VILLA ADELAIDA, THE CASTLE OF THE PRINCESS

Maribel’s dream came true…..


When I first came to Santa Pola, 40 years ago, I fell in love with the “indiano” house that I could see from the porch of my mother-in-law’s cottage. It was nothing like any of the other houses in the village.

This beautiful house, built at the beginning of the 20th Century, is crowned by a tower covered in ceramic tiles that is used as a lookout. On the facade there is a terrace and balconies with two splendid bay windows on either side. Surrounded by gardens, the villa represents the characteristic constructions built by the merchant class at the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. The most beautiful and original of the Levantine architecture, influenced by elements imported by the “indianos”. This is what those spanish emigrants who came home wealthy from the Americas are called. They built their their mansions in a flamboyant colonial style, and there are many examples of them in Asturias and Galicia.

This house, one of the first villas built in Santa Pola, in the area of the Bochoit and the Aljibes del Massapa, to the east of the centre, has a name, “Villa Adelaida”.

I didn’t know anything about its history but years later I got to know the history of this santapolera, who was kind enough to donate her most valued property to her beloved village, and about which she wrote “Villa Adelaida is so exceptional that it must be be looked after, protected and maintained as a symbol of everything that is beautiful and unique, Villa Adelaida is enchanted, it and I are one and the same”.


The dwelling was a present from Isabel Alonso and Gervasio Torregrosa to their God-child Adelaida Pérez-Ojeda (the mother of Maribel), the first daughter of Josefina García, (only daughter of the well-known and loved notary García Braceli) and of the naval officer Fernando Pérez-Ojeda, known to the santapoleros as “el Comandant” and at that time the house was only used in summer.

Who was Maribel López Pérez-Ojeda, the princess of the castle called “Villa Adelaida”? Thanks to the book produced by Rafael Pla and Toni Mas, and commissioned by Shami Mendiratta, in homage to his wife. This is a biography, singular and unique, as was she, and through it we are better able to know her inner self, her thoughts, her history.

Maribel was a woman with a fascinating history, a woman with an exciting life story, of vibrant sensuality, who knew how to enjoy many things which seemed to be prohibited in her era. With an exquisite education she lived open to the world, as the title of the book written about her makes clear “To live without frontiers”. She had a character both happy and spontaneous, as is shown through the writings and letters collected in the book of her experiences, satisfactions and transformation.

The first time Maribel married it was to a young swiss-german engineer, 12 years older than her. As Edgar Werner was a Calvinist he had to convert to Catholicism to marry her, to the surprise of the people of Santa Pola who waited outside the church whilst he took his first communion. Edgar died within a year of getting married in a ski accident and Maribel stayed where they had been living, in Stanford, California.

She later met Hans Bremermann who would be her second husband, in whom she recognised the wisdom that she admired so much, and who was recognised everywhere as a distinguished scientist. At his side she travelled to many countries and visited great cities, she learnt as many tongues as she could, she spoke eight languages, studied, worked and was able to teach the knowledge that she had acquired

At UCLA, Berkeley she obtained three degrees, in Art, Philosophy and Letters and a PhD. She was the only woman professor in the Faculty of Romance Linguistics and Literature at Berkeley in the sixties.
Hans died in 1995 and in 1997 Maribel decided to return to Santa Pola, to her beloved castle.

At that time Maribel then starts to be prepared for a new, and last, apprenticeship of love, to live a new chapter in her life, to discover Shami, and to unite her life with his. Shami Mendiratta, “The lion of the Himalayas”. From the first time she saw him she knew that he would be the man who would enable her to be her true self, who would domesticate her indomitable carácter. Her nickname from childhood “FIRE CHILD” was finally fulfilled, she had never before felt this internal fire, her surrender is total, she is finally free to love and be loved.

This is an outline of the life of this santapolera, intelligent, vital, ahead of her time, with an immense capacity to love, and an optimistic perspective on life, who left us some months ago but who lived with this man who had awakened in her this love she dreamed of, in the last years of her life in her house in the sun.


Some months ago I was lucky enough to visit Villa Adelaida, that villa that impressed me so much the first time I saw it.




From the windows of the first floor I looked at the sea and thought about the letters in which Maribel describes her nocturnal swims in those beaches which were an extensión of the land of her castle


I saw her sitting at the piano enjoying the company of friends and family, or in her oratory at the top of the villa, with her Virgin of Carmen or strolling through the Gardens.




Thank you Maribel, thank you Shami, for this wonderful gift. I hope that this Multicultural Centre which you want for Santa Pola fulfills your expectations and the porpuse that you dreamt of.



I recommend that you read the book “Vivir sin fronteras” you will love the photos, letter and sketches of Maribel López Pérez Ojeda and her husband Shami Mendiratta.



Photos from Maribel y Shami and from Esteban Antón Leonis.


Translated by Janice Roquero



Sharing ......an idea ! by Surjit Mendiratta (Architect:Canada) Shami Mendiratta's brother



A TRIBUTE TO MARIBEL.

Santa Pola should do every thing possible to keep the spirit & achievements of Maribel alive for the benefit of the present & the future daughters of Santa Pola.

Maribel is a role model, a gift to Santa Pola, an inspiration and a leader who will lead the women of Santa Pola for generations to come.

A full size statue of Maribel  should be built in Santa Pola with her full academic regalia, to inspire and remind every one that a small Santa Pola girl can dream, can achieve 2 Doctorate Degrees (Phd's), can get a permanent appointment as a full time professor at a prestigious world renowned University in Berkeley California USA. And that any Santa Pola girl can dream, can set high goals for herself, like Maribel,  believing in herself and in " YES I CAN" .

Maribel statue could very well become known as the  "YES I CAN" statue of Santa Pola