Don Gustavo and the mystery of Villa Winter
Photos: Markus Hilzinger | Text: Markus Hilzinger | 2018-03-19
Unreal and at the same time uniquely beautiful, the landscape changes, once you drive from Morro Jable to the very remote place Cofete on the Canary Island Fuerteventura.
On unpaved roads you reach one of the most beautiful beaches in Europe (Tripadvisor no. 23). The mountain range is unique with the highest mountain of the island, protecting the beach section like a backdrop. Amazed, we looked up in a deserted backdrop to an almost defiantly built white architecture.
The Villa Winter is still fabled, built in chalet style with a misshapen tower and an enclosed courtyard, it sits enthroned beautiful above the sea. Despite the sightseeing, entrances were closed and shadows darted through the courtyard behind half-ruined walls. An engineer from the Black Forest called Gustav Winter built the villa around 1937 and the rumors say he was a close confidant of Hitler and had prepared military bases for U-Boats and probably formed a branched rescue net for Nazi bosses.
Everything has not been confirmed or disproved to this day. Also, the residents in the nearby village Cofete, which consists of a bodega and a few dilapidated huts, reminiscent of a favela, are not very talkative on this topic.
