrics, beautiful roof deck and luxuriant bedlinen. In fact, the Almyra manages to be a hotel that different constituent groups can coexist within – couples, spa-lovers, families of all ages – while quietly catering for everyone’s needs. We find a shade-sail covered pool, meaning that our small white Vikings don’t burn under the wall-to-wall sunshine, a child-friendly lap pool, a toddler pool and an adults’ pool and spa for those without small encumbrances.
My husband and I enjoy one deliriously happy afternoon by the adults’ pool while the children are in the Almyra Explorers Kids Club, superbly run by Scott Dunn. Our boys are torn between playing with new-found friends or having fun with the Explorers Club. I’m torn between the sun and the spa but I leave my sunbed sea-view for a blissful Ku
Nye Tibetan body massage in the quiet, entrancing sea-view spa. Replenishment is taking hold by this point.
One of my usual holiday gripes is resolved by the Almyra. I like the feel of a boutiquey hotel but get bored with samey dining options. The Almyra has five totally different restaurants: our favourite is Notios, Japanesemediterranean fusion served alfresco in front of the sunset, children utterly welcome, so we don’t even feel the need to use babysitters (which can be very easily arranged). We also love lazy lunches in the Ouzeri seafront tavern, where we enjoy beautiful Greek flavours beneath flowering pergolas, but also eat at Annabelle, a sister-hotel that also has an array of pools – if children start to get bored with the multitude of choices. This is as far as we travel. While neighbouring Paphos has all sorts of
tombs, mosaics and UNESCO ruins to discover… my poolside reading and sea gazing is too enjoyable to take myself away from the Almyra for long.
As a family, we don’t tend to go to places twice. The fact that we all desperately feel the need to return as urgently as possible before we have even left is telling. We needed time to just be a family and the Almyra has given us just that. My eldest is about to turn 10. I asked him if he could go anywhere with Mummy, where would he go?
Back to the Almyra was the answer. EMMA FRANCE