Showing posts with label cycle chic voyage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycle chic voyage. Show all posts

25 July 2012

Cycle Chic® Voyage - Bodelssons by the Sea

Bodelssons By The Sea_17
All of a sudden it hit me. I needed a getaway. I needed some zen. The Copenhagenize Consulting/Cycle Chic offices were emptied. Everyone was on holidays and there I was, sitting in Copenhagen. Not a bad place to sit, of course, but it's been a hectic year for the company and I suddenly felt the urge.

The kids are enjoying a holiday with their mum, my lovely and brilliant ex-wife, and I'll be travelling to Croatia with them next Monday for 14 days of beach time.

Copenhagen and Denmark shut down for three weeks each July, when most of the nation goes on their summer holidays, so everyone is gone and it's a lovely period in the city. So quiet. With all the travelling I've been doing this year with the company I felt the need to completely unwind, if only for a few days.

That's when I found a secret zen getaway in Copenhagen's great backyard... some people call it Sweden.

An elusive little B&B/hotel on the east coast of Southern Sweden. The photos on the website were all I needed. There are only four rooms but luckily one of them was available for two nights. Bodelssons by the Sea here I come.

Upon booking and informing them I'd been arriving by bicycle, I recieved an email with a pdf containing a "secret" bicycle route from Bromölla Station to the hotel. How cool is that? This was clearly the place for me.

Bromölla Train Station_1 Bike Seatbelt
First things first. Packing my Michaud Executive Panniers and getting them onto my 1955 Crescent bicycle. Then cycling to Copenhagen Central Station and taking the train for two hour to Bromölla, Sweden. The trains between Denmark and Sweden have these groovy bicycle seatbelts in the bicycle compartments so they don't fall over. Sweet.

I'm not much of a cycle tourist. I prefer other things. But bumping down country roads for seven odd kilometres to a secret hideaway suited me fine.

Taking the Crescent bicycle back to Swedish soil, where it was designed and built 57 years ago was a nice idea, too. Kind of like taking an Arne Jacobsen Swan chair back to Denmark for a visit. Although that would be less practical.

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After a splendid ride from the train station on bicycle infrastructure (yes, even in small towns) and then country roads, this is the sight that greeted me.

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This would be my spectacularly zen view for the next three days - wavy grass leading to the boldly blue Baltic Sea - but to be honest I was constantly torn between looking at the view and looking at the building.

I was greeted by Leena Bodelsson, born in Denmark and raised in Southern Sweden and speaking perfect Danish interspersed with fluent English. Bodelssons by the Sea is her baby. Leena, one of the most passionate people you could ever hope to meet, designed the house herself and her husband Jonas built it.

Bodelssons By The Sea_9
We talked about design and architecture and she told me a great story. The design of the place was hers alone but one day last year a group of architects booked the rooms and came to stay. She ended up asking them why they chose the place and they said that it was because of the clear associations to the architecturally famous Sea Ranch development in Northern California.

Leena got a kick out of this because she just designed her own place and the obvious associations were a great coincedence. Sea Ranchish or not, word is spreading about this little pearl of a place by the sea. Many guests are from Copenhagen or Stockholm. The quaint, traditional Swedish houses that dot the landscape are lovely, but they're a little clicheed now. Being able to relax in a little four-room hotel surrounded by calming architecture and exquisite design whilst staring at a spectacular view of the sea is a niche that Leena is capitilising on.

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There are no signs to guide you to the place. Motorists get sent gps coodinates and those of us on bicycles get a map of a secret route through the woods. The first and only sign that greets you is at the door. Although dreamy bathrobes and slippers in the room make you feel welcome, too.

Bodelssons By The Sea_2
I stayed in St. Pers Room, named after a rare orchid only found in three places in Sweden - one of them being the nature reserve nearby the hotel. Leena's attention to detail is everywhere. Only the finest quality duvets on the beds, the best damned towels I've ever rubbed myself with in a hotel and subtle personal design signatures at every glance.

Bodelssons By The Sea
Meals were enjoyed in the cosy dining room. A classic Swedish breakfast buffet greeted me in the mornings and Leena served dinner to the guests in the evenings. Her own recipes and always with a focus on locally-sourced organic food, as well as great wine.

The guests are often Dinkys and Whops, as Leena put it. Double Income No Kids or Wealthy, Healthy Older Persons. Oh, and then there was me. An IKHP, I suppose. Income Kids Healthyish Person.

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The building is lovely from every angle. The temperature was up around 30 degrees so the pool was a refreshing addition. In the evenings, a jacuzzi gets fired up on the terrace.

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The whole point of a place like Bodelssons is not having anything to do and loving it. I did, however, ride down to Tostaberga Harbour for a bit of quintessential Swedishness.

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Cycling on a squeaky vintage bike with one gear, past fields of wheat and tiny, rocky inlets in the Swedish summer, is my kind of cycling tour.

Leena tells me that many people will take their bikes on the train from Copenhagen to get there, but most people arrive by car. Here's hoping that all the Copenhageners who make the trip set the standard by taking their bikes. It's an easy ride from Bromölla Station, even in the fall and spring.

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At the very least, Bodelssons has bikes for rent for guests who wish to pedal about the countryside. Not these two - the rentals are more modern - but I couldn't help admiring these vintage bicycles. A Skeppshult from the 1930s and a Crescent from the 1950s.

Mission accomplished. Zen achieved. Back to Copenhagen rested and relaxed. The perfect design hideaway is within easy striking distance from the Danish capital. I'll be back.


Bodelssons by the Sea's website: www.bodelssons.se


More from the Cycle Chic Voyage series.

16 March 2010

Cycle Chic Voyage - Condesa df Mexico

Condesa DF Sign
The advent of the modern design hotel has been a godsend in a world that travels more than ever. It is now possible in most cities worth their salt to find a cool oasis on the urban landscape. It’s as if the very concept of design hotels was devised by the Slow trend that is sweeping the planet because they are so much more than just a place to stay.

Staying at traditional four or five star hotels is often accompanied by an element of stress. You feel as though you have to act like you’re at a four or five star hotel. Design hotels, as a rule, give you space to be yourself, all while wrapped cosily in a duvet of elegance, style and cool.

Mexico City has it’s pearl in the form of Condesa df. Located in the heart of the equally cool La Condesa neighbourhood, this hotel is truly an oasis in a city that is rife with constant movement and Latin intensity. It’s bohemian chic, hip and youthful but it’s also distinguished and playfully aloof.
Cycle Chic Rooftop Shoot 04
I was in town for some Cycle Chic events - including a press conference and photo shoot on the rooftop and a Cycle Chic bike ride - and I melted into the Condesa df like I had designed the place myself.

Condesa DF Bed Condesa DF Bathroom
At left: My room. This is where the magic happens. Which is basically sleeping off jetlag and tequila. At right: Exclusive bits and pieces in the bathroom.

The hotel is the collective brainchild of Parisian designer India Mahdavi, hotelier Jonathan Moor and Mexican architect Javier Sánchez de Sánchez Higuera. The 40 rooms are pockets of sleek and iconic goodness, complete with iPods pre-programmed with funkalicious tracks, DVD players and even an Xbox if you need to hone your FIFA skills. Which, of course, you do on occasion.

Condesa DF Rooftop Jacuzzi Condesa DF - Monsieur Condesa DF Rooftop Boxing Condesa DF Dog
At left: Entrance to the rooftop jacuzzi. Middle left: Splendid typography on the bathrooom doors. Middle right: Take out your frustrations on the boxing bag. At right: The house dog. Even he is cool.

I’m sticking to the oasis metaphor but you’ll have to imagine an oasis with a humming nightlife. The rooftop terrace transforms from being a wellness mecca during the day to becoming a thriving hotspot complete with sushi bar in the evenings [which is why the iPod with headphones in the room may come in handy]. I always find that really cool hotels attract the locals and I’d rather mix with locals than tourists anyday of the travelling week.

Condesa DF Atrium Up Condesa DF Atrium Down
Views from the atrium and of the atrium restaurant.

Condesa DF Lobby Condesa DF Tequila for Guests
At left: The reception lobby. At right: Free tequila for quests in the evening.

The Condesa df debunks every myth you may have heard about the Mexican capital. It’s a little piece of paradise tucked away in a delicious corner of the city oozing with slow life. A groovy base camp for exploring Mexico City.

Some other nice bits:
- Bicycles are available for guests. When you’re the founder of the Cycle Chic movement, that melts your heart. Although there is a public bike-share rack down the street, too. Eco-bici.
- Channel 84 – the welcome channel – features a custom-made film that runs in loop. Coolest damn thing I’ve ever seen.
- Great service in the reception. No task too great for thos lads.
- Delicious food throughout the hotel.
- Fantastic meeting room if you need it.

Some bits that need improvement:
- The free wifi connection was dodgy at best, both in the room and in the rest of the hotel.
- The service in the restaurant, especially in the mornings, could have been sharper.

Condesa DF Breakfast Room Condesa DF Checkin
At left: Relaxing in the lounge. At right: Checking in.

Hotel Condesa df
Avenida Veracruz 102
Colonia Condesa
Mexico, D.F.
06140

You can book on the DesignHotels.com website.