Six rooms in an old town house in Nafplio, open from April to October, with breakfast in the courtyard.

An Empty House, Then Six Rooms

Eleni and Kostas bought the house in 2004. It had stood empty for eleven years, with a fig tree growing through the courtyard and the shutters nailed shut.

It was built in the 1860s, like most of the old town, three storeys of stone and plaster on a lane too narrow for a car, with a courtyard at the back and a roof you can see the fortress from. The first three rooms opened in 2005, with the stairs still half rebuilt and Kostas painting the window frames at night after the guests had gone to bed.

The other three rooms came as the roof, the stairs and the money allowed. The Long Room came three summers after the first guests, the Small Room the summer after that, and the Roof Room last of all, because everything for it had to be carried up three flights by hand. Since then the house has stayed at six rooms, and it will stay there, because six is the number two people can look after properly.

April to October, and Then We Close

The house opens on 1 April and closes on 31 October. Each month is different, and people who come back usually come back in the same one.

• AprilBlossom, cool eveningsThe orange trees flower and the old town is quiet. Bring a jumper for the courtyard at night.
• May and JuneThe sea warms upSwimming starts in earnest by the end of May, and the evenings are long.
• July and AugustHot and busyThe town lives at night. Two nights at least, and book early.
• SeptemberThe best monthThe sea is at its warmest and the crowds have gone home.
• OctoberRain, some daysThe light is the best of the year, and breakfast moves indoors when it rains.

We close in winter because the house needs those months for repairs, and so do we.

Six Rooms, None the Same

• The Small Room, single, ground floor70 to 90 EUR
• The Courtyard Room, double, ground floor95 to 130 EUR
• The Arch Room, double or twin, first floor105 to 140 EUR
• The Blue Shutters, double with a balcony110 to 150 EUR
• The Roof Room, double with its own terrace130 to 175 EUR
• The Long Room, for up to four140 to 180 EURPer night, breakfast and the city tax included. Lower in April, May and October, higher in July and August.

Each room, with its light, its beds and its quirks, is on the rooms page.

In the Courtyard, From Eight

Breakfast is from eight until half past ten, in the courtyard under the fig tree, or in the front room when it rains. Bread from the bakery at the end of the lane, orange juice squeezed that morning, thyme honey, yoghurt, eggs as you like them and one cake that changes every day. Eleni will tell you where every one of those comes from on the breakfast page, at length.

One Email, Answered the Same Day

Every booking is made directly, by email, with the dates, the room and how many of you are coming. A deposit of 30 percent holds the room, and cancelling up to 14 days before you arrive costs nothing. What to write, and the rest of the terms, are on the booking page.