Vanessa is an island earth mamma that lives with her family in a 250 year old finca, tucked away in the picturesque mountains of San Joan, Ibiza. Their sun soaked days are filled with time at the beach, healthy fresh food, and all the other amazing things you can imagine life in Spain would be. Read on for more about Vanessa, how the island chooses you, and on raising ‘free-range children’.
Also good to know? Their guesthouse is up for rent for vacationers if you want to experience a piece of the Ibicencan countryside for yourself.
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Where are you from:
Cologne, Germany
Can you tell us about your work?
I am working as a fashion model and have been traveling almost all my life. I am also a trained therapeutic chef but since I have had two children I went back to modeling because I earn more money with less work, so I can be there for them.
What inspired your interest in healthy living?
It makes such a huge difference to our bodies and minds to be healthy. If I would show up to castings hungover I rarely got the jobs; so I stopped drinking and started studying nutrition and ended up working nonstop, haha. So first it was work based but then I just felt so good, so I continued down the line. Now it is all about balance and I believe healthy living is living without too much stress and anxiety. This means also enjoying treats and ‘non healthy’ things if you feel like it.
What’s your go-to meal?
Bread and avocado 🙂
What inspires you the most?
My husband. My man. My partner in crime. My lover. Father of my children. He is an amazing man and I look up to him and the way he is with our children.
Favorite words to live by?
Go with the flow.
What first brought you to Ibiza?
We moved there when Luca was five months, I wanted to be closer to my family in Germany. We got married in Ibiza and always felt a nice energy there (although we never stayed longer than five days). Our friends say the island chooses you.. everything is either really hard and you have to leave eventually, or really easy, which was the case for us.
What made you decide to stay?
We absolutely love our house. It is so authentic and very Ibizan. It is a 250 year old finca (which means farmhouse) on top of a mountain in the north of Ibiza. Of course it’s not all rosy and sometimes I miss my comforts I had living in New York and Sydney, but overall the space we have makes me very happy and we couldn’t find this in a city. We are currently figuring out how to maintain living there as we are living off our savings that are coming to an end unfortunately, and my work is not on the island. But I am sure we will work it out somehow if it is meant to be.
What’s your favorite thing about raising children on the island?
I feel very free.. free to raise them the way I want and the way it works for my family. I also feel like I am more calm and less stressed out on the island and have more patience for my children. Luca (my three year old) is what we call a ‘free range baby’ she grew up in nature and without shoes and too many restrictions.
What’s a typical day like for you there?
Waking up early (to Spanish standards) going to the beach for couple of hours, coming home for lunch and chill time during the lunch heat, and then heading back to the beach in the afternoon. This is of course not every day but it sums up our summers 😉
What are some of your favorite hang out spots?
Our little local beach, S’illot, our garden, La Paloma, Atzaro.
Best restaurants on the island?
Nagai, La Paloma, The Giri Cafe, El Carmen (for me, the best paella on the island).
