Spanish Hotels with History :: Torre Mart�

Where: c/Ram�n Llull 11, Sant Julia de Vilatorta, Barcelona, Spain, 08504

August 25, 2008 at 9:15 AM | 0 Comments

After spending two weeks recapping the Lisbon Hotel Scene for us, Monica Guy is back with some history lessons. She's chronicling some of Spain's historic hotels this week. Enjoy.

Spain's renowned for its chain hotels and beachside biggies, but the best places to stay are the smaller, lesser-known hotels heaving with history and atmosphere. Here's our number one Hotel with History in Spain: the Hotel Torre Martí, a short drive from Barcelona.

We have high standards here at HotelChatter, as you know, but this place is seriously fabulous. It's a huge, deep red villa surrounded by fountained gardens and curtains of trees, the kind of place you can imagine wealthy ancient Romans retreating to in summer (it was originally a summer retreat when it was built in 1945).

It's now owned by an irresistibly attractive dark-eyed Spaniard named Roger and his artist/chef father, who've turned it into a boutique hotel par excellence.

Quirky Amenities
Unlike the bland décor of many modern hotels, the Torre Martí is bursting with quirky bits and pieces and interesting odds and sods - a gilded 1913 cash machine (still working), an old-fashioned hostess trolley, a shiny candle-lit black piano in the hallway, a bathtub filled with bright flowers in the courtyard, old cinema chairs or elegant curling puffed sofas for curling up and purring on, original art everywhere....

....you feel like Alice in Wonderland, skipping from one thing to the next. Every object has a history behind it - just ask Roger.

Breakfast Bliss
It's not just the hotel but the service that make this place so wonderfully special. For breakfast, Roger gets up personally to bake you the best buttery croissants, make an omelette or two, squeeze your orange juice....There's a free minibar in every room and anything else you want, just ask for it. We've never nicked such delicious-smelling complimentary toiletries in our life.

Dining In
Okay so there's nothing to do within strolling distance - the hotel's in a quiet suburb of Vic, a historic city near Barcelona. But there's no reason to go out. The restaurant is fabulous: tasting dinners offer such delights (?) as sashimi with fig sauce, liver served with fresh papaya, suckling pig cooked in onion and saffron. You have to book in advance or they take the night off, but it's one of the best meals you'll have in a country teeming with good restaurants.

Bottom Line
It's hard not to gush about this place - go there and you'll see why. Rates are around €140 ($205) for a double room per night (free minibar included). It's worth every precious euro cent.

Tags: Historic Spanish Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Monica Guy

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