{"id":870,"date":"2017-03-24T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/?p=870"},"modified":"2021-07-15T10:44:16","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T08:44:16","slug":"we-love-the-vibrant-atmosphere-in-santa-catalina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/we-love-the-vibrant-atmosphere-in-santa-catalina\/","title":{"rendered":""We love the vibrant atmosphere in Santa Catalina""},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of Palma\u2019s busiest restaurant streets in Santa Catalina<\/a> there is a small, charming townhouse. Here, just a few steps from the buzz of chattering people and sound of coffee cups and wine glasses, is the home of Tove and Emil.
<\/br>\nThe apartment is bright and welcoming. The combination of old Spanish charm and Scandinavian, stylish decor gives it something extra. But it was far from love at first sight for Tove and Emil.
<\/br>\n\u2013 When we came here the first time, it looked terrible, Tove says with a laugh.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Light, colourful and decorated with love.<\/p><\/div>\n

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During the summer, the street is crowded by restaurants and people. Photo: Pablo Cuello Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Tove and Emil were looking for an apartment to rent in the center of Palma and came in contact with a man who offered a flat in the middle of trendy, vibrant Santa Catalina<\/a>. But when they stepped into the old townhouse they were shocked.
<\/br>\n\u2013 Everything was just wrong. The entire apartment was dirty and worn down and it was really weird furnished. They were growing marijuana in the guest room.
<\/br>\n\u2013 And there was a man sleeping on the couch, Tove adds.
<\/br>\nDespite the bad condition, there was still something there that they found appealing.
<\/br>\n\u2013We immediately noticed the cool floors and could tell it had a special feeling to it. And of course, they offered us a good price, Emil says.
<\/br>\nSo they decided to take it, but it was not like they could move in straight away.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We hired two maids who cleaned the apartment for two whole days, we repainted the walls in every room and donated all the furniture to charity, Tove says.<\/p>\n

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Windows and balconies in both directions makes the apartment very light all the way trough.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Emil and Tove found a rough diamond of an apartment.<\/p><\/div>\n

It is the beginning of the season and so far there are only a few restaurants open on the street below, but during peak season the street gets pretty crowded.
<\/br>\n\u2013 I like the sound of people laughing and talking, it\u2019s homey in a way. I am not disturbed by it at all, Emil says.
<\/br>\n\u2013 They are probably more disturbed by us, Tove says and laugh. Sometimes we sit on the balcony in the evenings, listening to music and drinking wine, and you can really feel how people are looking at us, thinking \u201cI wonder how it is to live there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Emil and Tove enjoys living in the vibrant heart of Santa Catalina.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Four different patterns meet in the kitchen. A beautiful, colourful chaos.<\/p><\/div>\n

Tove and Emil have lived in Mallorca since 2015. Up until then they were working in restaurants in Sweden, but started playing with the idea of doing something different.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We felt that we wanted to try something new. We had a few different options we could think of, such as Copenhagen, Berlin or somewhere in Spain, Emil says.
<\/br>\nThey knew that Tove\u2019s former boss had an apartment for rent in Portals Nous in Mallorca and decided to call him.
<\/br>\n\u2013 \u201cIt is free in four months and it\u2019s yours if you want it\u201d he replied.
<\/br>\nSaid and done. They resigned from their jobs and began planning their new life.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We have always lived quite relaxed compared to our friends and we don\u2019t really have the same form of rhythm in our lives. There are ups and downs and that kind of life does not feel as \u201caccepted\u201d in Sweden. We wanted something more, something different. It is easier to be more impulsive here, Tove says.
<\/br>\nMuch easier, as it would turn out.<\/p>\n

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The DJ-table Tove and Emil built themselves<\/p><\/div>\n

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The bedroom is connected to both the dining area and the living room.<\/p><\/div>\n

After moving to Mallorca they took the days as they came and explored their new home.
<\/br>\n\u2013 During four months we just enjoyed the island. Living as if we were on holiday, Tove says.
<\/br>\nThe apartment in Portals was really lovely, but it was just that, a holiday home.
<\/br>\n\u2013 The location was really amazing. We had a lift straight down to the beach, but it was more holiday feeling. It did not work when we needed to go back to reality, you know, Emil says.
<\/br>\nWhen they both got jobs in Palma it felt natural to move closer to the city. And moving to Santa Catalina would come to mean so much more than just a new apartment. After moving into their new neighbourhood Tove and Emil quickly found their favourite bars and restaurants in the area. Especially one bar became like their second living room.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We became regulars at Etoh, a bar just around the corner and started hanging out there quite a lot.<\/p>\n

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The apartment is 80 square meters and divided into several small rooms.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cWe had a guest room at first, but then asked ourselves why we would keep an entire room for someone else in our home. So, we made a walk in closet instead!\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

They got to know the owners who in time became really close friends.
<\/br>\n\u2013 And then one day they invited us to lunch and said \u201cwe want to open a restaurant with you\u201d, Emil says.
<\/br>\nThe owners of the restaurant already had a local in mind and the day after their meeting they made an offer for it.
<\/br>\n\u2013 Four days later, all the papers were signed, Emil says and shrugs his shoulders. It took a couple of days for the whole thing to sink in and to understand what we had given ourselves into.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We do things, then we think, Tove says with a smile.
<\/br>\nThere was no time to waste. The local for the planned restaurant was leased, the concept was all done and the name was settled. In November last year Balagan by Etoh<\/a> opened in Santa Catalina.
<\/br>\n\u2013 It has been better than expected and we have had more guests than we could dream of, Tove says.<\/p>\n

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Since the opening in November last year, Balagan<\/a> has gotten many really nice reviews.<\/p><\/div>\n

Balagan, which means \u201cchaos\u201d in a positive sense, specializes in the Mediterranean cuisine.
<\/br>\n\u2013 And that is all the Mediterranean, not only Spain, France and Greece, says Emil who is the chef of the restaurant\u2019s and helped design the menu.
<\/br>\nThey are already thinking about opening more restaurants. Their dream is to be able to work more with developing concepts and have an overall responsibility than work in the restaurants.
<\/br>\n\u2013 It would make it easier to open restaurants in other places too. That would be awesome.
<\/br>\nWith Palma as a start up they have great faith in continuing to work with their restaurant dreams in the future.
<\/br>\n\u2013 You make contact with people from all over the world and opportunities appear everywhere. Palma truly is a melting pot of interesting people, Emil says.
<\/br>\n\u2013 We may not stay here for the rest of our lives, but right now we are not even dreaming of anything else.
<\/br>\nText: Maria Str\u00f6mqvist
<\/br>\nPhoto: Ida Carlsson<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of Palma’s busiest restaurant streets in Santa Catalina there is a small, charming townhouse. Here, just a few steps from Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[388,25,35],"tags":[93,95,103,119,121,129],"class_list":["post-870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-citylife","category-long-term-renting","category-palma","tag-long-term-rentals","tag-mallorca","tag-palma","tag-real-estate-agency","tag-realtor","tag-santa-catalina"],"lang":"en","translations":{"sv":1815,"en":870,"de":1935},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2103,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions\/2103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyahomemallorca.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}