The small town in the mountains where Mallorcan tourism began one cold, damp winter in 1838.

Try as it might - and it doesn't try very hard - Valldemossa cannot escape its connection with Frederic Chopin and his lover George Sand. They arrived in 1838, having rented a former monk's cell, planning to carry on their affair away from the gossip of Paris and hoping that the climate would benefit Chopin's health (he had tuberculosis). Nothing worked out as planned. The weather was wet and windy, the couple were shunned by the locals, Chopin's piano failed to arrive and the relationship never recovered. Sand took out her anger on Valldemossa in a spiteful book, Winter in Majorca, which the locals, labelled as thieves and savages, still gleefully sell to visitors. The Reial Cartoixa (Roya Carthusian Monastery) is the focus of any visit - white-arched corridors lead to 'cells' containing museums on various themes. Visit the old pharmacy - you can almost smell the herbs - then look into the library, where the monks would meet for half an hour a week, their only human contact. There is a fine modern art museum, with works by Picasso, Miro and Juli Ramis, and of course there is Chopin's cell... Most people come for the Chopin experience, but there is more to Validemossa than that it is also the birthplace of Catalina Thomas, Mallorca's patron saint. A peasant girl born in 1531, she became a nun in palma and was renowned for her humility. She died in 1574, was beatified in 1792 and achieved sainthood in 1935. Almost every home in Valldemossa has a plaque imploring her prayers, and her birthplace at Carrer Rectoria 5 has been turned into a shrine. She would probably be appalled.