No dark nights at the hotel

 

The basic idea how to spent our evenings during our first family holiday was inviting. We would take the kids to bed and then settle down on our private balcony to relax. We had brought a candle and were really happy to find our room equipped with a large balcony with chairs and deckchairs facing the sea. We might even be able to get a good look at the stars since our hotel was remote and shielded by hills from the next village. We felt the promise of comfortable evenings. Unfortunately, this promise turned into smoke on the very first evening. For a simple reason. It was not possible to switch off the lights!

So there we were, in the middle of nowhere, and we needed heavy curtains to block the light to get a chance to sleep. But why complain, at least the hotel was nicely illuminated.

I’ve learned to be grateful for small things, so I took comfort in the fact that our light was a warm yellow, different from the adjacent pool with its bright white lights. Not that anybody used the pool at night, but illumination is important anyway.

One of the things I had really looked forward in this holiday was darkness. Thanks to our neighbour at home our bedroom is nicely lit (or would be without the curtains). I had hoped to get some dark, quiet nights, for being a mother with two small kids, sleep has great value.

Obviously the hotel management was aware of the possibilty that guests might be annoyed by the lights. They installed heavy light-shielding curtains. Problem solved, many will say. Close the curtain, problem is solved. But the curtains were much more efficient in keeping fresh, cool air out than the light, so we needed to use the air con. Instead of a soft night breeze we got cold wind from an humming ventilation.

So the illumination of the hotel made sure that my holiday was by far not as relaxing as I had hoped. A shame, because the hotel was a really pleasant and quiet place to spent an evening.