People who have known us for a long time, know that we've been engaged in the hospitality business for quite a while. We started more than 20 years ago with two apartments. They are now introduced online as the studio with the sea view terrace and the deluxe apartment with the garden view terrace. Both apartments looked nothing like today, and the process from building the walls with heavy old stones, up until recently reconstructing the interior to get the today modern fresh look, involved a lot of dedication and very hard work.
Our property is a couple of centuries old, and was built out of the old dalmatian white stone, with traditional door and window frame carvings. In the yard there is an old well with an underground water reservoir, around 4 m deep, arched and built out of stone, too.
The old well in our back yard: the ropes from centuries long pulling to get water from the well have left deep marks into the stone:
The house itself was once a one-story property with a ground floor that back in time craft men and traders used as a space to conduct their business. More than 20 years ago we applied the old construction techniques to build a second floor for our first two apartments. We brought the heavy old stones from old house ruins on Šipan, with our own tractor, and manually found the right place for each stone in the new walls. Our first two apartments emerged after months of very hard work, a lot of dedication and thanks to the joint efforts of all our family members, and Miho's determination to get a quality job done.
Old carved stone details on our window and door frames:
A few years later we expanded the project and rebuilt a second building on our property that was used to house farm animals in the past. The other three apartments were constructed, with spacious lounge areas, balconies and a terrace. In 2005 their doors were finally open for our new and returning guests.
We care a lot about the quality of the services we provide, and always have our small or bigger improvement projects in place. Last year we finished the complete reconstruction of our first two apartments, and this year we worked on the other three. Adding some more comfort (cushions, soft cotton rugs, softer solutions for the couch sleeps etc.), new amenities (clothes drying and ironing facilities in each apartment, more comfortable spots for reading), and small touches for a more relaxing interior atmosphere were among our focus points this year.
The new photos of this year's updated apartments are already available online, and here are some more old vs. new views to explore and compare.
The apartment with a sea view terrace - old
The apartment with a sea view terrace - new
The apartment with two balconies - old
The apartment with two balconies - new
The attic - old
The attic - new
We are thankful to our guests for their smart suggestions and other helpful feedbacks they shared with us. This helped us identify and implement many of this year's improvements.
Thank you dear friends! See you again on Šipan, or in Dubrovnik!