Inside Lionel Messi’s Sitges hotel and favourite holiday destination, where the Barcelona ace likes to go when he’s recovering from injury
WHEN Lionel Messi broke his arm last year in a La Liga match against Sevilla, he went straight to Sitges.
He dropped into the Hotel MiM Sitges, a boutique spot complete with a spa that he owns, to visit staff while he relaxed and recovered.
The Barcelona legend, who owns hotels in Ibiza and Majorca with the Majestic Hotel Group, also has a multi-million pound home in the coastal town that's part of Spain's Catalonia region.
You can bet that Messi, who recently returned to the fold against Inter Milan after suffering a nasty thigh strain, nursed himself back to fitness by nesting in that mansion with a sea view before starring in the Champions League.
Wanting to know how the other half life, SunSport travelled to Sitges (not just in the hope we might bump into the world's best footballer), to see what all the fuss was about.
We stayed at his hotel, enjoyed the local delicacies and topped up our tans on the beach.
Here's what we thought...
THE HOTEL
In 2017 Messi spent £26m on the Hotel MiM Sitges, which sits just over 100 feet from the sea, knowing full well it was an investment worth making.
After all, Sitges is often called the Saint-Tropez of Spain and draws tourists from all over the world.
His four-star hotel, which is managed by the Majestic Hotel group, has 77 bedrooms, including five junior suites and one suite, and costs around £105-per-night during high season to stay in a standard room.
However, it's the rooftop Sky Bar that makes the Hotel MiM Sitges stand out from the crowd, boasting a pool, as well as incredible panoramic views of the town and the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a vast amount of tasty cocktails.
For those looking to relax EVEN further the hotel has a top-of-the-range spa.
Alongside treatments and massages, there's a hydrotherapy circuit (just £25-per-person) that includes a sauna, Turkish bath, sensory showers, a recreational pool, a cold plunge tub and a saltwater pool.
Couple's treatment, which range from around £55-per-person, include a private jacuzzi and an innovative oxygen cabin that's said to be good for rejuvenating skin.
If you want to keep up with fitness (we didn't), there is a first-class fitness room in which you can even request your own personal trainer for your stay.
For those feeling zen, there's an option of taking a yoga class on the rooftop, or having an instructor put you through your downward dog paces on the beach.
And Hotel MiM Sitges has got your culinary needs sorted too.
For breakfast, there's the Land Restaurant, which serves everything from eggs - fried or scrambled, cooked chorizo, cold meats and cheese, fresh fruit and yogurt, and an array of pastries.
While for dinner you can go up to the terrace rooftoop and enjoy a lavish menu at the Sky Bar - with meals reasonably priced between £9-£31 and staples like seabass and a rib of beef available to devour.
IT'S ECO-FRIENDLY
As we know by Messi's car choices, he cares about the environment.
Hotel MiM Sitges was built sustainably and environmentally-friendly, with 80% of the material used for the building's construction recycled or recyclable.
The hotel boasts tanks that collect waste water from every shower which is then filtered, cleaned, treated and used in the toilets and for watering the plants.
While, in terms of energy low-consumption the hotel uses LED lights, with solar panels on the terrace that heat the water for all of the showers in the hotel, as well as the spa and windmills - also on the terrace - that generate enough energy to light all of the common areas of the hotel.
Because they think green, Hotel MiM Sitges was awarded LEED Platinum certification by the US Green Building Council.
FOOD AND DRINK
With its proximity to the sea, seafood is the order of the day.
But the most typical dish in Sitges is Xato, typically a leafy salad filled with cod, tuna, anchovies, aubergine and black olives.
To give it some pang, a sauce made with scalded chillies, toasted almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt, vinegar and hot peppers is drizzled over it.
There are also Catalan sailors' dishes such as rice Sitges style, stewed sepia with potatoes and garlic sauce, bull de tonyina (a tuna fish tripe, sometimes with snails added), fideuada (similar to paella, but with noodles and seafood) and stuffed peppers with cod.
To wash it down, you can have some malvasia - a delicate liquor wine, although that's primarily enjoyed with dessert.
Alternatively, if you're feeling thirsty, you can visit Casa Bacardi - basically the house of the famous rum.
It's a museum dedicated to the founder Facundo Bacardí Massó, who was born in Sitges and serves incredible cocktails.
WHY SITGES IS CLOSE TO MESSI'S HEART
Messi and wife Antonella Roccuzzo are believed to have become a couple in 2009, with their families being long-standing friends.
However, their romance didn't become public until the pair were photographed taking a romantic stroll around the streets of Sitges some years later.
A loved-up Messi and Roccuzzo appeared to be smitten with each other and their surroundings as they patrolled the pebbled pavements gazing into each other's eyes.
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That experience clearly influenced Messi and Roccuzzo's decision to buy a home in Sitges, and use it as a home away from home from Barcelona, which is around 26 miles away.
After spending four nights there, we concur. It's beautiful. Sadly, we had to hop on a plane and return home.
For more information about Messi's Hotel MiM Sitges, .