Kola, the memory of an island that has change without renouncing its essence: “It remains a peaceful and charming haven.”
Some people simply pass through a place. Others, almost without realising it, become part of it.
Some people just pass through a place. Others, without realizing it, end up becoming a part of it.
Karola Grabitzky —known as Kola in Formentera— belongs to the latter.
Her story with the island began long before tourism defined its landscape. She arrived as a child from Germany, accompanying her mother. What she found back then bore little resemblance to today’s image: “There was nothing. Absolutely nothing,” she recalls. “No asphalt, no roads like the ones we have now. To get to Es Pujols, the path was entirely made of dirt.” For those coming from big cities, this territory held a touch of revelation.
“For us, it was a paradise.”
What started out as a visit eventually turned into a life-changing move.
Years later, back in Germany, an unexpected offer brought her back to Formentera. A friend working in tourism operations suggested she spend a season on the island. Kola accepted without giving it too much thought. It was 1978. Without knowing it, she was initiating a relationship that would last for decades.
“I didn’t think about it much,” her story implies between the lines. Because some decisions aren’t made; they are felt.
In those early years, tourism was still in its infancy. Visitors primarily arrived from Germany and France, drawn by something difficult to describe, but easy to recognize.
“In Düsseldorf, they always used to say that Formentera was my little garden in the south,” she says with a laugh.
That phrase isn’t random. It speaks of a special connection to the place. Of belonging.
Kola points to the 1990s as one of the turning points, when an advertising campaign filmed on the island sparked the interest of the Spanish public: “That changed everything.”
Even then, however, Formentera never entirely lost its essence.
The passage of time transformed infrastructures, access routes, and dynamics. It was inevitable. “The roads improved, of course. We can’t stop time,” she explains.
Yet, there is something Kola highlights with clarity: the scale. “Formentera has managed to hold its ground,” she implies. No skyscrapers, no massive complexes. With coves that remain untouched.
That is where the difference lies. And it is also why, even today, many visitors still experience the island as a personal discovery.
Amidst those early travelers, organized groups, and the gradual growth of the destination, Hotel Rosales also appears in Kola’s story.
A hotel that, transcending time, has been—and continues to be—a landmark. She vividly remembers Amador, a key figure from that era: “He wanted everything to be ‘just so’… but everything worked out well,” she says, laughing.
This is not a superficial anecdote. It speaks of a way of working, of a standard of exigency that was part of a very specific way of understanding service.
Yet if there is one thing that endures in her account, it is the value of people.
“The staff is lovely… always helping out and fixing things,” she says today, looking at the present-day Rosales. A continuity that goes far beyond the facilities.
Kola’s Formentera is also a collection of scenes. Small stories that today seem improbable.
Like that customer who fell into the water at the port… without wanting to let go of his suitcases. “We kept telling him to let go so we could pull him out, but he wouldn’t,” she recalls.
The next day, with his clothes drying in the sun, the man joked: “I’ll always clean this jacket with saltwater.”
The following year, he came back. Perhaps that is the key: it wasn’t just the destination, it was the experience. The bond.
Decades have passed. Formentera has changed. Kola has too. But something has remained unaltered. When asked to define the island in a single phrase, she doesn’t hesitate: “My favorite island.”
In that simplicity lies a truth that is hard to construct artificially. Because Formentera cannot be entirely explained. It must be lived.
And Rosales —through its history, its people, and its way of being— has been part of that experience for generations.
Today, as it celebrates its trajectory, Hotel Rosales is not just adding years. It is adding stories like Kola’s.
Stories that speak of time, of bonds, and of a way of doing things driven not by trends, but by convictions.
On an island that has managed to transform itself without ever ceasing to be itself, Rosales represents something essential:
hospitality understood as closeness, memory, and authenticity.
Answer: I am German and my name is Karola Grabitzky, though here on the island everyone knows me as “Kola.” Nobody knows me by Karola.
Answer: Fantastic. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. The hotel… I don’t remember it very well. I came with my mom the first time in 1967 and we stayed in a hostel in Ca Marí. There wasn’t even asphalt; heading toward Es Pujols was all dirt tracks and there was very little traffic. It was a wonderful island for tourists coming from big cities; it was absolute paradise.
Answer: The first few years I didn’t stay. I had a friend here who worked at “Turístic Service,” an agency in Düsseldorf, which was the first region in Germany from where visitors started coming. I would come to greet them, to see them, and that’s how I met all the Germans working here.
I was studying, but my second field of study wasn’t really for me… and when they offered me the chance to come work a season in Formentera, I said yes immediately. That’s how I started here in 1978, but only for the seasons.
Answer: Tour operator tourism really picked up more strongly in the ’80s. In ’78 there wasn’t much movement yet, but starting in the ’80s, yes.
Answer: The first ones were French and German. In my hometown, they always used to say that Formentera was “my little garden in the south.” (laughs) Spanish people hardly came at all back then.
And do you want to know how the Spanish found out and started coming? They started arriving later, following the famous Estrella Damm beer advertising campaign in the 1990s, which was filmed right here on the island, in Formentera. That changed everything.
Answer: To be honest, I’m not very fond of mass tourism. That arrived about 30 years ago, especially with the Italians and major agencies like Going. We felt a bit terrible at the time, but we also worked with a large German agency, the LTU group, and that’s how I got to know Rosales.
The roads and infrastructure improved, of course. We can’t stop time: growth is necessary. But the great thing is that in Formentera they kept everything small-scale: no skyscrapers, no massive hotels like in Ibiza or Mallorca. The coves still don’t have hotels built right on top of them because building wasn’t allowed, and that’s wonderful. That’s why today’s clients still adore the island: even in high season they always find their corner, and May and June are a charm. Let’s forget about July and August for a moment, but that’s where the money is. (laughs)
Answer: I don’t know about the very beginning, because I arrived later. But when the first Germans started arriving with major tour operators around the 1980s, everyone was very happy.
My sister and her husband were already here in ’68, and they also came to discover the island, and to this day, the whole family, including my sisters’ children, still go there for vacations. And well, I called her earlier to tell me things about Rosales, and she told me that the food at Rosales was fantastic: especially her favorite was breakfast—toasted bread, margarine, and apricot jam… and to this day she still loves that jam, so she was very happy (laughs).
When I was a tourist, I hardly knew Es Pujols well, but working as a guide with the office in Es Pujols, I got to know it well and it became my second “home” for many years, and I still love it today.
Answer: Many French visitors, who even bought apartments in Es Pujols. They also liked Es Caló and Migjorn. Some English people came too. And, of course, many Germans thanks to the LTU company, which was very strong at the time. I worked with them in the beginning.
Answer: There were arguments, of course, because Mr. Amador wanted everything to be “just so” and no arguing allowed, none at all (laughs). But everything was fine, and the clients were happy.
Answer: Construction, without a doubt. Es Pujols has turned into a tourist center and they keep building. In the end, Es Pujols is Es Pujols, the tourist hub. But the rest of the island largely maintains its essence: houses, small cottages, hotels… only the owners have changed.
The beach at Es Pujols is just as beautiful. I love going down there, even in high season, getting an ice cream, and watching people. It’s fun, plus it’s clean and very pretty.
Answer: It has changed, yes. Of course it changed; back then, hippies from America fleeing the Vietnam War came, along with French people, international crowds… and well, that’s how tourism began. Today it’s different; not everything has changed for the better, the way I see it, but even so, people still fall in love with the island when they discover it.
I have German clients who come every July to apartments in Es Pujols and enjoy it immensely. They see it through different eyes.
Answer: Many. There are many.
One is very cute, but it wasn’t with a Rosales client. Back then we always went with the clients to the port to head to Ibiza to pick up new groups and return to the island—not on today’s ferries, but on small charter boats. It was already dark, and the sailors unloaded the luggage onto the dock rather haphazardly, leaving the clients to figure out how to find their bags amidst that chaos. Once, during unloading, I was already on the buses giving instructions to the clients when a colleague from another tour operator came up to me and said, “It’s your turn today,” and I asked, “How? What’s our turn?” That’s when he told me that one of our clients had fallen into the water at the port with his two suitcases and wouldn’t let go of the bags to be pulled out, saying he wouldn’t leave them behind “just in case.” In the end, they pulled him and his suitcases out completely soaked. I told my guide: “Don’t put him on the bus, he’s drenched. Take him by car.” He drove the guest to the wrong accommodation and left. Fortunately, the receptionist there took the client to his correct accommodation.
When I went to see him in the morning, he had laid out his clothes and tickets to dry. He had a completely soaked jacket, but with good humor he told me: “Everything’s fine.” “Look at this jacket, from now on I’m always going to clean it with saltwater.” (laughs) He had a great sense of humor; the following year he came back again and upon seeing me at the port by the buses, he told me: “This time I didn’t fall into the water…” (more laughs). Anecdotes like that… plenty of them.
Answer: Generally speaking, no… everything flowed little by little, the change wasn’t abrupt, and to this day I feel very good here.
I don’t have a negative memory that marks a radical change.
Answer: My favorite island. It continues to be a quiet and charming corner.
And I believe that for many, many clients as well. That’s why they repeat and come back over and over again.
Answer: The hotel has changed a lot, and not for the worse. I really like how they’ve done it.
The staff is a delight. People like Rosario, for example, have always been very kind to the clients, always helping and fixing things. That has always been the case.
Even today I love coming here, greeting the staff, and chatting for a moment.
Answer: It’s a long time. Then I think that I’ve gotten older too. (laughs)
*Wait, didn’t we say since 1966? Not ’66, I don’t remember the kiosk, I remember the hotel when it was already operating, but still in a very different era. In those years there was no permanent electricity. Hotels had generators, and at ten o’clock at night everything turned off. My sister remembers it too: sometimes there was light and sometimes there wasn’t: that’s why they always had candles to light the way (laughs)
Answer: That they enjoy the island immensely and have a wonderful vacation.
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