Destination Of The Week (we would love to....): Nilaya Hermitage, Goa - India

Instead of being annoyed to the volcanic ash clouds over Europe, let’s dream about a peaceful place in Goa: Nilaya Hermitage is one of the best designed hotel in Goa, India. A holiday encounter in Goa brought Hari Ajwani, an Indian engineer settled in Berlin, and Claudia Derain, a fashion stylist from Paris, together more than ten years ago (they fell badly in love with each other... how beautiful). To cement their new life they first rented and renovated an old Portuguese house and ran it as a guest house. The experiment proved such success that they decided to build their own „alternative“ hotel – and so was born Nilaya Hermitage. Hari and Claudia bought a large plot of land on top of a hill, overlooking the Arabian Sea. Difficult access to the site was compensated by spectular views of paddy fields and groves of coconut palms. After three years of effort with the help of Goan architect Dean D’Cruz, the rock-faced building materialised. Each of Nilaya’s twelve guest suites is decorated in a striking assemblage of vivid colours and terrazzo flooring.
I love the safran-coloured „music room“ with floor seating. It is used for music concerts at night or for quiet reading and meditation during the day. Nilaya’s guest suites have names, not numbers, e.g. „Sky room“. Let’s go to India for a time-out.
More about the hotel: www.nilaya.com