When John and I took over Roqueta we inherited the first ever issue from May 1973. I showed it to a few of the magazine contributors and they recognised Pia Van Eck on the front cover.
I went to meet her at her house in the centre of Mahon to find out more. Pia told me to take the private vacuum lift to the 2nd floor but it looked a bit too intimidating! I took the stairs and Pia welcomed me into her beautiful home in Calle Angel and was very happy to answer all my questions.
The caption on the front cover reads Pia Van Eck from Holland who is here for the summer. Can you tell me more?I was working at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam and my youngest brother was at boarding school when I decided that I missed my mother so much that I would follow her to Menorca. To be honest, I cannot remember the photo being taken, I was 24 at the time and there was a lot of partying!
My father had retired from his wholesale business selling 2nd hand tyres and they had first bought a house on the Costa Brava. Then, my father’s friend was developing property in S’Algar and so he decided to swap the house in mainland Spain as he thought it was becoming too crowded. My mother was furious!
My mother was very creative, and she opened a fashion boutique in Mahon in 1969/70 called PIAN which was on C/ Orfila 59. It was a combination of her names Pia Anne Meike. She sold Haute Couture, exclusive costume jewellery, leather belts and handmade shoes. It became quite a famous shop as it was the only one in Menorca which was selling custom-fitting clothes as found in Paris and other capital cities. She bought the material from Barcelona and employed several local ladies to do the sewing.
I remember there were very few shops in Mahon at all at the time and people used to pay a weekly amount to individual shops. Local people would also open their doors onto the street and sell the fruit and vegetables grown on their allotments from their hallways.
When did you eventually settle in Menorca?
After a couple of years of partying, my father put his foot down and demanded that I get a job. Through a contact on the island, I got a job in Barcelona at a Private Detective Agency. In those days divorces had to be proved and so I was paid to spy on people. After 18 months I came back for a summer before going to live with friends of my parents in Madrid where I paid for my room by sewing and making curtains.
I came back to Menorca to live when I met my first husband, a local lawyer, and we had a daughter. The marriage didn’t last, and I was alone for a while before I met my current husband, John Ellison. We met when John had been on his own for 10 years. He had four children, two girls, and two boys who were born here. Many people will know his daughter Victoria Ellison who runs the private care home Casa Remei.
When we first got together, I wanted to make sure that our children were going to get on before committing to a relationship. My mother had just died, and she had always wanted me to go to Goa. She was a real hippy, believing in gurus, and she used to go every winter and spend time at an ashram. Therefore, we decided to go and spend 3 months in Goa to see how we all got on. We all had a wonderful time!
How do you enjoy your current life in Menorca, do you still travel?
John is very creative and musical, and he used to travel to Thailand a lot. Now we are very keen on Morocco and rent a house every winter on the coast. We were just about to go when lock down began for COVID. I did my best to recreate the house in Morocco on our top terrace in Mahon, decorating it with, throws, cushions and awnings and the lamps and objects we have collected on our travels. I love cooking and so I prepared Moroccan dishes for a week such as tagines, cous cous, and Shakshika
We lived in a house in Son Vilar for many years but now we live here, which was my mother’s house. We love being located in the centre of town, being able to go out for coffees and drinks with our friends who regularly knock at the door. We have been in the house for 12 years and John spent the first year renovating it to make it our own. John loves his garden which is a beautiful enclosed large patio at the back of the house, full of his wonderful plants, and with a big table for entertaining.
When John first came here it was difficult to get a work permit. He had a farmhouse in Pou Nou and started the well-known t-shirt business from his home but then split up with his partner. He then had a ceramic shop on the main road to Ciutadella but, when they extended the Poligon Industrial area, the shop had to close and so he was forced to retire. He now spends his time at the Aeroclub playing snooker and at home writing songs. He has a music recording room in the house where there are posters of his days performing with his sister and their group at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
Between us we now have a granddaughter and grandson, 2 great granddaughters and a great grandson. My daughter Estefi works at the Consell in tourism and my son-in-law Jordi is in charge of Los Naranjas hotel in S’Algar.
At the end of the interview Pia poured me a large glass of wine and showed me around the beautiful house. This gave me enough courage to try the vacuum lift on the way down. Watch out, Pia warned, first it will jump up a little bit, before you start to go down! I was transported safely back down to the ground floor.
