With the greatest of respect to Sant Elm, Valldemossa (where they only got going on the battle front for the first time last year) and Inca (where they haven't bothered this year), the island's big three Moors and Christians battles are those of Santa Ponsa, Sóller and Pollensa. And of this threesome, Santa Ponsa's scrap is of a different nature to those of Sóller and Pollensa. It was the original 1229 run-in between the invading Christian Catalan forces and the Muslim occupants, while the other two date from the sixteenth century and set-tos involving marauding and piratical fleets of the Ottoman Empire.
Despite its centrality to the cultural narrative of Mallorca - all things Catalan - Santa Ponsa's battle doesn't have quite the same cachet as Sóller and Pollensa. Maybe it has to do with there being a lack of documentary evidence and so not quite the same detail and characterisation. In Pollensa this exists to the extent that they've made some adjustments to today's simulation in order to make it even more like the original. Whatever the reason, when it comes to Mallorca and Moors and Christians, then it is Es Firó in May and La Patrona in August which take pride of place. Of these, Sóller does arguably have the greater international reputation. It also has a wider battleground as it involves the port as well; Pollensa doesn't. Yet, and it may simply have to do with its taking place in high summer, Pollensa has acquired something of a supremacy in the island's Moors and Christians league.
A curiosity of the way in which the town will be packed to its narrow-streeted gunwales today and of the pre-battle electioneering to choose the protagonists is that the popularity of the 2 August battle was attained only relatively recently. Such was a general lack of interest at the end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s that the town hall would issue tickets as a means to try and encourage more spectators. But this incentivising was a reflection of the fact that the battle had long been in the doldrums. Reminiscent of so many other aspects of the Mallorcan fiesta, there was a concerted effort at Moors and Christians revivalism, and one has to say that it paid off. It has been suggested that nowadays tickets should be given out to get people to stay away.
1550 was the year when Joan Mas led the people of Pollensa in repelling the Moorish invaders, but it was to be three hundred years before their descendants started re-enacting the events. 1860 is the year cited as being when the battle was first staged, although it may have been earlier. Whatever the actual starting date, Moors and Christians in its nineteenth century guise was not a permanent fixture until the whole day was given a boost in 1882 through the introduction of the "Alborada", the work of a Galician, Nicolás de Castro and later re-worked by the Pollensa composer Miquel Capllonch. This dawn wake-up now starts at 5am.
Into the twentieth century and to the period of the Second Republic just prior to the Civil War and the battle was at the centre of a political battle. The town had two clubs which represented differing sides of the ideological debate in the years immediately before Franco. One was the Club Pollença and the other was the Solteros. The latter took the Republican side and it considered the Moors and Christians to be the stuff of reactionaries. The Solteros would happily have seen the battle consigned to the bin of fiesta history, but it wasn't.
Coming up to the present, and by contrast with Republican thinking of the 1930s, Pollensa has a mayor, Miquel Àngel March, who is of a coalition which has its contemporary republican sympathies. March, though, has been a consistent supporter of the battle and indeed a participant (on the Moors side). Political correctness does not invade debate over the Moors and Christians to any great extent. What does, is the cultural and historical significance for Pollensa and for Mallorca. Hence, you have what you have this year, which are some slight modifications in order to reflect greater historical accuracy.
However, there is one very fundamental flaw in this accuracy and there always has been, and that is that the battle didn't take place on 2 August. Had Pollensa stuck to the true dates of 30 and 31 May, then it is far less likely that the town's version of the Moors and Christians would have assumed top ranking over Sóller. The question has to be asked, though - why is the simulated battle on 2 August and not at the end of May? The answer lies with the celebration of the fiestas for the town's patron - La Patrona, the Mother of God of the Angels. Her day is 2 August, and there is, in the Pollensa Moors and Christians tradition, the central part that she plays, and that is Joan Mas's appeal to her for help: "Mare de Déu dels Àngels, assistiu-mos. Pollencins, aixecau-vos, que els pirates ja són aquí!"
Showing posts with label Sóller. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sóller. Show all posts
Sunday, August 02, 2015
Friday, June 05, 2015
A Tram Runs Through It
It was curious in a way. One of the dominant figures of national politics at that time was the only Mallorcan to have thus far been prime minister of Spain, Antoni Maura, who had as one of his driving principles an end to the cacique, a system of abuse within a further system of pretend democracy; one characterised by favours and privileges. Yet, Jerónimo and Maura were close. Jerónimo was a supporter of Maura's. And when it came to the train and the tram, Maura was to prove to be useful. Or so at least goes one of the versions of the train-tram story, the one about the length of the railway line being too short to qualify for a government grant. Because it was too short, the plan was hatched to extend it, not by train but by tram to the port. And Jerónimo! A grant was forthcoming, thanks to Maura.
This is all of course lost in the mists of early twentieth-century time. It doesn't really matter now what the precise circumstances were that led to the creation of the tram. What does is that Sóller has its tram. And its train. There is nowhere else on Mallorca that is defined in the way that Sóller is. It is a definition of transport, and the plaque pays homage to this.
It is hypothetical, but what if the railway line had been the grant-requiring thirty kilometres minimum in length? Would the expedience of the initially unplanned-for tram have been replaced by the foresight of a tram? Rather than having been some sort of accident of transport planning, might it have been conceived as an essential means of linking town and port? One with tourism in mind?
Though Sóller and its port are distinct, they are indistinct precisely because of the tram. It is fundamental to both. Sóller has many defining characteristics, but none is as significant as the tram. It is its own attraction, but it is important in a way that makes Sóller unique. Unlike other municipalities in Mallorca where the town and the resort are separated by some distance, Sóller and the port are intimately linked. They are, therefore, a single entity: a double whammy of touristic potential produced by a mode of transport that reeks of nostalgia and times past but is nevertheless very much of the present.
It is perfectly conceivable that the tram would have been created anyway. But not principally because of tourism. Sóller's port had long been a vital means for the town's exports. Just as the train was not originally only designed to move people but also produce, so the tram would shift produce. That the tram was to become one of the iconic and main symbols for Sóller and Mallorcan tourism was more happenchance than design.
Jerónimo, though certainly not immune to the business potential of the "new" industry of tourism, was more concerned with expanding conventional business interests and introducing other infrastructure, such as electricity. There was to be someone else, however, who had tourism firmly in mind, and had his wish been fulfilled, Sóller might now not have quite the same claim it does for transport uniqueness and the curiosity factor of this transport in the Tramuntana mountains. That someone else was Antoni Parietti. He was the engineer responsible for the roads to Sa Calobra and from Puerto Pollensa to Formentor: both built with tourism in mind. Parietti had another project. The intention had been for a funicular railway to go to the top of the Puig Major, where there was to have been an observatory, a restaurant and ... some type of snow sports resort.
Parietti's vision was never fulfilled. Wars got in the way and the funicular plan was eventually scrapped in favour of a road to serve what was to become a military installation. Had the project been fulfilled, well, you can probably draw your own conclusions as to what it might have meant for winter tourism. It wasn't and so Sóller, with its train and the tram that runs through it, was left for all time to reap the benefits of uniqueness.
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Jamie Oliver Would Be Pleased
Sóller has a thing about prawns and has had for at least some two thousand years; the Romans were particularly partial to them, and they come in two principal varieties - red and white. Coming to the present day, "Aristeus antennatus" is known - no, famed - across Mallorca, but it is more commonly known and famed as the "gamba de Sóller". As a consequence of this fame, the residents of the island will have been hotfooting it towards the Tramuntana yesterday and will continue to do so today, thereby swelling revenue coffers by paying their tunnel tolls in pursuit of the prized prawn of Sóller.
In keeping with many other towns on the island which have cottoned on to the potential offered by gastronomy events and fairs, Sóller is now in on the act. The curiosity is perhaps that it has taken them so long to do so. The first ever Sóller prawn fair is taking place over this weekend, and ten leading chefs (not including Jamie Oliver) are preparing their prawn master dishes in the marquee at the Sóller municipal market.
One could say that it has taken as long as Roman times for there to be a fair, but in much more recent times it would appear that, regardless of its deliciousness, the prawn was not the target of co-ordinated fishing effort. Hence, its presence on restaurant tables was once as haphazard as the fishing. It wasn't until 1949 that prawn fishing was properly and officially organised in the Balearics as a whole. Since then the prawn catch has fluctuated, a peak having been reached at the turn of the 1990s when some 350 tonnes per annum were being netted. The number of fishing boats dedicated to the catch has been systematically reduced along with the size of the catch, a factor that contributes to the price of prawns. Depending on the size of the actual prawn, it can be anything from 25 or so euros per kilo to over 80 euros.
Price alone might indicate the quality of the prawn, but there has to be more. Why is it that Jamie Oliver - to name one of innumerable others - can go into a rapture about it? What, if anything, is unique about the Sóller prawn? The simple answer is that it isn't unique. It is the same species. "Aristeus antennatus" is hauled from many a boat on to many a pier in many a Mediterranean port. The answer, therefore, is not so simple.
There are two principal areas for prawn fishing around Mallorca. One is the north-west coast around Sóller, the other is around the island of Cabrera off the south coast. Studies of the prawn populations in these two areas have established that while that of Cabrera is stable throughout the year, the population to be found off the Tramuntana coast isn't. There is a discernible shift in prawn-fishing emphasis in later summer and so a concentration on the north-western sea, and this is because of an abundance of female adult prawns as well as young prawns. This abundance is apparently the result of water conditions and of nutrients. The currents off the north-west are such that they favour adult females in summer and the young in autumn and also winter. The water conditions also influence the type of sediment and the food chain.
The studies are, at present, far from complete. There is an understanding regarding the movement of prawns but it hasn't fully extended to factors such as what prawns eat (pretty much anything, including mud and sometimes themselves), which probably holds the clue as to why the Sóller prawns are as tasty as they are.
So the secret as to the success of the Sóller prawn remains a bit of a mystery for now. Not that those tucking into a lasagna de gambas de Sóller will be concerning themselves overly much with marine-life food chains and hydrography.
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Mallorca And War: The collaborators
Collaboration in wartime comes about for different reasons. Coercion and threats, sympathies with a cause, expectation of personal gain. Collaboration by Mallorcans during the Great War was not the consequence of the first of these. There were sympathies on both sides, but such sympathies never really carried a great deal of weight. Spain was never likely to have been placed in a position where it needed to break its neutrality. But the country was placed in an awkward and potentially threatening situation because of one particular act of collaboration with the Central Powers.
The Mediterranean theatre during the war was well away from the Balearics, but by sheer fact of geography - being in the Mediterranean - Mallorca, despite neutrality, was dragged into the war. And the person who dragged the island in was Joan March. Though March was in effect an agent for the British secret services, he played both sides. It is generally believed that his personal sympathies were with the Allies, and he was, during World War Two, to express to Churchill his desire to assist against the Nazis and the Axis Powers. (Churchill, one understands, quite warmed to March. He knew full well that he was a rogue, but Churchill adopted a pragmatic attitude to such roguishness.)
But wherever his sympathies lay, March had greater motivations than ideology. Above all else, he was out to get what he could get, and it didn't really seem to bother him where he got this from. Though he was informing British intelligence about ship movements, he was also involved with supplying the other side and specifically U-boats belonging to the Austro-Hungarian fleet. In 1915, there was a major international incident when it was discovered that U-boats were sheltering off the island of Cabrera. Across the strait which separates the Cabrera archipelago from Mallorca was and is S'Avall, a finca by Colonia Sant Jordi. Its owner? Joan March.
There was a suspicion that the Spanish Government was complicit in this affair. It knew what March was doing and allowed him to do it. Or so it was believed, and indeed it is hard to believe that it was unaware of the U-boats. Churchill, then still First Lord of the Admiralty, insisted that the Spanish took some action. And it did. It expropriated the island of Cabrera from its owner Sebastian Feliu, citing reasons of national security. The island is to this day the government's property. The national security was such that a clear violation of neutrality might have posed a threat to Spain. It is highly doubtful that the British would have actually declared war on Spain, if only because the Italians were coming in on the Allies side at that time, and so it would have been counterproductive. Besides which, the swift action of the Spanish allayed fears that they were not acting in good faith when it came to being neutral. Nevertheless, it was the unscrupulous opportunist March who nearly messed things up.
But March wasn't the only one who threatened to compromise Spain and Mallorca's position by seeking some gain through collaboration with the Central Powers. The French had good reason to believe that there were a number of people from Sóller, a town with traditionally strong and friendly relations with France, who were engaged in supplying German U-boats off the coast of Mallorca. The newspaper, "Le Petit Marseillais", reported that early into the war there were those in Sóller who were making fuel and other supplies available to the Germans. The paper cited the testimony of a Mallorcan fisherman that several U-boats had been supplied on 20 September. Someone by the name of Vicens was named by the French as heading this conspiracy of collaboration. The French also accused the Maritima Sollerense shipping company of being engaged in the illegal supply of fuel to the Germans. The company protested its innocence, formally complaining to the French consulate in Palma and claiming that, despite neutrality, it and also the people of Sóller were firmly behind the Allies. (Collaboration could of course work in different ways.)
There was a different form of collaboration, one which was also centred on Sóller (and neighbouring Fornalutx). A fruit exporter by the name of Joan Mayol, originally from Fornalutx, had been exporting to Germany and Switzerland before the outbreak of war. He continued to export but only to Switzerland. However, these exports were then sold on to Germany at vast profit. Mayol was convicted under a law that had been drawn up in 1915, was sentenced to five years in prison but later acquitted following the intervention of Jeroni Estades - him again - in his capacity as a parliamentary deputy.
Perhaps there were other collaborators. If there were, it is doubtful that they had any other motive than personal gain. War or no war, Mallorca's entrepreneurs were determined to remain active.
The Mediterranean theatre during the war was well away from the Balearics, but by sheer fact of geography - being in the Mediterranean - Mallorca, despite neutrality, was dragged into the war. And the person who dragged the island in was Joan March. Though March was in effect an agent for the British secret services, he played both sides. It is generally believed that his personal sympathies were with the Allies, and he was, during World War Two, to express to Churchill his desire to assist against the Nazis and the Axis Powers. (Churchill, one understands, quite warmed to March. He knew full well that he was a rogue, but Churchill adopted a pragmatic attitude to such roguishness.)
But wherever his sympathies lay, March had greater motivations than ideology. Above all else, he was out to get what he could get, and it didn't really seem to bother him where he got this from. Though he was informing British intelligence about ship movements, he was also involved with supplying the other side and specifically U-boats belonging to the Austro-Hungarian fleet. In 1915, there was a major international incident when it was discovered that U-boats were sheltering off the island of Cabrera. Across the strait which separates the Cabrera archipelago from Mallorca was and is S'Avall, a finca by Colonia Sant Jordi. Its owner? Joan March.
There was a suspicion that the Spanish Government was complicit in this affair. It knew what March was doing and allowed him to do it. Or so it was believed, and indeed it is hard to believe that it was unaware of the U-boats. Churchill, then still First Lord of the Admiralty, insisted that the Spanish took some action. And it did. It expropriated the island of Cabrera from its owner Sebastian Feliu, citing reasons of national security. The island is to this day the government's property. The national security was such that a clear violation of neutrality might have posed a threat to Spain. It is highly doubtful that the British would have actually declared war on Spain, if only because the Italians were coming in on the Allies side at that time, and so it would have been counterproductive. Besides which, the swift action of the Spanish allayed fears that they were not acting in good faith when it came to being neutral. Nevertheless, it was the unscrupulous opportunist March who nearly messed things up.
But March wasn't the only one who threatened to compromise Spain and Mallorca's position by seeking some gain through collaboration with the Central Powers. The French had good reason to believe that there were a number of people from Sóller, a town with traditionally strong and friendly relations with France, who were engaged in supplying German U-boats off the coast of Mallorca. The newspaper, "Le Petit Marseillais", reported that early into the war there were those in Sóller who were making fuel and other supplies available to the Germans. The paper cited the testimony of a Mallorcan fisherman that several U-boats had been supplied on 20 September. Someone by the name of Vicens was named by the French as heading this conspiracy of collaboration. The French also accused the Maritima Sollerense shipping company of being engaged in the illegal supply of fuel to the Germans. The company protested its innocence, formally complaining to the French consulate in Palma and claiming that, despite neutrality, it and also the people of Sóller were firmly behind the Allies. (Collaboration could of course work in different ways.)
There was a different form of collaboration, one which was also centred on Sóller (and neighbouring Fornalutx). A fruit exporter by the name of Joan Mayol, originally from Fornalutx, had been exporting to Germany and Switzerland before the outbreak of war. He continued to export but only to Switzerland. However, these exports were then sold on to Germany at vast profit. Mayol was convicted under a law that had been drawn up in 1915, was sentenced to five years in prison but later acquitted following the intervention of Jeroni Estades - him again - in his capacity as a parliamentary deputy.
Perhaps there were other collaborators. If there were, it is doubtful that they had any other motive than personal gain. War or no war, Mallorca's entrepreneurs were determined to remain active.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Calvia v. Sóller: Two different bests
At the height of summer the three destinations in Spain with the highest volumes of tourists are Barcelona, Madrid and Calvia. It is a reflection of just how important Calvia is to Mallorca's tourism that it should appear alongside the El Clásico cities. It is also astonishing that it does appear alongside them. In terms of pure recognition, "Calvia" ranks a long way behind other Spanish destinations - Granada, Seville and such like.
All of these destinations - Barcelona, Madrid, Calvia, Granada and Seville - feature in the top ten best Spanish destinations, according to Trip Advisor. Calvia in fact comes eighth, and its ranking has been something to celebrate, as has been the tenth spot for Sóller. Mayors Onieva and Simarro, respectively of Calvia and Sóller, were on an away day in Madrid on Tuesday to pick up the Trip Advisor gongs for these merits (the gongs are a plaque).
In a recent article in which I wrote about land designated as touristic land in the different Mallorcan municipalities, I drew attention to the vastly greater amount of such land which exists in Calvia when compared with other towns. It is small wonder therefore that Calvia leaps into the top three of Spanish tourist density in high summer. There is a lot of touristic provision. There is a lot of quantity.
The success of Trip Advisor is such that it has elevated itself to a position of self-appointed arbiter of tourist taste. It is, to apply a greatly over-used word, a "phenomenon". Phenomenally successful but not, despite its claims otherwise, always phenomenally reliable. Occasionally, it throws up a genuine and pleasing surprise, such as that regarding the Tramuntana mountains, which I also wrote about recently: the number one attraction in Mallorca. But just one problem with it is knowing precisely how things are measured, and the best destinations classification is one of these.
Trip Advisor refers to the use of a "proprietary algorithm" that determines its popularity index. This takes into account quality, recency and quantity, but because it is proprietary, it is exclusive to Trip Advisor and the precise methodology is disclosed only in general and rather vague terms.
Because Calvia attracts the number of tourists that it does, it would be surprising if it weren't in the top ten. Indeed, one might suggest that it should be higher than eighth on quantity alone. As the algorithm takes account of quality as well, what conclusion might one draw from this? I'll leave you to work that out.
Methodology and sheer weight of tourists aside, Calvia's place in the rankings is curious because of its recognition factor. Which tourists actually go to Calvia? Lots of them of course, but Calvia is incidental. They are going to Magalluf or Santa Ponsa or Portals or Illetes or, or ... . Calvia is a Mallorca in microcosm. Much of what you would associate with the island is to be found within its municipal boundaries: high-density tourism; smaller, more intimate resorts; marinas; culture; mountains. Its very diversity makes you wonder what it is that gets it into the top ten. Go to reviews, and you get an answer. Magalluf, Magalluf, Magalluf; Palmanova, Palmanova, Palmanova.
Calvia town hall once made available an outstanding document detailing the natural environment in the municipality (it may still be available but I can't immediately locate it). For many visitors, used only to the densely populated resorts, it would have been a surprising document. I doubt that many of them saw it, though. But what it showed was that Calvia has every right to be among the best destinations because of its diversity. Yet one would have to guess that this diversity is not the basis for Trip Advisor's award. The award is primarily because of quantity.
Sóller being in tenth spot does rather emphasise this point. It has nothing like the quantity of Calvia's tourists. Sóller creeping into the top ten is surprising, whereas Calvia's eighth isn't surprising. Without fully knowing how the algorithm works, one would have to guess that the quality-quantity equation is quite different for Sóller, as on quantity alone it wouldn't have a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere near the top ten let alone making the top ten.
Both towns will make much of their awards, and good luck to them. If there is an award, why not brag about it; there is nothing wrong in doing so. But Sóller's ranking seems more meritorious than Calvia's and very much more unexpected. The two towns are "bests" from different parts of the tourism spectrum, and where Sóller is concerned, and unlike Calvia, it has the virtue of being pretty much a single entity of town and port, linked by a quaint old tram. Sóller is singular; Calvia is all but countless.
All of these destinations - Barcelona, Madrid, Calvia, Granada and Seville - feature in the top ten best Spanish destinations, according to Trip Advisor. Calvia in fact comes eighth, and its ranking has been something to celebrate, as has been the tenth spot for Sóller. Mayors Onieva and Simarro, respectively of Calvia and Sóller, were on an away day in Madrid on Tuesday to pick up the Trip Advisor gongs for these merits (the gongs are a plaque).
In a recent article in which I wrote about land designated as touristic land in the different Mallorcan municipalities, I drew attention to the vastly greater amount of such land which exists in Calvia when compared with other towns. It is small wonder therefore that Calvia leaps into the top three of Spanish tourist density in high summer. There is a lot of touristic provision. There is a lot of quantity.
The success of Trip Advisor is such that it has elevated itself to a position of self-appointed arbiter of tourist taste. It is, to apply a greatly over-used word, a "phenomenon". Phenomenally successful but not, despite its claims otherwise, always phenomenally reliable. Occasionally, it throws up a genuine and pleasing surprise, such as that regarding the Tramuntana mountains, which I also wrote about recently: the number one attraction in Mallorca. But just one problem with it is knowing precisely how things are measured, and the best destinations classification is one of these.
Trip Advisor refers to the use of a "proprietary algorithm" that determines its popularity index. This takes into account quality, recency and quantity, but because it is proprietary, it is exclusive to Trip Advisor and the precise methodology is disclosed only in general and rather vague terms.
Because Calvia attracts the number of tourists that it does, it would be surprising if it weren't in the top ten. Indeed, one might suggest that it should be higher than eighth on quantity alone. As the algorithm takes account of quality as well, what conclusion might one draw from this? I'll leave you to work that out.
Methodology and sheer weight of tourists aside, Calvia's place in the rankings is curious because of its recognition factor. Which tourists actually go to Calvia? Lots of them of course, but Calvia is incidental. They are going to Magalluf or Santa Ponsa or Portals or Illetes or, or ... . Calvia is a Mallorca in microcosm. Much of what you would associate with the island is to be found within its municipal boundaries: high-density tourism; smaller, more intimate resorts; marinas; culture; mountains. Its very diversity makes you wonder what it is that gets it into the top ten. Go to reviews, and you get an answer. Magalluf, Magalluf, Magalluf; Palmanova, Palmanova, Palmanova.
Calvia town hall once made available an outstanding document detailing the natural environment in the municipality (it may still be available but I can't immediately locate it). For many visitors, used only to the densely populated resorts, it would have been a surprising document. I doubt that many of them saw it, though. But what it showed was that Calvia has every right to be among the best destinations because of its diversity. Yet one would have to guess that this diversity is not the basis for Trip Advisor's award. The award is primarily because of quantity.
Sóller being in tenth spot does rather emphasise this point. It has nothing like the quantity of Calvia's tourists. Sóller creeping into the top ten is surprising, whereas Calvia's eighth isn't surprising. Without fully knowing how the algorithm works, one would have to guess that the quality-quantity equation is quite different for Sóller, as on quantity alone it wouldn't have a cat in hell's chance of getting anywhere near the top ten let alone making the top ten.
Both towns will make much of their awards, and good luck to them. If there is an award, why not brag about it; there is nothing wrong in doing so. But Sóller's ranking seems more meritorious than Calvia's and very much more unexpected. The two towns are "bests" from different parts of the tourism spectrum, and where Sóller is concerned, and unlike Calvia, it has the virtue of being pretty much a single entity of town and port, linked by a quaint old tram. Sóller is singular; Calvia is all but countless.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
What Are The Chances Of This?
Well, a break didn't work out quite as it had been intended. The reasons why involved a story of a burning-out clutch (not mine), an access track of winding, narrow, wall-lined, steep impossibility - impossible even by some of Mallorca's impossibilities - and a reluctance to park up at a nearby inn and find a wheel clamp or a tow-away the following morning. The details don't really matter and shouldn't bother you.
It was a great shame. Here was a finca house in largely untended finca grounds with nary a hint of modernity, two sheep that insisted on invading the terrace, views of cloud-topped Tramuntana. Anyone familiar with the road over the mountains will know what driving is like, but get off road and driving becomes all but impossible. This was another world, one disinclined to worry about convenience for vehicles or convenience for anything very much. This was Mallorca in the raw, and it was all rather splendid.
The road from Sóller into the mountains is interesting, to say the least. You are never quite sure where you are going and so if in fact you are going the right way. It is road bereft of signage, bereft of most things, save, mercifully, tarmac. The rendezvous point was meant to have been the Cas Xorc agrotourism. There was a note appended to its highly misleading access track, saying that it was closed because of a private party. The misleading track was misleading as it was far from clear that it was the access track. I concluded it was when a car with obvious wedding sorts drove into it.
Because of the private party, a different rendezvous point was needed. Fortunately, it was close at hand, the rather wonderful Son Bleda finca hotel. This is a stunning place, not because the hotel is that stunning (it is understated but lovely), but because of the vista into the valley and towards the Puig Major. A coffee and a lemon Fanta came to 4.50 euros. Too much? No, not at all. You pay for location and pay for loveliness.
I was meeting with an old schoolfriend, Andy. He was staying in a finca house in largely untended finca grounds some twenty minutes walk away and off the dry-stone hiking route that crosses the Tramuntana. I hadn't seen him for twenty years. Or his wife. I had never met the couple with whom they had rented the house - Dawn and David.
The point of all this is that I could, were I inclined, write a twee piece about quaint, rustic, mountainous Mallorca, but I'm not going to. Far more important was the most remarkable coincidence, and it is one that will resonate with some Alcúdia veterans.
Andy, his wife Lynne, Dawn and David live in Norfolk. Dawn and David used to live in a place called Harleston near to Diss. I found this out as the result of a phone call I received while we were sitting on the terrace, watching the invading sheep. I wouldn't have otherwise, I suspect. Lack of modernity the finca may have, but there is still the mobile phone. I didn't recognise the number, it wasn't on my phone, but it was from the UK. This in itself was odd, as I rarely receive calls from the UK on my mobile. I thought that I recognised the voice, but I also thought I was listening to the voice of a ghost. "Andrew, Andrew, is that you?" "Yes, who's ... I don't believe it. Izzy!?" "Yes, Izzy."
Let me explain, though some Alcúdia veterans will not need any explanation. Izzy used to run what was then the Agra Indian restaurant, the one that became Taste of India and which is now closed. I hadn't heard from him for, how long, five years? I knew he had ended up in Cardiff, but this was ages back. I had never thought that I would hear from him again. I now had. And this is where it all got highly coincidental not to say weird. Izzy explained that he now has a Chinese takeaway. It is called Orient Taste apparently. Where is it? Harleston, Norfolk.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It was a great shame. Here was a finca house in largely untended finca grounds with nary a hint of modernity, two sheep that insisted on invading the terrace, views of cloud-topped Tramuntana. Anyone familiar with the road over the mountains will know what driving is like, but get off road and driving becomes all but impossible. This was another world, one disinclined to worry about convenience for vehicles or convenience for anything very much. This was Mallorca in the raw, and it was all rather splendid.
The road from Sóller into the mountains is interesting, to say the least. You are never quite sure where you are going and so if in fact you are going the right way. It is road bereft of signage, bereft of most things, save, mercifully, tarmac. The rendezvous point was meant to have been the Cas Xorc agrotourism. There was a note appended to its highly misleading access track, saying that it was closed because of a private party. The misleading track was misleading as it was far from clear that it was the access track. I concluded it was when a car with obvious wedding sorts drove into it.
Because of the private party, a different rendezvous point was needed. Fortunately, it was close at hand, the rather wonderful Son Bleda finca hotel. This is a stunning place, not because the hotel is that stunning (it is understated but lovely), but because of the vista into the valley and towards the Puig Major. A coffee and a lemon Fanta came to 4.50 euros. Too much? No, not at all. You pay for location and pay for loveliness.
I was meeting with an old schoolfriend, Andy. He was staying in a finca house in largely untended finca grounds some twenty minutes walk away and off the dry-stone hiking route that crosses the Tramuntana. I hadn't seen him for twenty years. Or his wife. I had never met the couple with whom they had rented the house - Dawn and David.
The point of all this is that I could, were I inclined, write a twee piece about quaint, rustic, mountainous Mallorca, but I'm not going to. Far more important was the most remarkable coincidence, and it is one that will resonate with some Alcúdia veterans.
Andy, his wife Lynne, Dawn and David live in Norfolk. Dawn and David used to live in a place called Harleston near to Diss. I found this out as the result of a phone call I received while we were sitting on the terrace, watching the invading sheep. I wouldn't have otherwise, I suspect. Lack of modernity the finca may have, but there is still the mobile phone. I didn't recognise the number, it wasn't on my phone, but it was from the UK. This in itself was odd, as I rarely receive calls from the UK on my mobile. I thought that I recognised the voice, but I also thought I was listening to the voice of a ghost. "Andrew, Andrew, is that you?" "Yes, who's ... I don't believe it. Izzy!?" "Yes, Izzy."
Let me explain, though some Alcúdia veterans will not need any explanation. Izzy used to run what was then the Agra Indian restaurant, the one that became Taste of India and which is now closed. I hadn't heard from him for, how long, five years? I knew he had ended up in Cardiff, but this was ages back. I had never thought that I would hear from him again. I now had. And this is where it all got highly coincidental not to say weird. Izzy explained that he now has a Chinese takeaway. It is called Orient Taste apparently. Where is it? Harleston, Norfolk.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Arrests over Sóller mayor car fire
A 20-year-old man and a minor have been arrested in connection with the deliberate fire that burnt out mayor Carlos Simarro's BMW a couple of weeks ago. The 20-year-old has confessed to this fire and also to making parking meters inoperable by setting these on fire as well. Reported by his initials, J.P.C., he is the son of former councillors at Sóller town hall.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
One Hundred Years Of Multitude
The population of Mallorca has grown by 240% over the last 100 years. Such growth is not in the least bit surprising but what requires some explanation is why certain towns have grown while others have shrunk and so why towns that were more populous in 1910 are now less so.
The town that has experienced the greatest percentage increase is not Palma, as you might think, but Calvià. In 1910 its population was under 3,000; it is now over 50,000, making it the largest town in Mallorca after Palma. Calvia's growth is easy to explain - tourism and a related increase in the residential population. But this growth has been far from smooth; Calvià's boom has occurred over the past 30 years, 41,000 people added to a 1979 population of just over 11,000.
This growth can also be explained by the fact that Calvià is a satellite of Palma, as also are Marratxí and Llucmajor. While the rise in population in the latter is also due to tourism, Marratxí's 700% rise over 100 years is almost solely the result of the spread of the island's southern conurbation. The two other main towns on the island - Inca and Manacor - have experienced rises in population of similar degree, 260% and 230% respectively. Of the two, Inca's is more dramatic. Manacor has coastal tourism that Inca doesn't. Industry, and especially the leather industry, has made Inca the fifth largest town after Palma.
Industrial concentration and therefore migration and better infrastructure probably explain why some towns in Mallorca's interior have suffered from de-population since 1910; Sineu and Petra have declined, along with Selva and Llubí which are close to Inca.
Behind Calvià and Marratxí in terms of percentage growth comes Alcúdia. A population of slightly less than 3,000 in 1910 is now just under 20,000, and Alcúdia offers an interesting case example of how growth was engineered, both tourist and residential.
Alcúdia is the largest of the small towns in Mallorca, by which is meant that its population is less than 20,000, the threshold for towns to be reclassified in terms of municipal responsibilities and size of town hall administrations. Its growth has different explanations. Before mass tourism, it was Alcúdia, with its port potential, that was selected as the site for north-coast industrialisation; the original power station and the gas factory being located close to the port.
The power station was to prove important to what then occurred in the engineering of the purpose-built tourism and residential centre that created the sprawl away from the port area and along the coast. Ash from the power station was used in the reclamation of a huge part of Albufera and from which rose the Bellevue and Magic areas in the early 1970s.
Contrast this with neighbouring Pollensa. It was over twice the size of Alcúdia in 1910 but now has 3,000 fewer inhabitants. There was no similar tourism engineering, or none that was on the same scale as Alcúdia's. Contrast Alcúdia also with another neighbour, Muro. It was larger than Alcúdia in 1910 but its population today is only 2,350 greater than 100 years ago (just under 7,000). Unlike Alcúdia, there was no base from which to grow tourism and residential real estate. Playa de Muro didn't properly exist until the 1960s and when it came into existence there was crucially comparatively little reclamation of Albufera across the municipal boundary with Alcúdia.
Another town with an intriguing population history is Sóller. In 1910 it was the sixth largest town overall. It is still the eleventh largest but its population growth of 64% is way down on the total growth. Sóller is in a way a case of a place that peaked early. It grew in the nineteenth century on the back of its port and the export of oranges and olives and then again in the early twentieth century, partly thanks to the train tackling its isolation. But that isolation has never truly been overcome.
Then there are the interior towns that have experienced de-population. Industrial concentration elsewhere is one reason, but there are others: Sineu's population was slashed when the original rail line that had served the town was closed in the 1970s; Petra suffered from a failure to develop a wine industry; Llubí lost people due to emigration to the US.
Except for industrial towns such as Inca and towns with heavy tourism dependence, Mallorca's population has been surprisingly stable over the past one hundred years, decline in some towns compensated by modest growth in others. But the single most important reason for the overall population growth can be attributed to one place - Palma. Of an increase a touch over 600,000 people since 1910 to a Mallorca total today of 873,000, Palma is responsible for over half of it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The town that has experienced the greatest percentage increase is not Palma, as you might think, but Calvià. In 1910 its population was under 3,000; it is now over 50,000, making it the largest town in Mallorca after Palma. Calvia's growth is easy to explain - tourism and a related increase in the residential population. But this growth has been far from smooth; Calvià's boom has occurred over the past 30 years, 41,000 people added to a 1979 population of just over 11,000.
This growth can also be explained by the fact that Calvià is a satellite of Palma, as also are Marratxí and Llucmajor. While the rise in population in the latter is also due to tourism, Marratxí's 700% rise over 100 years is almost solely the result of the spread of the island's southern conurbation. The two other main towns on the island - Inca and Manacor - have experienced rises in population of similar degree, 260% and 230% respectively. Of the two, Inca's is more dramatic. Manacor has coastal tourism that Inca doesn't. Industry, and especially the leather industry, has made Inca the fifth largest town after Palma.
Industrial concentration and therefore migration and better infrastructure probably explain why some towns in Mallorca's interior have suffered from de-population since 1910; Sineu and Petra have declined, along with Selva and Llubí which are close to Inca.
Behind Calvià and Marratxí in terms of percentage growth comes Alcúdia. A population of slightly less than 3,000 in 1910 is now just under 20,000, and Alcúdia offers an interesting case example of how growth was engineered, both tourist and residential.
Alcúdia is the largest of the small towns in Mallorca, by which is meant that its population is less than 20,000, the threshold for towns to be reclassified in terms of municipal responsibilities and size of town hall administrations. Its growth has different explanations. Before mass tourism, it was Alcúdia, with its port potential, that was selected as the site for north-coast industrialisation; the original power station and the gas factory being located close to the port.
The power station was to prove important to what then occurred in the engineering of the purpose-built tourism and residential centre that created the sprawl away from the port area and along the coast. Ash from the power station was used in the reclamation of a huge part of Albufera and from which rose the Bellevue and Magic areas in the early 1970s.
Contrast this with neighbouring Pollensa. It was over twice the size of Alcúdia in 1910 but now has 3,000 fewer inhabitants. There was no similar tourism engineering, or none that was on the same scale as Alcúdia's. Contrast Alcúdia also with another neighbour, Muro. It was larger than Alcúdia in 1910 but its population today is only 2,350 greater than 100 years ago (just under 7,000). Unlike Alcúdia, there was no base from which to grow tourism and residential real estate. Playa de Muro didn't properly exist until the 1960s and when it came into existence there was crucially comparatively little reclamation of Albufera across the municipal boundary with Alcúdia.
Another town with an intriguing population history is Sóller. In 1910 it was the sixth largest town overall. It is still the eleventh largest but its population growth of 64% is way down on the total growth. Sóller is in a way a case of a place that peaked early. It grew in the nineteenth century on the back of its port and the export of oranges and olives and then again in the early twentieth century, partly thanks to the train tackling its isolation. But that isolation has never truly been overcome.
Then there are the interior towns that have experienced de-population. Industrial concentration elsewhere is one reason, but there are others: Sineu's population was slashed when the original rail line that had served the town was closed in the 1970s; Petra suffered from a failure to develop a wine industry; Llubí lost people due to emigration to the US.
Except for industrial towns such as Inca and towns with heavy tourism dependence, Mallorca's population has been surprisingly stable over the past one hundred years, decline in some towns compensated by modest growth in others. But the single most important reason for the overall population growth can be attributed to one place - Palma. Of an increase a touch over 600,000 people since 1910 to a Mallorca total today of 873,000, Palma is responsible for over half of it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Sóller mayor's car is set fire to
The BMW belonging to Carlos Simarro (Partido Popular), the mayor of Sóller, was last night burned out after apparently having been deliberately set fire to shortly after he returned to his home in the town. Simarro has called it an act of terrorism and has said there is no reason to believe there is any social alarm in the town. Sóller has, in the past weeks, suffered acts of vandalism against new parking meters in the town.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Sóller parking metres sabotaged again
The normally sedate town of Sóller is currently suffering from acts of vandalism and sabotage directed at new parking metres controlling parking zones in the town. A third such act of sabotage has put 30 metres out of use.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
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