Can Fressa - Writers’ Weekend Retreat
Updated: Jun 15, 2021
Everybody knows that the tomato is a fruit, (right?) but did you know that the bamboo isn’t a tree, but a grass?
I think that’s funny, because it can be up to 40 metres high.
But no, not a tree.
It’s still my favourite tree-like thing though, so you can imagine my joy when I arrived at Alaró’s Can Fressa Hotel and found a tall, very dense bamboo forest right outside my window.
And what a window. The romance! The dreaminess!
Can Fressa markets itself as a refuge for bikers, hikers, yoga people, swimmers and the like, but they should really add ‘writers’ to the list of people guaranteed to fall in love with the place.
The house is more than 300 years old and so fairytale-like that even the most hardened chartered accountant will want to sit down and punch out 20 000 words about the joys of being alive.
Offering self-contained apartments instead of hotel rooms, the owners Helga Velasco and José Luis Asensio managed to stay open during the worst of Covid and more or less thrive by doing everything themselves.
An old stables - for the building is a real manor house in the best Mallorcan tradition - has been converted into a stylish bodega, where the pair initially offered wine tastings to guests every Saturday.
It was Alaró’s mayor, presumably green with envy, who suggested that the whole village, not just privileged guests of Can Fressa, deserved to share in the joys of the Bodega. The couple promptly knocked out a wall facing the street and voilá! The little narrow street, just off Alaró’s Plaza Mayor, is now a gathering place for the whole village on Saturdays.
They will soon open a deli bar too - for the whole island, of course!
With the pool, the bodega, the large yoga room complete with mats and the Nespresso machines in every apartment, there is something for everyone in this unique, easily accessible location.
Oh, and my room had a chess board and a board of marbles.
As if the writing desk and French windows framed by bamboo weren’t enough!
C/ D, ENMIG 1
07340 ALARO
MALLORCA, SPAIN
+34 674 307 407