La Ferme de Georges and the magic of Lençóis Maranhenses

0:13Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. I'm Fernando Augusto Pacheco, and for today's episode, I speak with hotelier Pierre Bidin Moldeva, owner of La Ferme de Jorge and Chez Jorge, both in Brazil. We discuss Brazilian hospitality and the magic of the Lençóis Maranhenses.

0:34Pierre Bidin Moldeva, what a pleasure talking to you. I know your properties in Brazil for a while. I wrote about, of course, Chez Georges and La Femme des Georges in Monaco a few years ago. But now I had the pleasure to visit La Femme des Georges. What a beauty. But I want to know a little bit more about you, Pierre. First of all, where are you from? What's your connection with Brazil, actually? Well, I'm French. I was living in Europe, in Belgium, in Paris, in Berlin for a few years. And after in New York and with my son, Tadeo. And I wanted to change something in my life. and I've always been crazy about architecture and music.

1:14At the very beginning, I wanted to live in Japan, but it has been too difficult. And finally, I said, why not Brazil? And so we came to Brazil. And I always tell my friends, every time I go to France as well, the French, they love Brazilian music. There is a connection there, you know? So I think it's such an interesting connection between both countries in a way. Yes, yes, for sure. And this year, it's a year of French in Brazil. So there is a crazy connection with France now. And many, many tourists from France are traveling to Europe, to Brazil now. If you love music, if you love architecture, it's really the place to be in the world today.

1:52Because of Choro, because of, I mean, music in Brazil, it's just, it's a perfect place. And tell me, you have two properties, hotels in Brazil, right? One in Rio and one in the state of Maranhão in Achins. Which one came first? I think the one in Rio, right? I'm a kite surfer. So first I wanted to be close on the beach. So start by Athens, then Soys. But it's, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's being there, it's a paradise, but living there for a long time could be difficult because you are far away from everything. So I wanted to mix and to balance with the place in the city. And so for sure, we decided to come to Rio.

2:32So first it was Athens and then Rio. And one thing about Atings, I mean, the place is magical. The Lenxoais Maranhenses is magical. And it's becoming very popular. It is booming. But you were one of the first, actually, to have a very beautiful property there. Sometimes not so easy to reach, but that's what makes it special as well. So you had your eye on it before, because now, you know, it's in the papers and a lot of people. There are a lot of visitors coming from Brazil and abroad. But you were there before. Yes, at the very beginning we were almost alone, I mean with the people from the village, but I was even nude on the beach, I mean I was with my dogs, without electricity, without bad water, so it was really rude at the very beginning.

3:18We were alone in the middle of nowhere, with the dunes, with the lagoon, I mean it was just incredible. But finally I started to exchange a lot with French TV, with newspaper, even in New York, and so it changed a lot. So it's still magic, but for sure it was already, at the very beginning, it was really unique. Being in a paradise alone was just incredible. But inside the property, things remain very peaceful and cool. Around, you know, we can get very busy, but I think La Ferme des Georges, one thing so beautiful about it, it feels very connected to the place. It doesn't just look like a luxury hotel.

3:59it's built out of nowhere, if you know what I mean, right? Yes, we try to keep something really unique. I mean, with our own garden, with the same thing since the very beginning, we have something quite simple. So we try to have something simple and chic. And I think it's still the same. I mean, but for sure, I think it's changing. But Herm de Georges keeps something really unique and magic. How is it to be an hotelier in Brazil? Of course, you're coming from a different country. I know there are challenges for sure, but I think perhaps your passion for Brazil is bigger than any of those challenges.

4:34But I presume it was not so easy perhaps in the beginning. For sure it was not because I became an hotele by accident. There in Santa Teresa, there were a big party and I came to complain and a guy was organizing this party. His name was Klaus Sandlinger. It was a boss from Design Hotel. So we became friends and he said, why don't you build an hotel? So I really became an otelier by accident. It was a funny story. But for sure, it's a big challenge. But it works. People are still really happy when they leave the place. Yes, I mean, it's difficult for sure. Because, I mean, again, managing this project far away from us is a challenge.

5:13But finally, we still have a good review and it seems to be still OK. It's still a beautiful place, so it's OK. And the place is magical indeed. I mean, for our listeners who don't know, tell us perhaps your feeling, because Lençois Maranhenses, it's something out of this world. I think it's very unique the way it looks. We have dunes in other places, but I think the way the lagoons are formed, you know, after the rainy months, I've never seen something like it. 1 ,500 kilometers of dunes with, after the rainy season, food of water. and even if you are prepared because we have seen everybody have seen a lot of reportage so we know how it looks but the sensation when we are there i mean the connection with nature it's really unique something you it's difficult to describe but you have a really strong feeling something really unique and a place where you can change meditate yes if there is a place to visit in Brazil, for sure, people need to go to land soils.

6:16I mean, it is the place to be and another place to be. I mean, it's not a surprise, but Rio de Janeiro, it is always a star city. How was your presence? You are kind of based in Rio these days, right? You live in Rio. Yes, we are my single dad with Stadeo. So we live in Rio. At the very beginning, I wanted to buy a place on the beach, but I fell in love with Santa Teresa, which is a unique place in Rio. I mean, there is Rio, but there is Santa Teresa. It's an artistic place with a lot of gallery, artists, singers. There is really something unique and magic in Santa Teresa. So I fell in love with this place and we decided to stay there.

6:54So it was also a crazy project compared with Athens. I mean, Athens was really crazy, but Rio was also really crazy. It took two years to reform everything. I decided to build a music studio because the idea was to, I mean, I'm crazy about architecture, but also about music. And I wanted to do something unique. So we have a music studio at home with a connection with a music studio, which means we can receive a philharmonic. And so today we received some artists from everywhere in the world, and they come to record with this beautiful view on the Sugarloaf, on the bed of Guanabara. And Santa Teresa has the best views of Rio, right?

7:31Let's be honest here. Yeah, yeah. It's really unique. You don't have to come to Brazil to sleep because, I mean, in Santa Teresa, you would have a lot of music. So it's really something really special. You have music from everywhere in Santa Teresa, which creates this magic energy and this unique feeling. Pierre, in terms of your guests, did you notice there are even more interest towards Rio? Because I'm just saying purely from my social media. And, you know, I think Brazil still has so much more potential for tourism, but I think we're very much hyped in terms of tourism right now. Did you notice that in terms of the guests that go to Chez Jorge, for example?

8:11Yes, for sure. But Leticia, you could say something because Leticia, she's more involved in this part of the business. So I'm sure she could say something more interesting than me. What I can say is that definitely there is a lot of people listening about Rio nowadays and understanding that this is a place where they could hang out. Part of this problem with mass tourism around Europe as well makes Brazil itself be a great place to visit. And of course, Rio being the city in Brazil that opens the gates to the whole country, makes us have a certain type of visibility that we didn't have before.

8:49That's amazing for us. It's amazing for the business. We see there are way more tourists in the regions of Copacabana and Ipanema. but in Santa Teresa, what is happening is a boom right now. And it's so lovely because we have this feeling of being in a cosmopolitan area of the city. Everywhere you go in Santa, you can be reaching to someone different, talking a different language and learning from something new out of the world. So it's a great moment to be here, which for me is just similar to what happened in 2016 during the Olympic Games, or what I think that has happened in 1808, finally the shores of the city were open to the international community.

9:33Oh, that's fantastic. That's a very good point there, Leticia. And Pierre, I just want to, you know, perhaps, you know, you have two properties. Did you have a desire to do another one? Or do you think two is actually already quite a lot of hard work in itself? Yes, I'm still thinking to try to develop something in Chile, in Patagonia. Chez Georges in Patagonia could be a good idea. I mean, because again, at Athens, we were alone. We were almost alone at the very beginning. And I'm still searching a place where you can start from no... And being alone somewhere could be a goal. But today we have to go far away to find this place.

10:11And Patagonia in Chile could be an opportunity. I feel that's super smart. Pierre, merci beaucoup. And thank you so much for... Thank you very much, Pierre. And for more information, go to georges.life. The show was edited by Elliot Greenfield. Thank you for listening.