Meet our friend Philippe Papadimitriou

Being the owner of a guesthouse is the fulfillment of an ideal for some and a necessary source of income for others. Here we have an adventurer, Philippe Papadimitriou, who has managed to combine these two goals in a small village north of the Cévennes.

"A tall young man whose grandfather was once the owner of the Hôtel de Paris in Cairo, Egypt (8 Rue el-Maghraby, el-Abaseya district, near Ain Shams University)," is how Nicholas Crane described him in Clear Waters Rising after walking for a year and a half from Cape Finisterre (Portugal) to Istanbul (Turkey), passing through the guesthouse along the way.

In his account of his stay at L'Etoile, Crane devotes a significant portion to how Philippe bought and transformed this former holiday hotel. "It was an intuition," he says, "not a scientific experiment."

Nicholas Crane was clearly fascinated by the Belgian-Greek Philippe Papadimitriou. And it's no wonder, as Philippe’s life story, from gold prospector to various odd jobs, is full of twists and turns. How he ended up in the Cévennes is a story in itself.

While living in Brussels, the opportunity arose on his 29th birthday to work in a small village in the Gard, helping to renovate a mas (farmhouse) bought by a Belgian. "And it was perfect timing because I wanted to work abroad, I was ready for it."

At the end of that project, Philippe wanted to walk back from the south of France to Brussels. He set off but stopped after thirty kilometers in the small village of Bordezac in the Gard. "There, I met Olivier, the young owner of the farm inn 'Le Mas du Lauzas,' who wanted to shut down his business. Excited by new prospects, I wanted to take over the place with the owner. But it didn’t work out."

Philippe ended up staying six months longer than planned. Then, thanks to his new friend who lent him two horses and a dog, Philippe decided to travel across the country with a friend.

The team followed the old Roman road "La Régordane" (GR®700) through the Cévennes, passing through La Bastide-Puylaurent, where they stayed for two summer months in 1989, before heading to the Vosges along the GR®7. This month and a half of adventure inspired Philippe to change his life. Nature, connection, energy, adventure, and quality of life became his driving force.

During his travels, the idea of opening a guesthouse started to take hold in Philippe’s mind. He wandered through the Pyrenees and the Cévennes before returning to La Bastide-Puylaurent, where the old "Hôtel du Parc" or "Hôtel Ranc" was for sale. In no time, he acquired it and specialized in hosting hikers as a Gîte d'étape et de séjour (stopover and stay lodge), which later became a guesthouse.

For Philippe, this was the realization of a true ideal. From June 15 to September 15, he cooks, cleans, bakes his own bread, serves Belgian beers, and manages to create a "home away from home" atmosphere.

"When I open, I feel like I’m boarding a sailboat ready to cross the ocean," he says. "It’s no longer work but a grand adventure!" Philippe makes himself fully available to manage his large "ship" full-time.

He also works tirelessly on his websites to promote his concept and share his passion for a different way of living together, working, and developing this adventure that he approaches like a gold prospector. "I may be a businessman, but I’m not a shopkeeper; the money will come if the idea is good and rich—it has to feel right..." — Nicholas Crane

During L’Etoile’s off-season, Philippe takes the opportunity to travel and meet other guesthouse owners, bed-and-breakfast hosts, ranchers, country innkeepers, and farmstay operators, such as Strawberry Mountain Inn B&B, Prairie City, Oregon, USA; Mowbray Park Farmstay, Picton, New South Wales, Australia; Horse Creek Ranch, Fort Assiniboine, Alberta, Canada; Mr. Benlhou, Hotel Zagour, Zagora, Morocco.