Son Brull Mallorca

Located at the foot of the Serra de Tramuntana, close to the town of Pollença, in the southernmost tip of Mallorca, Son Brull is a five-star hotel located in an old Jesuit monastery from the 18th century, and which was carefully restored in 2003 by its owners – a local family with a long experience in the hospitality business – to turn it into one of the most luxurious touristic complexes on the island, guaranteeing the preservation of the old building as part of the historic heritage. The brief called to extend and refurbish the complex. The owners of the property wanted to renovate and enlarge the spa of the main building, and to build four new villas on the land next to it. The project aims to be part of the territory, to be landscape. It doesn’t try to occupy the territory, but rather to build it, create a large garden, a landscape for walks.

Monnaber Nou, Mallorca

 

 

With my cousin at Monnaber Nou a few month ago

Located in the north of Mallorca next to the Tramuntana mountains, only 15km from the bays of Pollensa or Alcudia and 45km from the Palma de Mallorca airport. The hotel is immersed in a 150ha farm with ecological certification in Mallorca, with panoramic views surrounded by nature. Originally dating from the 13th century, when the Moors ruled Majorca, the Monnàber Nou boasts an impressive history. A stately home since the 16th century, the building has been carefully preserved over the years, maintaining much of the original stonework. The grounds even include a well, olive press and windmill dating from 1680. This history, when coupled with its privileged location in the Majorcan countryside, make this ideal for your peaceful Balearic getaway.

Hotel Formentor, Mallorca : The possible utopia

 

Nearly a century ago Adan Diehl from Argentina fell in love with the peninsula of Formentor, located next to Pollença in Mallorca. There, he was dreaming of a place where aristocrats, businessmen, artists and writers from all around the world could gather. This spot becomes the name Hotel Formentor. A dream or madness? 

Adan Diehl, second from the left

Guests of the Hotel Formentor in the 1930s

For its uniqueness, troubled history and diverse roster of guests, who were residing in its rooms, the Formentor belongs to the category of unclassifiable hotels. It is not a typical hotel; even its origin can not be compared to others. Moreover, it is not just a building since all its natural environment has been preserved as if the constructive and speculative frenzy, that has affected the Mediterranean in the second half of the twentieth century, had not existed. Still standing, this place can be considered as a contemporary miracle. Adan Diehl, born in Buenos Aires, was the typical globetrotter who became an inspiration for novelists such as Scott Fitzgerald, Foster or even Thomas Mann in the first third of the twentieth century.  

Cultivated, cosmopolitan, elegant, he wandered the half of the world treasuring the friendship of aristocrats, businessmen, artists and writers. He was one of those who were capable of crossing America for a bet or getting lost in a three-week cruise on one of those transatlantic liners where every dinner required a strict etiquette. At that time tourism was not a mass phenomenon yet and travelers usually formed a restricted seasonal club to visit the iconic establishments of Cote d'Azur, spas of Baden and Davos, the Casino in Monte Carlo or ski resorts in Chamonix or Hallstatt. A life between suitcases, express trains and exceptional hotels until the day Mallorca crossed his path. In one corner of the island, near Pollença, he discovered a peninsula with tiny bays studded with twisted pine trunks, veined rocks changing color constantly, and with golden gleams of the Mediterranean light crackling over the sea scratched with white foam waves.  

This landscape that seemed drawn from the Argonauts' journeys or from Aeneid's travels, was Formentor. Fascinated, Diehl invested much of his fortune in buying the remains of the Mediterranean that increasingly cost more to find despite the beauty of the island. The peninsula had been owned by the Costa family, to which belonged the poet Miguel Costa i Llobera, who wrote the famous poem “The Pi de Formentor”, then it was handed over to the Argentine who was ready to bring his project to a successful end, regardless of expenses. By courtesy of Felipe Bellini, who later projected a road paid for by the new owner, he prepared the building plans inspired by currents of modern nationalist movement that was conquering international architecture of that time. The hotel opening brought a new economic perspective to the area. High salaries, working conditions with eight-hour working days and the prestige of working in an establishment of such characteristics unleashed a struggle among inhabitants of Pollença and the surrounding areas to get a job in Formentor.  

Hotel staff in the 1930s

That was the basis of one of the identifying hotel features: quality and professional service that have been maintained over time as a symbol of identity. The refinement of the interior and the care of every detail were an obsession for Dielh and his wife, Maria Elena Popolicio, who took charge of service, facilities and decor: Canopy beds and canopies of silk, silver cutlery, Mallorcan furniture, dinner sets from Limoges, linen tablecloths, glassware from Baccarat; nothing was enough for Formentor where for the most distinguished visitors golden cutlery was prepared. Jean Patou designed pajamas especially for the hotel and Mariel Rochas a gown that evoked the aesthetics of the Cote d'Azur. To crown his utopia, Diehl invited all his lifelong friends. Many of them such as Anglada Camarasa, Santiago Ruiseñol, Joaquín Mir or Pedro Blanes became enthusiasts of the seascapes with the tiny bays. In 1931 the first Formentor Wisdom Week attended by figures such as André Maurois, the Count Keyserling, Bosch Guimpera, Gómez de la Serna or Josep Pla took place. Throughout the time the cultural dimension has been a constant theme of the hotel and one of the most brilliant legacies of its founder over time. 

Jane Birkin in 1982 at the Hotel Formentor on the set of Evil Under the Sun

Adan Diehl did not make many mistakes, only one that was fatal: designing a model that was half century ahead. His commitment to environment-friendly tourism the contrary to overcrowding, respect for the nature, the preservation of the natural landscape were so visionary that surely few, if any, could understand it. He had enjoyed the adventure for five golden years before abandoning the property and the island, totally ruined. He could have saved his heritage by cutting down the Formentor forests, but in an act of generosity referring to the values of the past, he decided to present Pollença and its visitors with this landscape, where, as he thought, he had found his Ithaca. The whole village saw him off, all the authorities, working class and law-abiding people were watching him leaving like Antonio when he was abandoned by the gods in Alexandria. He did not neither whine nor complained about his bad luck, he kept his composure and charm to the very moment before the embarkation when he lost his Formentor forever. Closed doors, the Civil War, the World War and several ownership changes left the hotel to languish until 1953 when a group of businessmen from Mallorca and Ibiza decided, with financial aid from the Banca March, to revive the Formentor spirit. The Buadas family was one of the most important members of this group.

Joan Buadas, and especially his children Tomeu and Miguel, brought back to life the soul of the hotel as it had been at the time of Diehl. The famous travellers, royals, as Edward VIII, Rainier and Grace Kelly of Monaco, the stars of cinema such as John Wayne, Sir Laurence Olivier, Gary Cooper or Audrey Hepburn, and of course the writers, they all came back. They met again on its terraces, beaches, in its great halls
full of Castilian and Catalan literature. The literary prices were awarded again, highlighting Formentor, won in its first edition by José Luis Borges and Samuel Beckett. Moreover, the International Literature event that was supported by the editors Carlos Barral and Camilo José Cela was held. Barn Lane, Damaso Alonso, Gerardo Diego, the Goytisolo, Blas de Otero, José Hierro, Robert Graves, Italo Calvino and a pleiad of writers, who gave life to the club of poets, took part in the Formentor affairs. The Buadas family, who kept the reins of the hotel until 2006, respected its commitment to the Formentor spirit and held numerous events, exhibitions and cultural initiatives throughout the years, such as the awards for humour and tolerance between 1984 and 1990.

In 2006, Barceló Hotels acquired the Formentor, retaining both its philosophy and landscape heritage that makes this hotel a symbol despite the ravages caused by the uncontrolled tourism and real-estate speculation that have destroyed much of the Mediterranean coast. Run as family business, Barceló has assumed this model that returns to search travellers rather than tourists, visitors who value, as well as a
service and equipment of high quality, the uniqueness of this almost unspoiled horizon, the history surrounding this establishment. A model of that man who dared to dream of a company that has become the heritage of all Mallorcans.

Words by Andrès Puch via spend-in.com/ 

The Formentor hotel in Mallorca, recently sold by the Barceló group to the Emin Capital investment fund, will reopen in 2023 under the Four Seasons banner and after a renovation during which it will increase from 122 to 110 rooms.  Take a look at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9wE48tS5rU

The Seal Rock Inn San Francisco

"Dawn is breaking in San Francisco now: 6:09 a.m. at the Seal Rock Inn. ... Here at the end of Geary Street: that's the end of the line, for buses and everything else, the west edge of America." Immortalized by the words of Hunter S. Thompson, the Seal Rock Inn is located 545 Point Lobos Av in the northwest corner of San Francisco. The hotel is next to the quiet, scenic surrounding of Sutro Heights Park, Sutro Baths ruins and Land’s End, all now a part of the federal Golden Gate National Recreational Area. 

A contact sheet of Alan Rinzler (left) with Thompson in 1973, putting the finishing touches on Thompson’s book “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72” at the Seal Rock Inn. Photo: Courtesy Alan Rinzler.

Little has changed since its heyday in the 1970s, and it remains an understated hotel with stunning views of the Pacific. I was lucky enough to stay here at the Seal Rock Inn a few years ago ... in 2008 while attending at the Legend of Motorcycles gathering in Half Moon Bay. Sadly, the hotel's independent restaurant was forced to close after being hit by massive rent increases, when they were already struggling with the 2020 pandemic lockdown.

Construction of the lodge and adjoining restaurant began in 1959 in the mid-century modern style but updates to decor and amenities appear to have peaked around 1974 and that's a good thing. Spacious bedrooms with thick green rugs, comfy faux leather futon sofas, floral curtains with (almost) matching bedspreads make the room feel like an inviting apartment that's nice to look at.

Here is the original interior of the dining room when the restaurant opened that year.

“The highway from the airport to the city was one of the ugliest stretches of road I have ever seen in my life. The whole landscape was a desert of hostile black rocks, mile after mile of raw moonscape and ominous low-flying clouds. Captain Steve said we were going through an old lava flow. Far to the right, a thin line of coconut palms marked America's new western frontier, a lonely wall of jagged black lava cliffs overlooking the white-peaked Pacific. We were 2,500 miles west of the Seal Rock Inn, halfway to China, and the first thing I saw on the outskirts was a Texaco station, then a McDonald's burger stand.

- Hunter S. Thompson, The Curse of Lono

And by the way, owned by the same family since its construction, Seal Rock Inn is seeking a innovative restauranteur to lease approximately 2,000 square feet of sunny restaurant space. The restaurant is located on the corner of the property with direct access to the building lobby. It features a dramatic window line overlooking the Pacific Ocean, a full kitchen, and an attractive rent schedule for the right operator. 

A Treasure in Big Sur. The Post Ranch Inn

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The Post Ranch Inn by architect G.K. (Mickey) Muennig could not exist anywhere else. The coast-side rooms seem to soar, cantilevered off the mountain. The mountain-side houses curve around old-growth trees. Some are built on nine-foot stilts to protect the delicate root balls below. The structures’ materials – reclaimed wood, glass, steel and stone – further enhance the sense of harmony with nature in this extraordinary site.

The Greenwich Hotel Penthouse

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The TriBeCa Penthouse was created by Belgian designer Axel Vervoordt and Japanese architect Tatsuro Miki, in close collaboration with the hotel’s partners Ira Drukier and Robert De Niro. The 6,800 sq ft suite was inspired by the TriBeCa neighborhood’s industrial past fused with the ancient Japanese aesthetic of Wabi.