Who would have thought that a humorous horoscope declaring, “Do something for your country. Pro-position: emigrate” would be the reason Swakopmund now has a Swiss guesthouse. At Samuel Egger’s garden guesthouse at 89 Anton Lubowski Avenue, you’ll find ‘hospitality with a touch of heart’.
Sam, a hotelier originally from Switzerland, settled in Namibia in 1998 and started developing Sam’s Giardino (Italian for ‘garden’), a place with ‘lots of wood and big windows’. With a lush garden, including reading corners, fishpond and Beethoven, the Bernese mountain dog (all the way from Leipzig) lazily lounging around, Sam’s Giardino is reminiscent of a homely Swiss cabin. It’s an intimate place with eight rooms – five of which are twin-bedded, two are doubles and one is for honeymooners. Each room features an en-suite bathroom, telephone, hairdryer, heater for those chilly nights at the coast, and small lounge area with a selection of magazines and guide books.
Sam is a book lover, a fact that becomes obvious as you browse through the house and explore new corners stacked with books on cooking, wine, different countries and other topics of interest. All books bear a sticker, ‘Einstein’s Book’, named after Sam’s first dog and an inside joke between Sam and a friend, but also a good way to show that books are not public property. With the combination of the wine cellar and Sam’s book collection, it is perfect holiday accommodation, a place where you can sink into one of the antique sofas (some all the way from his mother’s- house in Switzerland), sip wine and browse through a good food guide. Wine tasting It goes without saying that wine is an important part of your stay at Sam’s. As someone who’s always been interested in wines, Sam has an extensive collection of estate wines, mostly imported from South Africa. “A good wine taster must be able to identify a large variety of different smells without actually seeing the item that produces them. Wine is something you should experience with all your senses.”
Sam will gladly take out his ‘box of smells’ and train your nose before giving you a pre-dinner wine-tasting session, regardless of whether you plan to eat in the restaurant or not. It might be a good idea to end the tasting session with a five-course gourmet dinner that the guesthouse offers on a pre-booked basis. The menu has a variety of fish and meat dishes, but can be adjusted to fit special dietary requirements. Start with a prawn cocktail, tomato cream soup, and fresh salad, move on to a poached hake filet, and end the meal with a sweet surprise from the selection of pastries. Complement your meal with one of Mister Beethoven’s favourite drinks.
Candles are always burning in the restaurant area and the soft classical music wafts through the air. The buffet breakfast offers a wide choice of cheeses (“Namibians eat sausage for breakfast and we eat spicy cheese,” says Sam), cold meats, jam, crackers, fresh bread, fresh and dried fruit, cereals, and, of course, English-style bacon and eggs. A special addition is the typically Swiss (Bircher) muesli, a mixture of oats, yoghurt, fruit, lemon juice and some other special ingredients. Breakfast is served between 7 and 11, perfect for those who want to sleep in on a Sunday morning.
Says Sam, “Swakopmund is like a small desert village bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a place that is culturally active, albeit on a smaller scale than we Europeans are used to. I aim to be passively cultural through my wines, books and garden.” Sam’s Giardino also boasts what he calls a ‘tourist info centre’, a lounge filled with flyers advertising activities, maps and a wide selection of tea and coffee. Apart from the computer in the upstairs lounge, wireless Internet is available at several other points in the property. (MvR) Note their new email address, reservation@giardinonamibia.com www.giardinonamibia.com
