Little Story Of Mallorca

‘Bad architecture is in the end as much a failure of psychology as of design. It is an example expressed through materials of the same tendencies which in other domains will lead us to marry the wrong people, choose inappropriate jobs and book unsuccessful holidays: the tendency not to understand who we are and what will satisfy us.’

The Architecture of Happiness

The room smelled like freshly cut lilies. The beds linen was soft and clean. Locally produced chocolate was waiting for us on the bedside table and luxurious soap and toiletries were scrumptiously arranged by the bathroom mirror.

I walked through the grass and across the swimming pool area to find all the sun beds empty and awaiting my arrival. The palm trees danced gently in the wind. A nearby fountain spat water in a pattern, free splashes making gentle noises. Pool water shimmered beautifully in the midday sun.

The air smelled fresh and icy – after all it was still the beginning of April. And as much as my skin soaked in every ray of sun, I could still feel my feet getting cold in the early spring northern wind.

Shadows moved fast alongside the sandstone facade of the hotel building. From my comfortable lazy sun lounger I could detect the low murmur of nearby lovers a few beds away. Occasionally they exchanged kisses and sipped white wine. Matias, my amazing boyfriend, was reading a paper by my side. I love the smell of ink and paper in the morning as much as I love the smell of fresh coffee pot.

Font Santa Hotel Spa Mallorca, Film Photographer

Font Santa Hotel in Mallorca is a living thing to me. It gives signs of peacefulness. It's like a mysterious, exotic creature. A silent creature. Like a big fluffy teddy bear that embraces you. It cuddles you when you sleep, sways you when you're anxious. It caresses you with its warm thermal waters, straight from the bottom of the earth.

Life in Font Santa Hotel is dominated by the search for happiness.

The feeling of inner silence, of profound freedom of thought. By that I mean no disruptions. No distractions on any level for the five senses.

Freedom to feel and think with your sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.

At Font Santa, I feel like all my senses are in harmony. Absolute coordination and consistency. Everything fits together.

As I lay on a sun lounger on my second day at the hotel, I began to analyse everything I liked about being here. I watched the cracks and patterns in the sandstone walls of the main hotel building. I loved the way the rooms were arranged, smell of the bed linen, the amazing BVLGARI soap, the unisex scent, quite masculine, fresh and citrusy.

I loved being surrounded by salt flats of Mallorca, with mini lakes reflecting sun onto our terrace window, birds, rabbits and lizards wandering around. Sheep being herded every morning by a deaf neighbour who beeped at them from his old truck.

I loved how authentic the food was. From tiny pots of salt from Mallorca, from the ‘salinas’ next door and freshly cold-pressed olive oil from the nearby village to freshly caught fish of the day, a gorgeous Mallorquin cheese selection and freshly baked morning bread…

Oh and the wine! Made in Mallorca. Simply divine.

And yet as I laid by the pool, daydreaming about Mallorca and Font Santa perfection, I was saddened by the thought that this is only temporary and that my strive for perfection is something that will always push me further and further. The realisation of this never ending struggle made me tired.

After all, perfection is only my mental state.

It is my boundaries. Letting myself be happy with the small things instead of being unhappy with the lack of big things should be the aim.

Like Alain de Botton wrote in The Architecture of Happiness:

‘Our sadness won’t be of the searing kind but more like a blend of joy and melancholy: joy at the perfection we see before us, melancholy at an awareness of how seldom we are sufficiently blessed to encounter anything of its kind. The flawless object throws into perspective the mediocrity that surrounds it. We are reminded of the way we would wish things always to be and of how incomplete our lives remain.”’

This was my fourth visit to Font Santa hotel and I will try to come back every year, just to remind myself of this feeling of being blessed and surrounded by consistency, luxury and authenticity. To let my stay there be a reminder of how life could be, or perhaps how life should be.

Simple, beautiful, inspiring and free… with perfectly pressed sheets, sandstone walls and glasses of locally produced eco red wine…

All photographs shot on Contax 645 and Fuji400H, developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab.

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