Who was Galatea?
Galatea was one of the Nereids, daughters of the sea god Nereus. The sun and her sea origin made her supple and beautiful to look at. She used to plunge herself against the waves and danced to their rhythm. An ugly Cyclops Polyfemos beheld her beauty and began to court her. He would sit on the beach and sing odes to Galatea’s beauty. For Galatea, the Cyclops interest meant only suffering.
At the same time there appeared a cupid taking the shape of a youth Acis with the first signs of a beard on his face. He sailed regularly to visit the beautiful woman with silky skin and tempting lips. While being the object of Cyclops’ affection brought Galatea tears and sorrow and she withered, she returned the love of Acis and her life was full of joy.
One beautiful afternoon, when the winds fluffed the sea playing with the sunrays and turned the wave tops white, the Cyclops awoke in his cave a bit earlier than usual and went out for a walk. His sight fell on the couple laying naked at the edge of an olive orchard. The Cyclops did not withstand the weight of the moment and let out a terrible cry. He gasped for air in disbelief and with a terrible yell he ran after the fleeing couple. Acis and Galatea escaped through the orchard down to the boat and managed to get to the opposite shore. In that moment, the Cyclops standing alone on the beach realized his power over Galatea was broken. In anger he broke off a piece of a nearby rock and hurled it at the lovers. The rock hit Acis and killed him. As blood was leaving his body, so was his life. Galatea couldn’t bear the look at her bleeding and dying lover and turned him into a spring. Up to this day the water from this spring is browned because it’s tainted by the blood of Acis.
Galatea plunged into the silver sea to roam there up to this day. This woman of soft manners and beautiful appearance would never have attained such beauty had she not taken care of herself.
For this reason we have chosen the name GALATEA as the name for our hotel to symbolize the complex care for one’s body.
