In Spain, the Balearics race ahead. A calculation recently made the headlines in the local press: since the infancy of tourism, nearly 400 million visitors have set foot in the archipelago! This year, they should be another 15 million. It must not be by chance.

Mallorca, alone representing 80% of the Balearic territory (3,640 km 2), logically receives the most people. If some still come there for the sole purpose of a lazy holiday in its seaside resorts with sometimes questionable town planning, the island has no shortage of other assets. And, in addition, it is in the late season that it is revealed in all its beauty, more tranquil and authentic.

Its capital, Palma, is worth the trip alone, with its old town full of character and its museums. From there, a century-old train coaches to the charming Sóller, nestled in its rocky amphitheater planted with orange trees. More broadly, the west coast, underlined by the beautiful Serra de Tramuntana – crossed by hiking trails -, is adorned with cliffs covered with pine trees and ocher stone villages. Among them: Valldemosa, made famous by the stay made by Georges Sand and Frédéric Chopin.

Beyond, there is the long rocky finger of Cape Formentor rushing into the sea, caves with giant stalactites and stalagmites, lively markets and, of course, a nice collection of sandy beaches and calas (coves) – not all concrete.

From Palma Cathedral to the Valldemossa Charterhouse, passing through the Miro Museum, the island of Mallorca is a cultural destination of choice.

Palma de Mallorca

Palma, the capital of the Balearic Islands was not born yesterday. Roman, Vandal and Arab long before joining the Aragonese lap in the XIIIes, it retains a compact heart of the past, tightened, engaging, pounding around La Seu , the proud cathedral, perched on a promontory facing the sea and encased in the largest Gothic rose window in Europe. It was necessary to mark the triumph of Catholicism over Islam.

Around this bastion of faith, alleys and alleys irrigate an illogical plan, inherited from the old medina. Many palaces, with their beautiful ocher stone, open their gates or doors on paved patios with majestic staircases. Potted plants imagine gardens, cradled by the bells of multiple churches. Sant Francesc, Santa Eulària, Montesión each affirm in their own way the strength of the Baroque and the Spanish passion for painful sacred representations – which can be found in art and history museums (Museu Diocesà, Museu de Mallorca).

Opposite La Seu, the Royal Palace of Amudaina has marked the seat of power for over 1,000 years. From here you can see the greenery of S’Hort del Rei and the Parc de la Mar, with vast pools reflecting the arrogance of the cathedral. Towards the west, the Lllotja, the medieval trading center, rises its tall palm columns. Gorgeous. The castell of Bellver (XIV century), with the unusual round shape, watches far, from its hill.

Favorite: the center of Palma has some very beautiful modernist buildings (Spanish Art Nouveau), notably that of L’Águila, with a grinning mask.

In the footsteps of Joan Miró

We don’t necessarily know it born in Barcelona, the cantor of surrealism, who wanted to “assassinate painting” before adopting his famous naive style, lived for a long time in Majorca, where his wife and mother were from. It was even on the island, in contact with his “catalanity”, that Joan Miró developed from 1942 his pictorial pictorial vocabulary, revolving around a major trilogy: women, birds and stars.

In 1956, the Mirós settled in Cala Major, on the southern flank of Palma, a stone’s throw from the royal palace of Marivent. If the district has since been overtaken by urbanization, we must imagine a hill planted with pines, dominating the Mediterranean.

Today is where the Fundació Pilar I Joan Miró stands, revolving around a large modern building inaugurated in 1992, where the artist’s works are exhibited in rotation. Above, his studio seems to have hardly moved, with its collections, its equipment and unfinished canvases. A little higher, an old house bought by the couple was used by Miró to compose his greatest works; the charcoal sketches of famous works appear on the walls.

Not far away, the peaceful gardens of Marivent, recently opened to the public, display 12 sculptures by Miró. We discover others on the seafront of Palma.

Favorite: in Sóller, in the old station, a free exhibition retraces the evolution of Miró’s work and decodes its fruitful use of more or less obscure symbols.

Sóller

It is by rail, necessarily, that we must reach the small town of Sóller. Starting from Plaça d’Espanya, in the center of Palma, the old train inaugurated in 1912 runs through the Serra de Tramuntana, which is piled up in ridges and cliffs to the west of Mallorca. The route is splendid, nostalgic and… terribly touristy.

Reaching the heart of Sóller, we discover the nice modernist station , thirty steps from the nerve center of Plaça Constitució, dominated by a church ( Sant Bartomeu ) and a bank ( Banco Santander ) themselves reinvented by Gaudí disciples at the dawn of the XX th century. The rest is much more timeless: children playing football, grandpas taking the cool and terraces where you can sit for a freshly squeezed orange juice. The tram descending towards Puerto Sóller slides in the middle.

Stuck in its large bowl enclosed on three sides by a rocky amphitheater, Sóller lived for a long time with its back to Palma, with its port at bay tracing a perfect arc of a circle, very protected, which has become a seaside resort. Oranges were once exported to France. We take the pill today, before going to admire the sea from the top of the cliffs where the Cape Gros lighthouse is perched.

Favorite: all around the heart of Sóller, very beautiful properties hide in their orange and mandarin orchards. Several have been transformed into very pleasant hotels, in a beautiful serenity mixed with intoxicating scents.

Valldemossa

Difficult to escape the crowd and the myth in Valldemossa. This large village, perched on the foothills of the beautiful Serra de Tramuntana, halfway between Palma and Sóller, has been chained for more than a century and a half in memory of Georges Sand and Frédéric Chopin, who came to winter there in 1838 -1839. At that time, the desamortización had just ratified the dissolution of monastic property for the benefit of the State: The Charterhouse of Valledemosa was sold at auction and sold in instalments.

It is therefore in apartments occupying the old cell n ° 4, spacious and with terrace on the countryside, that the couple settled in the hope of improving the health of the musician. Very quickly, it started raining and Chopin, who worked despite everything, found himself sicker than ever. The lovers, seen as plague victims, rejected for their lack of piety, ended up fleeing on a boat carrying pigs …

Today, the tone has changed. Two competing museums (cells n ° 4 and n ° 2) share memories: authentic piano, handwritten sheets, portraits and small personal objects abandoned in a hurry for departure. In addition, the old monastery reveals a very fine pharmacy, the ceramic pots still containing some ointments, apartments prior of and rich library, plus the Palau del rei Sanxo adjoining reinvented the XIX century the taste the time.

Favorite: the visit to the Charterhouse includes, several times a day, a small free concert of works by Chopin.

Mallorca’s markets

Mediterranean at heart, lively, Mallorca likes to live outside and be bombastic. Very attached to their land and its fruits, the Majorcans are the first to go, basket in hand, to the many markets organized around the island.

In Palma, every morning of the week (except Sunday), the regulars meet for some at the Mercat de l’Olivar, for others at the Mercat de Santa Catalina, to weigh, smell, taste if necessary. A little larger, the first has a corner dedicated to fish and seafood; sliced bluefin tuna mixes with lampreys and prawns, boqueroncitos (small anchovies) and lubinas (bars). Around 11am, the vendors, early risers, take a coffee break at the side counters, soon relayed by workers and tourists who came to taste tapas, oysters and sushi.

In the center of the island, the pretty village of Sineu is renowned for its Wednesday market, where you can even sell chickens, rabbits, sheep and goats. Founded in 1306, it finds it echo in the agricultural fair on the first Sunday in May. Not far away, in Inca, it is the next day that it happens, with several hundred stalls colonizing most of the city center, between the station and Plaça de Mallorca. It is then very difficult to find a place at the table of one of the old cellers (cellars) where simmers a traditional cuisine served with a direct view on the thunders (barrels of XXL wine).

Favorite: at the Mercat de l’Olivar, in Palma, the Bar d’Es Peix is a must and its seats quickly taken over. Guaranteed local color.

The superb Serra de Tramuntana, the Formentor peninsula, the caves: discover the natural wonders of Mallorca.

La Serra de Tramuntana

Culminating at 1,436 m at the Puig Major (Balearic record), less than 4 km from the sea, the Serra de Tramuntana highlights the entire west coast of Mallorca with a fantastic swerve of stacked peaks and cliffs. A real natural fortress protected since 2011 as a World Heritage Site.

It is to the south, between Andratx and Esporles, that the panoramas are most impressive. Flying over the Mediterranean, the road winds from watchtower to belvedere. Pass Estellens and Banyalbufar, surrounded by terraces, emphasizing the value of arable land and the daily heroism of the peasants of old. Further north, Deià, mythical for the British (one of their poets lived there), hangs its old stone houses on a promontory capped by a church and its cemetery. Charming.

From time to time, a few side roads, narrow and even more tortuous, tumble towards the sea. Top speed: 15, 20 km / h. At the bottom, at the bottom, micro-ports curl up between the folds of the rock walls, at Es Canonge, at Port de Valldemosa, where the boats line up quietly sheltered from the waves.

The hikers, them, descend the bed of the stream of Paréis, sliding on its rocks eroded by the winter rains, to lead to the enchanted parenthesis of Sa Calobra: a turquoise cove covered with rocks and pines.

Favorite: near Ca Salobra, Cala Tuent, served by road and by sea from Puerto Sóller, draws a beautiful wild notch of sand and pebbles.

The Formentor Peninsula

It’s a rock, it’s a peak, it’s a cape (…), it’s a peninsula! Darted at sea, at the end of the Serra de Tramuntana, facing the violent outbursts of the north wind, Formentor plays the guardians of the land as of the sea. From the very touristy Port of Pollensa , the road climbs, descends, ascends and contorts over 19 km to finally reach, in a setting of bare and fierce rock, the lighthouse that men erected there in 1863, the day after a dramatic – and umpteenth – shipwreck.

It all starts with a stopover. At the viewpoint of Es Colomer, the sea licks the invisible feet of the cliffs with its waves, while the gulls hover. Offshore, a cruel reef, as if planted in water: the pebble island of Colomer. From there, a tarmac twist discreetly ascends to the Atalia of Albercutx. When the sky approaches, it’s time to park, at the foot of the old watchtower. Under the eyes, the entire bony carcass of the cape is outlined, closing the soft harmony of the wide bay of Pollença.

A legendary halt, the Formentor playa stretches its attractive ribbon of light sand against a background of emerald waters. The crowd is dense, like the pines that surround it. Marrying its extremity, the very chic Royal Hideaway Hotel (5 stars on the clock) – the only one on the Cape – was one of the very first palaces built in Majorca during the Roaring Twenties. It moored at the edge of a fully preserved area of 1,200 hectares.

Favorite: walkers can reach two rocky coves located on either side of the peninsula, Murta (20-30 mins) and Figuera (10-15 mins).

The caves of Majorca

If its gruyère nature does not appear at first glance, the limestone heart of Mallorca has nothing to envy to some of the great European karsts. Over the millennia, groundwater has excavated a colossal number of caves (around 2,500!), Some of which are connected in vast networks.

Several of these coves (caves) can be visited, especially in the east of the island. At the gates of Porto Cristo, the Coves del Drach are the largest. No dragon underground, but a ceiling dripping with stalactites in tight battalions covering one of the most extensive underground lakes in the world – theater of a concert of classical music on somewhat kitsch boats. Not far away, the Coves des Hams, with nerdy shows, owe their name to their amazing formations taking places in the form of hooks.

Rather than succumb to these attractions spouting from the tourist with the shovel, one can set the course towards the Coves of Artà, pierced in the cliff dominating the small station of Canyamel. The crowd becomes smaller and the course has some nice surprises, including a 22 m high stalagmite and 45 m draperies in the shape of large organs. Jules Verne, who came there, would have been partly inspired by it for his Journey to the center of the Earth.

Favorite: more confidential and modest, the Coves de Campanet, located in the north-west of the island, in the hinterland of Alcúdia, are distinguished by the fragility of their fistulas, brilliantly white stalactites. and of a rare delicacy.

The best of Mallorca: seaside

No, the beaches of Majorca are not all concrete and overcrowded. Here is a small selection to put your towel in the right place.

The major seaside resorts

Mallorca = beaches. The equation has made the island’s success for generations. Once that said, remains to be decided: where do we go to the beach in Mallorca? Traditionally, the main seaside attraction pole is formed by the resorts colonizing almost the whole of the bay of Palma, from Magaluf in the west to S’Arenal in the east. There, we take out the big artillery: buildings of 10 or 15 floors, bars galore and galore girls. Towards the west, Santa Ponça and Peguera extend into an already more family atmosphere.

The second bathing axis of the island is to the north, around the large bay of Alcúdia and, to a lesser extent, the bay of Pollença. Both run along sandy coasts for miles, along which hotels, residences and apartments have flourished. If the places lack charm, there are pretty pine forests in some corners and strong winds for kite surfers.

The eastern facade of Majorca, which is hilly, has the largest number of seaside resorts. The main ones have grown on the longest beaches, at Cala Millor and Sa Coma, covered with all the paraphernalia of the perfect little beach attendant (coastal promenade, bars and restaurants galore, amusement parks). If town planning is not very attractive there, it is worse in Cales de Mallorca, where the towers are installed at the top of short cliffs dominating narrow coves.

Better to favor Cala Anguila, Cala Mendia or Cala Romantica, with lower constructions. Beyond, Cala d’Or, although artificial, is more attractive with its white ibizenco style buildings drowned in the greenery.

Seaside resorts on a human scale

To find seaside resorts on a human scale in Mallorca, it is better to turn away from the bays of Palma and Alcúdia.

If it has only one beach (quickly invaded), Sant Elm, located at the end of a dead-end road, retains charm thanks to its pretty location between Serra de Tramuntana, pine forests and wild island from Sa Dragonera. Beyond, the coast rises its cliff scarves as far as the eye can see. You have to wait for Port de Sóller to find a sand carpet worthy of the name. The resort remains family friendly and rather quiet.

In the east, you have to aim well. Cala Mesquida, in rows of apartment buildings, opens onto a vast field of dunes and a beautiful beach battered by swells. Cala Ratjada adjoins the very pretty Cala Agulla. And Canyamel is satisfied with a few large buildings that are not too intrusive. Further south, Portocolom, located on the side of a deep bay, still lives partly from fishing. As for Cala Figuera, it sets up its family hotels along a splendid cove that is just waiting to be explored along the path along the shore. Only problem: there is no beach here.

It is in the south-east of the island, a low and dry region, that extends the largest (almost) unexploited beach of Mallorca, Es Trenc. Several tracks and roads lead there, including a pass against the salines of es Salobrar (a little odorous).

Favorite: Cala Pí hides its beach on the south coast at the bottom of a long cove reminiscent of Cala Figuera. Pretty.

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