Spain Day 14 Mallorca and Soller 8 Oct 25

We were picked up at 8am by our guide and driver and headed into the interior of the Island of Mallorca.
Mallorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands, it has an area of 3640 sq kms and its highest point is Puig Majorin, 1445m the Serra de Tramuntana Range. It has a population of about 1 million permanent residents, and has visits from about 4 million tourists a year. Tourism accounts for about 85% of the Island’s GDP. It get about 300 days of sunshine a year. The biggest crops grown are almonds, olives, citrus and carob, and a little wine. Porkies the main meat produced on the island, and they have a healthy seafood industry.
Some/many of the olive trees we saw were very old, up to 1000 years old. In the early times the romans, and others, had grafted good fruiting varieties of olive trees onto the very old trunks of wild olive trees. Those trees looked very impressive.
A feature of the countryside is dry stone walls, they are everywhere and are used extensively to tier the steep slopes.
The first stop on our tour today was a small village with cobblestone streets and stone houses called Vallemossa. Mallorca’s patron saint, Santa Catalina Thomàs was born there, tributes to her in the form of story tiles adorn most houses, there is a dedicated shrine to her and there is also a statue to her.
The most notable building in the village Royal Charterhouse of Valldemossa, a former monastery, is best known as the place where composer Frédéric Chopin and writer George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, a feminist ahead of her time) stayed in the winter of 1838–39. She documented their time in Mallorca in her book “A Winter in Majorca”. It has been said that the hardships they endured that winter inspired the couple to new heights in their endeavours. Chopin had gone to Mallorca to escape the European winter and seek relief for his worsening TB. He didn’t account for the bad weather on Mallorca that season.
We loved walking through the village, free of tourists. The houses and streets are essentially unchanged from the 18th and 19th centuries (except for the very visible electric wires that are run in a ramshackle nature on the outside of the buildings). The cobblestone streets, the mule tie-up rIngs by the front doors, the stone buildings with their green shutters. The unfinished monastery that was resumed by the state as part of the inquisition, the Royal Palace that externally is essentially unchanged, and it was quiet with almost empty streets. It’s so good when you’re ahead of the tourist coaches. We left just as the first coach in town began to unload the hordes.
We set off in the direction of Soller, with a brief photo stop at Mirador de sa Foradada. This is one of Mallorca’s most iconic viewpoints. It gets its name (“Sa Foradada” meaning “the pierced one,”) from the 18-meter hole in the rocky promontory that is a local landmark. There is a large reception venue at the site that was once the residence of an Arch Duke who once owned a large portion of the coast in the area, it is said they charge 5000 euro an hour for use of the venue.
Outside the venue was a carob tree with pods still on it. Our guide Magdalena, told us that in ancient times the romans used carob seeds as a standard weight measure for the weight of gold. This is where the term carat comes from, as in 24 carat gold. Interesting and a quick fact check shows this is true according to my AI buddy.
From there we drove to Soller, first to the Port of Soller. It is one the only safe ports/harbour on the north coast of Mallorca. It was used as a shipping point for the citrus industry in Soller In the 29th century. A tramway was built between Soller and Port Soller, opening in 1913, this helped the Port evolve into Mallorca first tourist resort.
We then went up to Soller, in the shadow of Puig Majorin. Soller was known as The Valley of Citrus in 19th century and had a very profitable trade in citrus, particularly with France. This was the source of funds for many grand homes, public buildings and the1911 Ferrocarril de Sóller scenic railway that connects Soller with Palma.
Soller also has a large church, with a facade designed by one of the students of Gaudi, Joan Rubio, The Church of St Bartomeu (1236). The church has undergone a lot of changes in its history. from an original Romanesque– Gothic church to today’s Baroque interior and the Neo-Gothic Modernist facade of today. It’s not the typical over the top Baroque style inside, the main Alter area is Baroque as are a few of the chapels, but the remainder of the church is understated. Its main stained glass windows were underwhelming but one on the side was impressive in its detail.
We then went up to the train station and caught the Vintage train back to Palma. We sat in the First Class carriage, leather seats and everything!! It was an enjoyable ride back to Palma at a leisurely 27kph. The train passed through 13 tunnels, the longest of which was 2.8km. It gave us a different view of the towns and countryside we had driven through on the way up.
We got to Palma around 1:15pm. We said good bye to Magdalena and walked to Mercat de Olivar, Palma’s main fresh produce markets. We walked around and took in all the food. I love the “walls” of Jamon in the delicatessens, the weird, wonderful and different seafood on offer, all the fresh fruit and vegetables, and the cheeses and small goods, so much great food!
We decided to have Variado Grande for lunch. We had to wait our time for a spot at the counter. It was worth the wait. Magdalena had suggested this for lunch, she said it was a very local thing to have, a bit like and lot of different tapas, but all piled up on one plate! It was very tasty, something you probably would never order without some i side knowledge.
We walked back to our hotel the Ingress way, and discovered many more interesting bits of this city. We got back around 3pm.
I went out to play a bit more Ingress just after 4pm, and finished up down by the river and the cathedral. It’s enormous and definitely on our path tomorrow.
We don’t know how, but the aircraft carrier that was in the bay outside our window left without us noticing!!
The end of another really interesting day. Tomorrow we are left to our own resources, so it will be a leisurely start to the day.