Sunday, March 14, 2010

DOOMED LOVE!


I have fallen in love.........with a building!
Saw this sorry and forgotten building many months ago and fell in love immediately in the same way you fall in love with a mongrel puppy just because it;s very imperfections make it perfect.
Did some research. It was built around 1910 and was a hotel. It holds an AMAZING location.....perched on a hill, with killer views of the sea on one side and the ancient walls of the Old Town on the other.
It has a wide pavement in front with a fountain and trees.
But it;s clearly in an advanced state of disrepair. The owner fell tired of running it as a hotel wanted to turn it into flats. The council refused permission so he boarded it up.
And the stale-mate continued for 35 years!
I went into dream-mode. It would make a stunning base for quality boutique tourism. None of that package tourism rubbish. I;m talking sophisticated, cultured people who want an insight into the past and present of a World Heritage City. The rich cultural of Tarragona would be there for the taking. You know what I mean.
Anyway whilst I was dreaming about how to find out more, I read in the press that the council had finally bought the property after years of wrangling and were going to demolish it to make a green space!
I must admit I felt quite ill when I read this. Not only are the council missing a quality-tourism-trick.....they are also foregoing the associated provision of jobs that would come with it.
Green spaces might be very 'right-on' and 'eco-whatever' .....but this town (country) needs economic stimulus and jobs.
Damn! I Wish I was Richard Branson sometimes.