‘She’s woo, I’m a cynic – this is what happened when I took my sister on an astrology retreat’
‘Holi-holi-holiday, holiday, holiday. Holi-holi-holiday, holi holiday’. It’s silly-o-clock in Gatwick’s north terminal and we’re in the queue for security when my sister (39 and three quarters) starts singing the song we invented during our adolescence at a volume best described as ‘obnoxious’. She’s a Scorpio, in case that’s relevant. That I’m incapable of pinpointing what percentage of her personality I can blame on her star sign is the reason she’s with me at this ungodly hour.
We’re on the Friday morning shuttle to Santorini; specifically, to Nobu Hotel, whose inaugural holistic astrology retreat launched this summer. And given my own knowledge of the discipline starts and ends with being a water bearer (here for Big Chats; cannot abide process), I invited the woo-est person I know. ‘You know I’m a witch, don’t you,’ she tells me, as we stuff our miniatures into clear plastic bags. I do. I also know she’s ‘a bit’ psychic and that she manifested her invitation on this trip (Santorini was on her vision board). By the time we’ve dodged the stag party and joined the back of the Pret queue, I’m wondering if it’s too late to renege it.
I’m kidding, of course. My sister and I are close. Alongside my husband and best friend, she’s the third piece in my emotional support trifecta. And for all the island’s rep for romance, truth be told, there’s nobody I’d rather be visiting it with. Because she and I have history here. When we arrived for a family holiday in 2013 – me having recently flown the parental nest, her recently engaged – she was living in Australia, and though neither of us would have admitted it, the distance had dented our bond.
Fancy a stay at Nobu Santorini? BOOK NOW
But during those seven days, the island enabled an intimacy we hadn’t enjoyed since we wore the same school uniform. We unpacked our problems while hiking the coastal path – the movement and momentum offering an ease unavailable to us on FaceTime. And when the sun sank into the ocean each evening, talk turned to our hopes and our dreams – the conversation as expansive as the caldera beneath us. By the time we returned to our respective corners of the globe, the shift in our relationship was so palpable that, 12 months later, Santorini would get a shoutout in the speech I delivered at her wedding.
Scents and sensibility
That this island is conducive to connection is a suspicion Veronique Gabai shares. But it’s the connection she has with herself that brought the renowned perfume designer to Santorini earlier this year. ‘I was born by the Mediterranean Sea, and coming to Santorini is like coming home,’ she shares. ‘The light, the blue hues of the sky and the sea, the stillness of the water, the sound of the wind - all are soothing, healing, and offering what I try to bring in my perfumes: sunshine for the senses and the soul.’
Back in June, she partnered with Nobu to launch a retreat designed with the senses in mind – including the ones we’re less au fait with. ‘Understanding in depth the energies driven by the planets and how they resonate with our perfumes’ natural ingredients is powerful,’ she continues, on the decision to include an astrological element to the 72-hour retreat.
About those energies, then. After a quick mid-flight lesson on the basics, I could deliver a cursory explanation of a birth chart. And while I couldn’t answer an essay question on the energies represented by each of the planets, I could probably manage a multiple choice. What I’m less clear on is how the position of the planets is supposed to influence my wellbeing. ‘[It’s about] embracing the profound wisdom of astrology to foster inner harmony,’ Aggelos Manioudakis, the hotel’s General Manager, elaborates. ‘We aim to provide a sanctuary where guests can reconnect with themselves - and the universe.’
Self reflection
A sanctuary, it is; 10km along the coastline from the selfie sticks of Oia, in the village of Imerovigli, Nobu is limewashed heaven. Olive trees are nestled beneath Santorini’s signature white curves. An infinity pool melts into the Aegean beyond and the sunloungers could have been lifted from the set of Succession. That’s before you set foot inside the rooms. The curved roof of the shower creates the effect of cleansing your body in a cave while the plunge pool on the balcony is a decadence I didn’t know I needed until I sank my post-hike body beneath the bubbles with a book.
So if the brief was creating the conditions for reconnecting me with myself, Nobu have already nailed it. But there’s the small matter of reconnecting me with the universe to contend with. And our retreat begins with some recommended reading. After happening upon 2024 Horoscope by astrologers to the stars Ophira and Tali Edut – aka the Astro Twins – on my bed, I carry my copy to a sunlounger and start reading.
‘You’ll enjoy quiet time at home the first half of 2024, but not necessarily on the sofa,’ they write, in a not inaccurate reflection of a Q1 in which I spent most mornings, evenings and weekends working on a personal project. But it’s what’s in store for me next that piques my curiosity the most. Mocktail in hand, I read on. ‘Your sense of self is undergoing a palpable shift, one that will take 20 years to fully unfold.’
The perpetrator, I learn, is Pluto – the planet of birth, death and transformation that’s setting up shop in my sign until the mid 2040s. Again, it isn’t untrue; my 36th birthday, a new job and a major life decision requiring me to do some rooting around inside my deepest desires. My sister shoots me a look of ‘well, duh’; I don’t know what I believe. But the words spark a discussion that carries us through the walk to the restaurant, sees us through endless plates of saganaki and has us whispering into the darkness long after we click off the lamp.
Back to nature
Our plans to rise with the sun are derailed by the blackout blinds, but neither of us are complaining as we head out for a hike on a full 10 hours. If day one was about reconnecting us with ourselves, day two is about reconnecting us with the natural world. True to the retreat’s roots, the hike from Imerovigli to Oil – brought to life via the illustrated map in our room upon arrival - features some of the island’s most fragrant ingredients.
Predictably for someone who has sage on her bedside table and has been known to dance naked in the rain, my sister takes the invitation to use our senses while we walk quite literally, stopping every 45 seconds to smell a tree, touch a leaf and – at one point - hug a rock. But as we round a bend and the view of a craggy cliff face gives way to a blanket of blue, I’m grateful for the reminder to view it with my eyes before my iPhone. The view is jaw-droppingly beautiful; the kind that gets you in the gut. ‘I feel alive!’ she shouts, breaking into a dance. I roll my eyes, then wipe them.
It's the first time this place brings me to tears, but it won’t be the last. Hours later, my eyes start leaking again when, midway through an aromatherapy massage, my masseuse Silvina puts me in a pose designed to open my hips. The goal is to help me breathe more deeply to better inhale the scent – a citrus-rich formula called Heart that’s been formulated for my starsign. But if my nostrils are working hard, my tear ducts are working harder.
I manage to keep it together during sunset mocktails – when we sip on concoctions blended using the same ingredients that Gabai put into our fragrances – while watching the sky turn a shade of Whispering Angel. And the napkins remain unbothered during our Omizake dinner, even when the black cod miso performs an alchemy atop my taste buds that’s never been done before. But when, bellies full, we recline on a pair of sunloungers for our final date with astrology, the tears return; this time, it isn’t a sprawling sea that triggers them, but a shooting star.
Magical thinking
I’m still trying to square the circle of my leaky eyes during our last breakfast (egg white omelettes followed by pancakes, gobbled in front of a view for the ages). We spend the rest of the day reading our books by the pool and we’re waiting for a taxi to take us to the airport when word reaches us from the hiking trail that there’s a spot around the corner when the sunset heads go. We neck our drinks, make a left at the Blue Note restaurant and follow a bride and groom being led by a photographer.
Down we climb, past people perching on the edge of their infinity pools and staff laying out flowers for proposals until we reach a tiny church. While the happy couple pose for pictures, we take a seat out of shot. And as the caldera shimmers like a disco ball, my eyes are at it again. Whether it’s the sight of the setting sun, the sibling by my side or the position of the planets, I don't know. But I suspect you don’t have to believe in astrology to believe in magic.
Go there!
Nikki and her sister were guests of Nobu Santorini. Prices start at £2,963 for a three-night stay for two adults, excluding flights and local taxes BOOK NOW
For more information, visit nobuhotels.com/Santorini
The Holistic Astrology Retreat at Nobu Hotel Santorini includes...
Three nights accommodation at Nobu Hotel Santorini, including breakfast
Gifts from Veronique Gabai’s range, tailored to each sign of the zodiac
Personalised in-room massage treatments, tailored to each sign of the zodiac
Customised cocktails or mocktails, tailored to each sign of the zodiac
An Omakase dinner for two at Nobu Restaurant (beverages excluded) followed by a stargazing session
A Hiking Experience complete with guided map and picnic
A Wine tasting lunch experience for two at Sigalas Winery
More inspo for woo-laden travel...
'I marked Virgo season with a stay at The Standard London's Zodiac Retreat'
Here's what went down at a full moon retreat in the Sussex countryside
Is brushing friendly tapirs the wellness fad you need in your life?
Cut through the noise and get practical, expert advice, home workouts, easy nutrition and more direct to your inbox. Sign up to the WOMEN'S HEALTH NEWSLETTER
You Might Also Like
