Viewing locations where events that have had a huge impact on our past occurred doesn’t have to wait until you’ve unpacked your bags and been able to get out on the streets!
There are numerous hotels dotted around the world that have seen mighty leaders meeting, great plans being thrashed out, and noteworthy changes to our world being set into motion.
The Can Riero in Ibiza, Spain
In 2003, Anne Sijmonsbegen from the USA moved to Ibiza with her husband, buying and modernising a farmhouse there that was almost 500 years old.
They restored the building with white and cream paint, driftwood furniture, rustic linens and pastel ceramics, all combining to lend the venue a warm and welcoming feel.
Food is a huge deal in this part of the world, and Ms Sijmonsbegen went on to become the only organic tomato farmer on the Balearic island. She produces 200 kilograms weekly and sells them and other pesticide-free fruits and vegetables to the many fancy restaurants that pepper Ibiza.
Her little ranch has staked its spot in the history books thanks to having welcomed well-known personalities like the former British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha, Nick Mason CBE, one of the founder members of Pink Floyd, and Hugh Richard Bonneville Williams, DL, best-known for his starring role in Downton Abbey.
The Cotton House in Mustique
Mustique is a privately-owned island in St Vincent and the Grenadines, purchased in 1958 by Colin Tennant and Lord Glenconner. Since then, the Cotton House has hosted royalty like Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, Prince William, and Kate Middleton.
With daily rates well over the US$1 000 mark, booking a room at this renowned boutique hotel is not for the faint of heart. Of course, if you’ve recently enjoyed a big win from the online Bingo New Zealand offers, the slots you can play anywhere in the world, or a lucky Roulette game, you’ve got nothing to worry about!
The Lygon Arms in The Cotswolds, U.K.
Situated in a fairytale village brought to life, The Lygon Arms’ past read much like a historical text. In 1649, during the English Civil War, it offered Charles I’s army a resting place during their rebellion against the English Parliament. After that King Edward VII, the future King Edward VIII, and Prince Phillip visited, and celebrities like Mary Pickford and Elizabeth Taylor soon followed.
The Villa Feltrinelli in Là Garda, Italy
This grand neo-Gothic hotel overlooks Lake Garda and although it has just 21 rooms and suites, if the walls could talk we’d have insight into some of the most important historical events in history!
In the 1940s it played host to an exiled Benito Mussolini, the Italian journalist and politician who headed the National Fascist Party and acted as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. Later on in that decade, it became a meeting place for the Communist Party too, thanks to Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, its owner, meeting Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary who ruled Cuba as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976, and becoming indoctrinated to the cause.