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SERRA DE TRAMUNTANA ***
The 'mountains of the north wind' which run the length of Mallorca's north coast are home
to the island's most spectacular landscapes. Pine-covered slopes almost lean into the sea;
as you climb higher, forested hills give way to barren crags and peaks. The people of
Mallorca have good reason to be grateful to the mountains in winter they act as a buffer,
shielding the plain from the fierce tramuntana wind and absorbing most of the island's
rain and snow; in summer they provide a cool retreat from the heat of Palma and the south.
The Serra de Tramuntana runs for 88km from Andratx to Pollenca, with the rocky outcrops of
Sa Dragonera and Cap de Formentor at either end of ten peaks over 1,000m, most are
concentrated in the area around Lluc; the highest are Puig Major (1,445m) and Puig
Massanella (1,349m). There are no rivers, though there are several mountain torrents which
swell rapidly after rain and the Cuber and Gorg Blau reservoirs, essential resources on an
is and so often affected by drought.
The mountains are best seen slowly, on foot; you smell the wild rosemary, hear the sheep
bells, frighten the goats, breathe in the air and marvel at pine trees growing out of red
rock, a divine version of the colours of Mallorcan village houses if you have to drive,
take care - the roads here are the most dangerous on the island, and the endless
procession of hairpin bends requires total concentration. The most dramatic drive of all
is the C710 from Soller to Lluc, traversing tunnels and gorges on its way between Puig
Major and Puig Massanella.
SES COVETES *
The name of this village means 'small caves' and this is believed to refer to Roman burial
chambers on the same site. Nowadays people come here for one thing - to get to Platja Es
Trenc, a 3-km stretch of fine white sand backed by gentle dunes. This has long been an
unofficial nudist beach, even during the puritanical Franco era. It no longer has the
hippy atmosphere of old, but it still makes a peaceful, less commercial contrast to some
of the other beaches on the south coast.
SES ILLETES *
This genteel resort, with its white villas and old fashioned hotels, is for many people
the most attractive in the whole Badia de Palma. Two small beaches look out over a pair of
Metes (islets), the larger one crowned by an old watchtower. Its proximity to Palma means
that you will never be alone here; in summer the buses from Palma to Ses Illetes are
packed out at weekends. But if you want a base near the capital, combining a city break
with a beach holiday, this could be just the place.
SES PAISSES *
Although not as extensive as the ruins at Capocorb Vell, this Bronze Age settlement near
Arta is stall a significant site and a link with Mallorcans of 3,000 years ago. Most
impressive of all is the massive entrance portal, formed from three stone slabs weighing
up to eight tonnes each. Inside there are several rooms and an atalaia (watchtower); the
entire settlement is surrounded by a Cyclopean drystone wall.
SES SALINES *
This small town between Santanyi and Colonia de Sant Jordi is named after the nearby
saltpans, which act as a magnet for migrant waders and wildfowl on their way from Africa
to their breeding grounds in Europe each spring. Cap de Ses Salines, Mallorca's
southernmost point, is another good spot for birdwatching. The town itself makes a
pleasant place to stroll, with an abundance of local Santanyi sandstone which turns golden
in the sun. Just outside Ses Salines, on the road to Santanyi, is Botanicactus, one of
Europe's largest botanical gardens, with bamboo and palm trees and, extraordinarily
diverse in form, dozens of varieties of cactus.
SINEU ***
Sineu, at the geographical centre of Mallorca, comes alive each Wednesday morning at the
island's most traditional market. It takes place on several levels. The sound of bleating
leads you to the livestock market, where weatherbeaten farmers haggle over the price of
sheep before heading for the town's celled restaurants for an early brunch. Further up, on
the way to the church, you pass the symbol of Sineu, a winged lion; near here are numerous
stalls selling leather, lace and pearls. Eventually you reach Sa Placa, the church square,
where the action is liveliest of all, as local housewives turn out to buy the week's food.
Buckets of olives, strings of tomatoes, bags of squirming snails - they are all here,
along with plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers. Get to Sineu early, before the
tour buses arrive, to catch the flavour of a traditional country market. Good buys include
dried figs and apricots, pottery from Portol and baskets from Sudan. Also in
Sineu is S'Estacid, an unusual modern art gallery based in the old station.
SOLLER ***
Set in a lush valley of orange groves between the mountains and the sea, Soller is popular
with day trippers who arrive on the vintage train from Palma and seem to do little but sit
outside the cafes in Placa Constitucid soaking up the atmosphere and the sun. With several
tapas bars, a fine selection of pastry-shops, local ice-cream and freshly squeezed orange
juice, there is little temptation to move on.
Soller grew rich on oranges and the results can be seen in its extravagant modernists
architecture. The church of Sant Bartomeu has a 1912 arched tower suspended above the rose
window, with spires like huge needles pointing into the air. The same architect, Gaudi's
pupil Joan Rubid, designed the Banco Central Hispano next door.
A stroll to the cemetery above the station, flanked by cypress trees and filled with
potted plants, gives a clue to Soller's history. Several of the epitaphs are in French,
revealing the significant French community of the town, descendants of those who came to
make their fortune by exporting oranges.
Soller has two museums worth visiting, The Natural Science Museum, in a
turn-of-the-century manor house on the Palma road, has a collection of fossils and a
botanical garden. The Museu Municipal is an 18th-century manor house in the town centre,
filled with antiques and relics of old Soller.
A final word of advice: come here by train, rather than car. The climb over the Coll de
Soller, with its 57 hairpin bends, is the most terrifying drive in Mallorca. There is now
a controversial new road tunnel through the mountain if you must drive, but the train
journey is a delight so why not give yourself a treat.
SON MARROIG **
Of all the famous foreigners attracted to Mallorca's northwest coast, none is so admired
locally as 'S'Arxiduc', Archduke Ludwig Salvator. Born in 1847 in the Pitti Palace,
Florence, the son of Leopold III of Tuscany and Marie Antoinette de Bourbon, he came to
Mallorca 20 years later to escape from Viennese court life and immediately fell in love
with the island. An ecologist before it was fashionable, and an eary hippy who wore
Mallorcan peasant clothes, he bought up estates along the coast in an effort to save them
from development, and devoted himself to studying and recording Mallorcan wildlife and
traditions. His seven volume Las Baleares took 20 years to produce and is still an
authority on its subject. He died in 1915 in a Bohemian castle.
The Archduke's home at Son Marroig, outside Deia, has been turned into a shrine to his
memory, with his photographs, paintings and books and a museum devoted to his life. In the
gardens is a white marble rotunda, made from Carrara marble and imported from Italy, where
you can sit and gaze at the Na Foradada ('pierced rock') peninsula, jutting out to sea
with a gaping 18-m hole at its centre. Ask at the house for permission to walk onto the
peninsula.
VILAFRANCA DE BONANY *
As you drive through this small town on the road from Palma to Manacor, you cannot help
noticing the strings of vegetables hanging outside several of the shops - peppers,
aubergines, garlic and, above all, tomatoes. These are the famous tomatigues de ramallet,
sold on their stalks to be spread over pa amb oli. Vilafranca is also known for its
honeydew melons, whose harvest is celebrated with a large melon festival each September.
The other reason for coming here, apart from food, is to visit Els Calderers, a manor
house between Vilafranca and Sant Joan. This was once at the centre of a great wine estate
but like so many others it fell victim to the phylloxera disease. Reopened in 1993, the
18th-century house is now a museum of Mallorcan furniture and traditions; you can visit
the wine cellar, granary, bakery, chapel and wash-house as well as wander around the main
house with its paintings, guns and toys.
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