BEACH HOTEL & SPA

Celebs who fell in love with Mallorca     Mallorca is an island people fall in love with. Over the centuries multiple celebrated figures from around the world have been captivated by this Mediterranean enclave of ours. In different eras, virtuosos from the world of art and culture like Frédéric Chopin, George Sand, Charles Chaplin, Robert Graves or Rubén Darío, to name just a few, spent long periods of time on the island, praising its charms (“the most beautiful place in the world” is how Chopin described Mallorca).   In the mid-20th century, the arrival of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco caused a great stir on the island. Both of them were fans of Mallorca, which they had chosen for their honeymoon. When they weren’t being pursued by photographers, they took pleasure in sailing and contemplating the mighty yet subtle nature of our little land.   A lucky coincidence!   Some people plan a getaway or a trip, but others stumble across paradise as if by magic. This was the case of the popular actor Errol Flynn. Flynn was heading for Gibraltar on his boat, but a storm forced him to put in at Mallorca. A single sunrise was enough to make him fall hopelessly in love with the island and he stayed here for several weeks, during which he organised some notorious society parties.   The actor Michael Douglas came to Mallorca with his first wife, Diandra Luker, who had always summered on the island. For many years they enjoyed their beautiful, emblematic estate here - S’Estaca, on the coast of Deià. S’Estaca was built in the 19th century by yet another illustrious visitor, the Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria, as a token of his love for Catalina Homar, the peasant woman with whom he had a long romance.   Celebrities integrated into the landscape   Some famous people have lived on the island for many years but still manage to go unnoticed. This is true of Annie Lennox, the singer-songwriter who won the Academy Award for best song in 2004 with Into the West from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Lennox enjoys herself walking and taking photographs of the nature of Mallorca, shopping at the island’s ecological markets and supporting social initiatives such as “Salvem Mallorca”.     The German tennis player Boris Becker also lived in a beautiful residence in the centre of the island for many years, revelling in the peace and quiet that his hectic daily life barely afforded him.     Cala d’Or, a refuge for artists   Cala d’Or, a natural paradise with beautiful coves (Cala Gran, Cala Petita, Cala Esmeralda, Cala Ferrera and Cala Serena), was home to figures renowned for their artistic sensitiviy. Starting in the 1970s, we began to see singers like Rita Pavone, Juan Manuel Serrat and Camilo Sesto strolling amongst its Ibizan-style houses, as well as internationally-famous writers and actors, whilst the photographer Planas Montanyà immortalized this Mallorcan setting with an Ibizan atmosphere from his helicopter.    The Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat sought refuge in Cala d’Or, where his parents had a summer home, to compose some of the songs on his famous 1971 disc, “ Mediterraneo”. He had a piano brought to the house on a cart drawn by donkeys, so that he could rehearse with his friend, the musician Ricard Miralles.     Camilo Sesto, meanwhile, also resided in Cala d’Or for many years. It was very common to see him strolling by the sea, enjoying this beautiful spot, which he took advantage of to unwind between concerts.   Over those summers of the ‘60s and ‘70s the Bar Fernando, which is still open today, turned into a kind of improvised concert hall, where Serrat and Camilo Sesto would sit down with a guitar and delight everyone present with their songs.   And it is precisely in Cala d’Or that we find the Inturotel hotels of Mallorca, where you can live out the very best island experience on your next vacation.