Some years ago, at the tender age of 34 “I found myself within that forest dark” that's share by many and that gives you a lot (in terms of money and personal satisfaction), but demands a lot more in return.

At a certain point the vicious circle “I earn and I decide, therefore I am” becomes automatic, and you have to apply to it to make it believable. Once at this stage if you are good enough it all turns out quite well.

Or, at least this is what occurred to me.

I began to let things pass through, as if I was a human sieve (as happens in “Ratataplan”, a movie by Maurizio Nichetti n.d.a.); I had so many dreams – even daydreams – to help me going through my working hours, such as memoires of scents and landscapes that functioned as a safe-conduct pass.

I started to be more productive in non-standard hours, to work hard on my self motivation and to choose how to work, trying not to feel as a hamster on a wheel but as a real professional.

I also started to feel that results, other than appearances were (are!) what really matter, and I tried to convince my colleagues to take this concept in.

I began feeling a growing pressing need to choose “breathing” within my own personal air-range, as the psychological pressure tried me beyond endurance.

One of the biggest gifts live has given to me has been the passion for “scuba diving”: thanks to underwater silence I re-discovered what is meant by self-respect, by respecting one's own limits, and to understand that precious respect we owe to nature.

Starting from this I chose to take some time off, to play with time, dedicating it to myself.

And Time took a new meaningful course, marked by the experience of a new lease in life, of which I became more a prime witness than a protagonist.

Once erased the pure equation “time = money” I began feeling better: it has really been a matter of choice and need at the same time.

I do reckon I've been lucky in having the chance to make a choice and in having found a partner who loves the sea (as I do), loves Greece and who has the will to keep on accepting new challenges.

Jacopo had been a professional in the world of tourism for many years, being a Head Manager for many major Tour Operators, but he was looking for a personal challenge, too. A place of his own, where to set his own personal rules, which were not those of the so-called “mass market /higher profit”.

When in 2007 we landed on Crete some of our friends working in the field of tourism said that the “romantic times” were over, that meant “end of games” for that kind of tourism that used to gaining a lot giving little.

A glance had been enough. That was just the perfect moment for our challenge: we wanted to work with passion, within a small manageable dimension, with the aim of a modest but potentially booming economic project.

Our personal conquest, Time, has become the criteria of a research: that of a new, unusual but growing market demand. The only real luxury that today can be so defined - in our point of view – is “the luxury of one's own Time”.

This is the atmosphere of casaDoria,our [SlowLife Hotel], that we try to transmit to our guests.

Our guests choose to come to casaDoria, they do not arrive here expecting things read on a brochure that looks like a thousand others.

The place is wonderful, wild and a bit difficult to reach, but calling a spade a spade, it reflects an ancient contrast of natural elements (sea and soil), and out of this motionless strife of colored masses and physical elements arises the research for a new harmony that impacts one's self and gestures. The attention is drawn to reflect on little things and details.

Once arrived at casaDoria there is no need for many words, it becomes natural to dismiss roles and mind-settings, just to pause and observe...Time itself starts to dilate.

In the evening, at sunset, the dark starry night rises and in that moment one wonders how incredible it is in a place as this to have (for instance) water and elecricity.

These are the moment of one's own Time, and it is in those moments that casaDoria becomes an eternal place, attending people throughout their holidays.

This is not a place for all (o everyone).

Valeria & Jacopo

www.casadoria.net