Although the village of Geni is only a few kilometres from the bustling resort of Nidri, its situation on the wooded eastern shore of the well-named Vlichos (or Tranquil) Bay is light years away. Stella, a native Lefkadian, inherited a beautifully situated family plot of land on the waterfront and has built a series of apartments worthy of the site. More like a lake than a sea inlet, the calm waters attract many types of wildfowl.

Geni is an excellent base for exploring Lefkada by car, but as an added bonus the apartments have their own mooring and we can easily arrange boat hire. Outside there is a large swimming pool set in landscaped gardens, unusual in similar waterside properties. There is also excellent swimming with water sports three minutes drive away at Dessimi Bay.

Stella has put a lot of care and attention into the interior design of each of the five apartments to create a bright, yet cool living space. Each apartment is set on two floors, the ground floor consisting of a spacious living/dining room with two sofa beds sleeping two extra people and an open-plan kitchen and an additional downstairs shower room. There is a marble staircase leading up to the bedrooms. Every bedroom has its own en suite shower room and patio doors leading out to the balcony.

Apartment No. 5 has a balcony looking out over the water and up to Mount Eliat, the others have side views of the bay in one direction and cypress woodland in the other. All the apartments have lower floor balconies, with the exception of No. 4 which has a small terrace at the front entrance.

The kingfisher or ‘helicon’ in Greek, a dazzling blur of colour that can sometimes be seen in the bay, is said in local legend, to nest on open water only when there is complete calm. In English we have adopted the kingfisher in the expression ‘halcyon days’. What more appropriate way could there be to describe a stay at Stella Apartments.