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By coincidence, my maiden name is next to «Hilton». Still a child, in the back seat of my father's car, I saw his strange – like a hug – sulupi and I knew we arrived in the neighborhood. The hotel was anyway. «extension» of our house, a place familiar and safe, from teenage dances of Arsakeio in Esperides and young New Year's dawn in Byzantine, to drinks and flirting in Galaxy. And then, in my professional life now, he identified himself with interviews with personalities in the suites and the pool.
And on the horizon the Acropolis.
In the first official presentation to the press representatives of the young «The Ilisian» Last Wednesday, I crossed the threshold with a real heartbeat. «What if I don't like the renovation? What if it's gotten so high?»I was thinking, «How will I feel about this place I love so much?»On the way in, I was touched. I was expected to be aristocratic, elegant, attentive to every detail, with absolute respect in the past, which has determined millions of Athenians and has been enrolled in their memories. Which one of us does not have a personal record related to the hotel?
The NYN member club pool was opened first.
The tour, which lasted beyond an hour, brought us one pleasant surprise behind the other. The lobby with the works of Vernadaki and Moralis, as well as a case – like a small museum of evidence – touched eyes and hearts. Even the lights the painter had designed for the first «Hilton» They decorate the reception. In a city that has identified itself with the ancient Cleos, a reflection on Athenian modernism in the 1960s and the ecumenical Greek taste that then took shape is a wise choice with a national character.
Moralis' facade.
Against the falsified luxury that devours our eyes everywhere, especially in our islands, in «The Ilisian» stands firmly the very story of a hotel, which cost the bold new when it first opened its doors. The suites are a gift of eyes with a background of Parthenon, restaurants with Greek and French cuisine (with their clean primary flavors, without «problems») stand at their height, the decorative details are fine, the colors themselves.
Moralis' small sculptures are also in the lobby.
Two elements impressed me more. First, a new roof with a walkway or a 770 m walk full of plants and flowers, which will be open 24 hours a day to customers, which was created over the Byzantine. He reminded me of the famous High Line in New York, where an overground inactive railway line became the most beautiful modern park in the city. From this level one can see so close the exterior monumental marble facade of Moralis, which is confused with its scale and beauty. The second element that impressed me is now the surrounding space in its broad sense. The Gallery building shines, Varotsos Runner gives the tone, the Rizaris grove is a small oasis, Lycavittus and the Acropolis complement the «landscape»I came out of the tour with a feeling that the city regained a great building, but also a hospitality roof. I've earned it again. «paternal» My.
