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A letter from the owner of Sam's Giardino:
Dear Valued Customer
Swakopmund
is my home of choice, a delightful spot, which God must have created
on a Sunday. It was love at first sight while on a holiday visit
from Switzerland, a spontaneous feeling of having found warmth,
shelter and the joy of living. Opening a guest house here, in 1999,
was my tribute to this unique place motivated by the wish to share
with its visitors the enchantment to be found in the Mediterranean
flair, in the Swiss cuisine à-la-Namibia, in the marvellous wines
from South Africa and other delectable products from the region. The
success of the Giardino concept is dedicated to my staff and all
those other people whose support, friendship, and hospitality
contributed to making my dream come true.
I hope that my guests
will experience the feeling of being just a little closer to heaven,
too!
The Giardino is a holiday-resort in a
class of its own, providing a casually-relaxed life-at-the-coast
adventure at a high standard. We would like our guests to be not
only satisfied but enthusiastic. Unencumbered enjoyment is the
mainstay of our common vision of a happy and meaningful holiday
experience.
We aim at realising our vision in all we do: We are
young and cheerful; we offer the extraordinary in first-class style.
Boundless freedom! No “must” here instead, everything is offered on
a modular basis, i.e. guests only pay for the services they actually
make use of.
What is our distinguishing feature? We enjoy
providing hospitality and are well aware that many of today’s
progressively thinking people prefer to spend their holidays in a
friendly and unconventional hotel. We promote ZEITGEIST, FUN AND
FREEDOM in an EASY-GOING way.
“Hospitality with a touch of heart”
is our slogan - the Giardino being the most extravagant, innovative,
out-of-the-ordinary and future-oriented guest establishment with
Swiss charisma in Namibia. We cater for our guests in the spirit of
pleasure and professionalism, with the visitor being the focal point
at all times. A personal, discrete and agreeable style distinguishes
us from competitors.
“We listen to your wishes” is our motto.
Here, the soul may still roam freely!
The Giardino’s outward
appearance blends in with the typical architectural style of
Swakopmund’s historic buildings. Much consideration also went into
the ecological impact of the structures and operations making ours
one of the most eco-friendly guest establishments in Namibia. The
generous use of natural materials, growing herbs and lettuce in our
own garden, the use of re-fill soap containers and recycling as much
of the kitchen waste as possible were just a few of the many
decisions resulting from these efforts.
Our garden runs along the
entire length of the buildings housing the guest rooms and public
areas. When entering the Giardino premises from the street, visitors
are greeted by a green oasis complete with rose bushes, indigenous
shrubs, a Feng Shui fountain, a goldfish pond, and not to forget …
by our PR Manager "on four paws", my canine companion. It started
off with Einstein Jr. who handed over to Ornella, after only 8
years. Since she unfortunately left for the Rainbow Bridge too soon
as well, in 2009, we had to find another success. So the latest team
addition joint us in January 2010, from Germany.
Thorough-bred Bernese Mountain Dogs are commonly encountered
as herding dogs and family pets in Switzerland, where they also
originated from, but a very rare sight in Namibia. Since they are
big but calm and sociable creatures by nature, they make human
friends everywhere - so be prepared to make numerous stops for
greeting locals (and collecting some treats) when you join us on a
walk through town, and especially for getting "adopted" into the
Giardino Family during your stay. (Please visit our website
www.giardinonamibia.com to see our current PR Manager in action.)
With the abundance of desert
attractions and sand dunes in our greater environment, it’s a delightful change
to spend some time in our lovely garden. Even though a cool sea breeze might be
sweeping along the beaches and streets of Swakopmund, the sun is so pleasantly
warm in the shelter of the greenery that enjoying a glass of wine or an
expertly-served beer while reading the daily papers becomes an experience to be cherished.
On the inside of the Giardino, the atmosphere is light and airy, with a
double-volume central public area and open spaces to move around easily
accentuated by the odd nook and cranny containing some interesting features.
Off-white painted walls contrast with almost black and yellowish-brown wood as
well as table cloths and curtains in rich colours.
The attention to detail continues in the bedrooms where cuddly down-feather
duvets keep our guests warm even on the chilliest of nights when thick fog
dripping with moisture moves inland from the Atlantic Ocean, sustaining the
lives of all those unique desert-dwelling creatures and plants found just beyond
the town’s boundaries. There is a small lounge area with two wicker-chairs, a
table and a selection of travel magazines in each of the rooms. Other
conveniences include a hair dryer fitted next to the dressing table with a
mirror, direct-dial telephone, power points for South African/Namibian and
standard European 2-pin plugs, a wall-fitted electrical heater, individually
controlled bed-side lamps and a bathroom en-suite equipped with shower, hand
basin and toilet.
Only two of our rooms are double-bedded because most of our European customers
prefer twin beds, while one room in a secluded spot on the upper floor features
a king-sized bed appreciated by Honeymooners. A total of four rooms are found on
the ground floor, - giving guests direct access to the garden -, with another
four located immediately above these. All upstairs rooms are accessible via staircases
only.
In the public areas of Sam’s Giardino, guests will find
large collections of great
books (another passion of mine) on the country, its peoples, and on wine and
food, of videos, magazines, guide books and maps of Namibia … the simple and the
complex; it’s all at their fingertips to enjoy. Also freely accessible are
brochures on a wide range of activities and excursions on offer in the
Swakopmund area. There are desert excursions, the Walvis Bay Lagoon, a Welwitschia
and Moon Valley drive, Sandwich Harbour, quad biking, sand boarding, museums, art
galleries, concerts and many other things to do and places to see.
Apart from the TV Lounge situated next to the reception, where many guests also
love to gather for socialising, there is a quiet and secluded yet open-plan lounge
area on the upper floor for those who prefer reading, a private a chat or
keeping in touch with love ones at home via the Internet.
The heart of the Giardino is the Enoteca Wine Restaurant complemented by the
Bistro and the cosy Grotto. We have however talked already so much about these
and what is happening there every day in the pages on “Culinary Highlights" that I refrain from repeating myself … although it remains
difficult not to get enthusiastic over and over again about all those delicious
meals, marvellous Cape wines and extravagant cigars.
In closing, I would like to share with you some
plans for the future:
Since 2006, Sam’s Giardino is
continuously upgraded as you might have gathered from the previous
pages already. Some of the improvements took place in conjunction
with maintenance works due, others were additions to our guest
facilities, and some happened simply because we fancied them and
thought that our guests would too.
The biggest development however is still to come - if all goes well
,
we will add
a few luxury rooms and a spa in a separate building to be erected on an adjacent plot,
which we acquired some time ago. Due to bureaucratic complications
we had no choice but to postpone the construction period
repeatedly, during the last 4 years. We
still hope to get a better picture of the building schedule in 2010
and will keep you updated on developments as they happen.
For this reason, amongst others, we added a news section to our
regular website and started
distributing a quarterly newsletter by email - if you would like to
subscribe to our mailing list, please
contact our Marketing Department.
We also kindly request from our tourism trade partners in particular
to make extensive use of the Giardino information increasingly
provided on-line, as it is important for all of us to counter-act
global environmental changes in every way possible.
If you have not yet experienced
the Giardino of the past than the “new” improved one will
provide you with plenty more good reasons to finally take that trip to
Swakopmund!
We welcome enquiries from booking agents for educational visits,
too!
Kind regards
Samuel Egger
Dipl. Hotelier VDH/SHV
Sam’s Giardino |
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