20160729 La Fortaleza Party

During the spring this year, we were told so many times about “The Night Manager” series and how it was based here in Puerto Pollenca, that we had to find out more.  So purchased the DVD set, watched them and then became even more intrigued about the place.  The series was excellent, a really good watch and very engaging. The next thought was – “So how do we get to go visit the place?”  Spookier things than this have happened but it’s strange how when you set goals or really want something, it tends to happen… In this case, sooner than expected as we were invited as guests of Ian and Lyn who had an invitation to attend the Sunseeker International Ultimate Party 2016, being held at La Fortaleza!  Yes please!

Here are some details about the place, taken from Mallorca Spotlight,  Balearic Blog and The Times.

The 17th century fort has two pools, seven villas in the grounds and over 25,000 sq ft of immaculately manicured terraces and gardens. La Fortaleza overlooks the town Port de Pollença in northern Majorca and is Spain’s most expensive property.  It was originally constructed over the six years from 1622 as a defence against raiding Berber and Turkish pirates protecting as it did the Bay of Pollensa. Hardly ever used for this purpose as piratical raids began to subside soon after its construction, La Fortaleza did little until it was bought by an Argentine painter, Roberto Raumagé in 1919 for 45,000 pesetas!

The Bohemian artist renovated the ruined buildings, added a dramatic arcade, an intricate network of terraced gardens, and a huge ornamental pond and used the whole estate as party central, throwing extravagant shindigs which lasted for days and inviting the glitterati of the art world to stay. However, this golden lifestyle all came to an end with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War when the military, who already had a hydroplane base next door, confiscated the estate.

Even though Raumagé took steps to claim his property back from 1964, he had died before it was eventually returned and his family sold it in 1989 to a British man, John Ogden, who spent a fortune renovating the 232 acre estate with its tower, seven villas and two pools into the condition it is now in. He originally put it onto the market in 2008 for around €100 million, just in time for the property price slump.  British banker Lord (James) Lupton bought it for between £30 and 35 million in 2011, according to local newspaper Ultima Hora.

Here are some photos from the evening, which was rather special to say the least.