Ege Hotel, Bozcaada
Convivial Island Budget Haunt. Doubles from £50
Bozcaada is rich in chi-chi boutique hotels, converted town houses that are high on style but short on outside space. The reverse is true of the Ege Hotel, housed in the old Greek primary school in a secluded corner of the town, and it’s a trade-off to be recommended.
For while Elle Deco will not be featuring the dated Ege any time soon, the bedrooms are nevertheless clean, spacious and perfectly adequate; and what truly makes the place, which Istanbullu Umit Turan saved from dereliction in the 1980s, is the garden space and dining area where the hotel’s arty-budget clientele like to gather. Umit, a creative type himself, has named the bedrooms after favourite writers from Aeschylus to Oscar Wilde. Doors are inscribed with quotes like Wilde’s brilliant ‘Some bring happiness wherever they go, others whenever’, an emotion Umit admits to have experienced on the departure of more difficult guests. The prevailing atmosphere, that said, is a ready conviviality that the pinched if pretty interiors of the island’s pricier boutique hotels struggle to achieve.
Umit Bey describes his guests as cultured types who like nothing better than wandering the island and finding a good swimming spot. They return to a fine kitchen run by Umit’s wife Maytiga. Watch out for her exceptional breakfasts which include jams home-made from the like of aubergines, carrots, quinces and acacia flowers.
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