The ongoing and unresolved issue of the access to the Ternelles finca in Pollensa - this access being demanded by ramblers who want restrictions lifted to be able to move freely to the Castell del Rei - is set to be decided, once and for all, by the Balearics Supreme Court. The previous legal decision, by a court in Inca, failed to satisfy anyone. The town hall is pressing the case for public use against the owners, Menani S.A., which represents the March banking family.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Thursday, January 17, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa town hall has two weeks to sort itself out
The crisis at Pollensa town hall regarding the make-up of the council and the support for mayor Tomeu Cifre's Partido Popular deepens. Since the regional election in 2011, the PP has governed as a coalition minority, but now it has real problems because of the splits caused by the merger of La Lliga (its partners in the administration) and the Convergència. Opposition parties at an extraordinary meeting of the council have forced a motion, agreed by all, that a plan should be presented within 15 days that sets out who exactly is doing what at the council, as, at present, it is not clear where responsibilities lie.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Sant Antoni reports
A mark of the importance of the Sant Antoni fiesta in Mallorca is the number of reports. While concentrating on the biggest event, Sa Pobla, there are also looks - in the "Ultima Hora" report - at Muro, Manacor and Artà. A point about this report. It says that "mapping" visual techniques were used for the first time on the island in projecting onto the town hall building. That's not the case, as it has been used before in Muro.
See more:
Diario de Mallorca
Photos: Diario de Mallorca
Ultima Hora
See more:
Diario de Mallorca
Photos: Diario de Mallorca
Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 17 January 2013
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (9.15am): 10C
Forecast high: 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): West 5 to 6, veering North 6 during the morning and easing to 4 later. Swells to two to three metres.
Some rain but not heavy, brightening later but staying fairly chilly. Tomorrow should be a better day but the prospects for the weekend aren't so good, especially for Saturday, even if it will be warmer.
Afternoon update (17.00): Sun only started to appear a bit by mid-afternoon. Cold, with the highs hovering on the 10 degree mark.
The Town With Six Names
Toponymy is a top topic in Mallorca. Place names, for the most part, are place names and they tend not to change or to be open to change. They are also usually not a matter of controversy. In Mallorca, however, toponymy is a favoured topic of conversation among the political, the geographical and the linguistic classes. Occasionally, it spills over into general conversation, as with, for example, the debate as to a possible change of name for Magalluf or the quite absurd arguments as to whether Palma should have become Palma de Mallorca (which it now has). The politico-linguistic arguments are more usually confined to the use of Catalan or Castellano. Though the regional government appears to have quietly forgotten about its insistence on place names being in Castellano, one can't rule out the possibility that it might remember that it was going to insist on this, and so cause another wholly unnecessary row. Should, for instance, Pollença always be Pollensa and so in Castellano rather than Catalan? As if, quite honestly, it makes any difference.
There is one place name in Mallorca that inspires greater discussion, greater controversy and greater argument than any other. I say one place name, but there are at least six alternatives. The world, generally speaking, knows Porto Cristo as Porto Cristo - two words - but this would be far too simple. There is a strong lobby for it to be Portocristo, while it is also referred to as Porto-Cristo (hyphenated). The lesser claims are for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor and Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme, each of them with their own pedantic supporters who prefer relative toponymic antiquity over modernity.
To start at the beginning, the original name when the fishing village was founded over a century ago was Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. Cala Manacor, as a geographer at the university argues, is the "genuine" toponymic name for the simple reason that it was a "cala" in the municipality of Manacor. However, the same geographer points out that Port de Manacor is also a "genuine" name because this described (and still does) the urban centre (such as it would have been). All of which is very interesting but doesn't explain how Porto Cristo or Portocristo or even Porto-Cristo ever came to be the name. Or names.
But Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme wasn't the original name. It was one invented in the late nineteenth century when Manacor town hall agreed to a project to build houses in what, historically, had been known as Porto Cristo (two words). This name goes back to the thirteenth century and came about because Italian fishermen took refuge from a storm and came with images of Christ and the Virgin. So, defenders of Porto Cristo are even more steeped in the defence of antiquity than the johnny-come-latelys who would put in a bid for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme.
You would think that this thirteenth century heritage would be enough to stop any argument, but you would of course be wrong, and the body which helped to make matters more complicated than they might otherwise have been was the regional government. In 1988, in attempting to arrive at some harmonisation as to place names, the government proposed calling Porto Cristo (two words) Portocristo (one word). Outraged, certain politicians in Manacor argued that Portocristo (one word) was a false toponym borrowed from other one-word "portos" on the island (e.g. Portopí). As a consequence of all this, the Balearics Supreme Court got dragged in to arbitrate. It said that the name should be Porto Cristo but suggested that it could also be a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, which wasn't, with hindsight, a terribly useful compromise, if compromise it had indeed been intended to be.
This decision by the court was taken in 1990. Twenty-three years later, the matter keeps cropping up, as it did recently during a debate at a meeting of Manacor council. The reason why it keeps cropping up is because the Porto Cristo versus Portocristo camps won't let it drop and because there are still any number of anomalies as to the spelling. While university experts have argued the case for Porto Cristo, there are those who argue the case for Portocristo, as in fact they had back in 1988 when advising the government. Political parties in Manacor are now lined up behind the two names (and perhaps the hyphenated third), but at least one local politician has conceded that it is about time the whole ridiculous matter was laid to rest. But then he supports Portocristo.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is one place name in Mallorca that inspires greater discussion, greater controversy and greater argument than any other. I say one place name, but there are at least six alternatives. The world, generally speaking, knows Porto Cristo as Porto Cristo - two words - but this would be far too simple. There is a strong lobby for it to be Portocristo, while it is also referred to as Porto-Cristo (hyphenated). The lesser claims are for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor and Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme, each of them with their own pedantic supporters who prefer relative toponymic antiquity over modernity.
To start at the beginning, the original name when the fishing village was founded over a century ago was Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme. Cala Manacor, as a geographer at the university argues, is the "genuine" toponymic name for the simple reason that it was a "cala" in the municipality of Manacor. However, the same geographer points out that Port de Manacor is also a "genuine" name because this described (and still does) the urban centre (such as it would have been). All of which is very interesting but doesn't explain how Porto Cristo or Portocristo or even Porto-Cristo ever came to be the name. Or names.
But Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme wasn't the original name. It was one invented in the late nineteenth century when Manacor town hall agreed to a project to build houses in what, historically, had been known as Porto Cristo (two words). This name goes back to the thirteenth century and came about because Italian fishermen took refuge from a storm and came with images of Christ and the Virgin. So, defenders of Porto Cristo are even more steeped in the defence of antiquity than the johnny-come-latelys who would put in a bid for Cala Manacor, Port de Manacor or Colònia de Nostra Senyora del Carme.
You would think that this thirteenth century heritage would be enough to stop any argument, but you would of course be wrong, and the body which helped to make matters more complicated than they might otherwise have been was the regional government. In 1988, in attempting to arrive at some harmonisation as to place names, the government proposed calling Porto Cristo (two words) Portocristo (one word). Outraged, certain politicians in Manacor argued that Portocristo (one word) was a false toponym borrowed from other one-word "portos" on the island (e.g. Portopí). As a consequence of all this, the Balearics Supreme Court got dragged in to arbitrate. It said that the name should be Porto Cristo but suggested that it could also be a hyphenated Porto-Cristo, which wasn't, with hindsight, a terribly useful compromise, if compromise it had indeed been intended to be.
This decision by the court was taken in 1990. Twenty-three years later, the matter keeps cropping up, as it did recently during a debate at a meeting of Manacor council. The reason why it keeps cropping up is because the Porto Cristo versus Portocristo camps won't let it drop and because there are still any number of anomalies as to the spelling. While university experts have argued the case for Porto Cristo, there are those who argue the case for Portocristo, as in fact they had back in 1988 when advising the government. Political parties in Manacor are now lined up behind the two names (and perhaps the hyphenated third), but at least one local politician has conceded that it is about time the whole ridiculous matter was laid to rest. But then he supports Portocristo.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Claassen calls for Caparrós to be sacked
The fighting at board level at Real Mallorca football club continues, Utz Claassen, the German shareholder, now calling for coach Joaquín Caparrós to be dismissed along with the sporting director, the major shareholder, Llorenç Serra Ferrer. Claassen considers that Caparrós has caused conflict within the squad and has criticised statements he has made and the support he has received from Serra Ferrer.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Pollensa Lliga seek transparency
The two former members of the La Lliga party on Pollensa town hall who have refused to join the newly merged El Pi grouping have set out conditions to mayor Tomeu Cifre by which they would continue to form part of the administration. Specifically, they are calling for greater transparency, a call already made by other parties in the town.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Expectations for Sant Antoni fiestas
A report on preparations and events for Sant Antoni Eve today, concentrating on the towns most closely associated with the celebrations - Sa Pobla and Muro. Despite the risk of poor weather, tonight's fires and spectaculars will still go ahead (though the weather forecast looks better now). One notable absentee from the fiesta in Sa Pobla (or possibly Manacor) is the president, José Ramón Bauzá. He will be in Menorca instead. So no need for there to be a heavy police presence. Last year in Sa Pobla, he was jeered.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 16 January 2013
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.45am): 13.5C
Forecast high: 16C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): West and Northwest 4 to 6, occasionally 7 by Formentor. Swells of two metres diminishing.
A milder morning but mostly cloudy, the yellow alerts have been stood down, and though it is likely to be quite windy at times, not as much as had been forecast. The slight risk of rain, but this evening for Sant Antoni should be ok, though rain could be more of an issue into the early hours of tomorrow. Staying unstable, Friday seemingly quite a good day, Saturday poor and then rain on occasions next week.
Afternoon update (17.30): A high of 15.9C, rain staying off but the wind has been gusting to over 40kph at times, which isn't that strong.
Handled Ball: But it's not cricket
When I was fourteen and on a school exchange visit to Germany, I encountered a sport I hadn't seen before. Come to think of it, I had probably never heard of the sport before. Once I saw it, and once I started to play it, I wondered why it was such a mystery sport.
Handball was basketball without the fannying around and the posing. It was basketball without the stupid hoop basket. It had a goal, an altogether more inviting target. It was bedlam, fast, furious and now and then quite skilful.
It was also easy to understand. At the same time as I was baffling any German who was vaguely interested in knowing about cricket by introducing notions of bowling a maiden over, fielding at silly mid off or being given out leg before wicket (and even now if I venture the subject of cricket with a German, he or she confuses it with croquet), understanding handball was absurdly simple. Get ball, run, pass, shoot at goal. Football, but with the hand and not the foot.
It is reckoned that handball started as a sport as a means of keeping German footballers fit in the summer. Originally, it was entirely an outdoor sport, played on a football pitch and with the same size goals. There is an alternative version of handball history, one that places its origins back in the sixth century BC. Whichever version one prefers, the first official match is usually taken to have been played in 1917 and the first international in 1925, Germany beating Austria.
It was the Danes who turned handball into the indoor sport it now almost exclusively is. Some 30 years on from it having been taken indoors, handball became an Olympic sport, appropriately enough, given its modern roots with German football, at the 1972 Munich Games. What I had seen and played two years before at a school near Stuttgart could now be seen by the world. Not that I recall seeing any handball at the 1972 Games. Great Britain, of course, didn't play it. Or rather, there was a Great Britain team but it was hopeless. Among the crushing defeats it endured in the pre-Games qualifying group was a 37-12 loss to Luxembourg and a 40-5 thrashing at the hands (literally) of Spain.
The development of handball as an international sport has, to a degree, been determined by international political developments. From a sport played by Germanic countries, it became popular in the Soviet bloc, to the extent that eastern European countries dominated. The break-up of the bloc led to a further broadening as players and coaches from Hungary, East Germany and elsewhere moved, and Spain, for the first time, started to feature as a leading handball nation. Handball is now Spain's third most popular sport in terms of registered participants, placing it behind football and basketball. Spain's men's team has won three Olympic bronzes in the past five Games, and the women's team won its first bronze in London.
The men's world championship is currently being held in Spain; the country has not hosted the tournament before. In a preliminary group with Algeria, Egypt, Australia, Hungary and Croatia, the big games are against the latter two. Progress for Spain should be assured, as the top four teams qualify for the next stage. The final will be held in Barcelona on 27 January.
And Barcelona, as with football, dominates Spanish handball. FC Barcelona Intersport has won the national league more often than any other side (on eleven occasions) and has won the European cup eight times. Seven of the squad of sixteen for the world championship play for Barcelona, the next highest club representation coming not from a Spanish side but from France's Nantes (three of the squad). There is no Mallorcan in the squad, but, oddly enough, there is one member who was born in Wales. Altor Ariño, a defender, comes originally from Penarth.
Spain finished third at the last world championships in 2011. As hosts, the team will hope to go two steps better this time. Not that this will be easy for a team which was beaten in the London Olympics quarter-finals by the current world champions, France. However, such an Olympic disappointment has a precedent in being followed by triumph. In 2005, Spain became world champions having crashed out the year before in Athens. If all goes to plan, on 27 January, around about half six in the evening, if you hear shouts of joy from a bar, they will be shouts not because of football but because of handball. Spain will be champions. Or maybe not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Handball was basketball without the fannying around and the posing. It was basketball without the stupid hoop basket. It had a goal, an altogether more inviting target. It was bedlam, fast, furious and now and then quite skilful.
It was also easy to understand. At the same time as I was baffling any German who was vaguely interested in knowing about cricket by introducing notions of bowling a maiden over, fielding at silly mid off or being given out leg before wicket (and even now if I venture the subject of cricket with a German, he or she confuses it with croquet), understanding handball was absurdly simple. Get ball, run, pass, shoot at goal. Football, but with the hand and not the foot.
It is reckoned that handball started as a sport as a means of keeping German footballers fit in the summer. Originally, it was entirely an outdoor sport, played on a football pitch and with the same size goals. There is an alternative version of handball history, one that places its origins back in the sixth century BC. Whichever version one prefers, the first official match is usually taken to have been played in 1917 and the first international in 1925, Germany beating Austria.
It was the Danes who turned handball into the indoor sport it now almost exclusively is. Some 30 years on from it having been taken indoors, handball became an Olympic sport, appropriately enough, given its modern roots with German football, at the 1972 Munich Games. What I had seen and played two years before at a school near Stuttgart could now be seen by the world. Not that I recall seeing any handball at the 1972 Games. Great Britain, of course, didn't play it. Or rather, there was a Great Britain team but it was hopeless. Among the crushing defeats it endured in the pre-Games qualifying group was a 37-12 loss to Luxembourg and a 40-5 thrashing at the hands (literally) of Spain.
The development of handball as an international sport has, to a degree, been determined by international political developments. From a sport played by Germanic countries, it became popular in the Soviet bloc, to the extent that eastern European countries dominated. The break-up of the bloc led to a further broadening as players and coaches from Hungary, East Germany and elsewhere moved, and Spain, for the first time, started to feature as a leading handball nation. Handball is now Spain's third most popular sport in terms of registered participants, placing it behind football and basketball. Spain's men's team has won three Olympic bronzes in the past five Games, and the women's team won its first bronze in London.
The men's world championship is currently being held in Spain; the country has not hosted the tournament before. In a preliminary group with Algeria, Egypt, Australia, Hungary and Croatia, the big games are against the latter two. Progress for Spain should be assured, as the top four teams qualify for the next stage. The final will be held in Barcelona on 27 January.
And Barcelona, as with football, dominates Spanish handball. FC Barcelona Intersport has won the national league more often than any other side (on eleven occasions) and has won the European cup eight times. Seven of the squad of sixteen for the world championship play for Barcelona, the next highest club representation coming not from a Spanish side but from France's Nantes (three of the squad). There is no Mallorcan in the squad, but, oddly enough, there is one member who was born in Wales. Altor Ariño, a defender, comes originally from Penarth.
Spain finished third at the last world championships in 2011. As hosts, the team will hope to go two steps better this time. Not that this will be easy for a team which was beaten in the London Olympics quarter-finals by the current world champions, France. However, such an Olympic disappointment has a precedent in being followed by triumph. In 2005, Spain became world champions having crashed out the year before in Athens. If all goes to plan, on 27 January, around about half six in the evening, if you hear shouts of joy from a bar, they will be shouts not because of football but because of handball. Spain will be champions. Or maybe not.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 15 January 2013
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.45am): 11C
Forecast high: 15C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Northwest 4 to 5, reaching 6 to 7 during the morning, and easing to 5 by the evening. Swells of one or two metres. Risk of storms.
Sunny with cloud and one again a huge divergence in temperatures from just over four degrees to a coastal high of 11C. Yellow alerts out for wind and coastal conditions, the latter marked by the strength of winds at sea coming in on the Mestral and Tramuntana breezes. The snow threat at low levels has all but gone for the next few days, but rain and wind will be features, though perhaps less risk of rain than had been previously forecast.
Evening update (18.00): A deterioration during the day with rain in the afternoon. A high of just over 15 degrees but generally temperatures have been between 13 and 14.
Resigned To Fate: Mallorca in winter
Driving through Playa de Muro one evening last week, I saw something unusual. Lights on. A few people milling around. The next day, I understood why. Pantechnicons and other vehicles for the Russian Katusha cycling team were parked in front of an Iberostar hotel. This hotel normally opens early for cycling teams, but this year it has opened particularly early.
Iberostar had previously announced that it was making inroads into the death of the resort during winter by having the hotel open for almost ten months. We now know what the company meant. Good for the hotel, some employees and some suppliers, not much good for anyone else. Professional cyclists won't be paying a great deal of attention to the rest of the resort, which is just as well. A couple of cafés and restaurants open at times but not one other hotel open. Not a single shop open. Even the little supermarket is closed.
This winter has been worse than ever: in Playa de Muro, in any resort on Mallorca. According to the hoteliers federation, a mere 17.5% of hotel places are actually available in January. It isn't only Mallorca, though. As an example, comparisons with Benidorm neglect the fact that, while Benidorm unquestionably attracts far more visitors in winter than any resort on Mallorca, it has been experiencing a downward trend for some years. In the Alicante province as a whole, hotel winter closures have risen by ten percentage points in the past two years. As a further example, on the Costa del Sol, that part of mainland Spain which benefits from the best winter weather, the hotel closure rate is up by around 5%. This still means that some 65% of hotels are open (oh that Mallorca could say the same), but even the Costa del Sol is not immune to the decline caused by seasonality.
Neither the Costa Blanca nor the Costa del Sol have quite the same disadvantage as Mallorca in terms of winter flight schedules. Their falls are attributed less to the logistics of travel and more to economic hard times in Europe as a whole and especially in Spain. Benidorm, regardless of the image conveyed by the Garveys and The Oracle, is every bit as much a Spanish resort as it is British (or any other nationality). It may, therefore, enjoy a bounce when or if the Spanish economy recovers, though even this might be questionable; the downward trend has existed for longer than economic crisis has.
Nevertheless, there is this domestic market which can come to the aid of the Costas in a way that it doesn't come, to anything like the same degree, to Mallorca's aid. The winter Spanish "pensionista" market may have been undermined by lack of subvention, but in truth it doesn't contribute hugely, and apart from this, the Spanish winter market is relatively small and generally confined to Palma and some agrotourism.
Pinning hopes on a revival in the domestic market is, however, a diversion, be this in Mallorca or on the Costas. Indeed, pinning hopes on anything is increasingly looking like a diversion. The Mallorca hoteliers federation, in lamenting the dire situation with hotel openings this winter, has announced that "we (in Mallorca) need to position Mallorca as a destination for the low and medium seasons". Well, who would ever have thought that this might be the need?
It is desperate that the hoteliers federation can be making such a statement, as it is one that has been a familiar annual cry for years. The Balearic Government may have come up with a "plan" for tackling seasonality, but this plan is little more than a re-working of equally familiar solutions and prescriptions, ones that have had minimal impact.
Mallorca is far from alone in seeking solutions to its winter malaise. The Costas advance similar solutions, as do destinations elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Only where heat is far more guaranteed is there a solution, and it is the same as that which drives summer tourism. Mallorca, therefore, will continue to beat the drum for its winter alternatives while coming up against the same drumbeats from other destinations hoping to break the cycle of seasonality and almost certainly failing because there is no differentiation and nothing that is unique or of sufficient incentive to create winter tourism over and above the very small scale.
You don't just give up, but does Mallorca have to resign itself to a fate that there is never going to be a winter season? Perhaps it would be wise if the delusion that there will be was dispensed with once and for all. Only then, might minds be exercised sufficiently in seeking solutions other than the piecemeal of some cycling and some cooking. Solutions beyond tourism.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Iberostar had previously announced that it was making inroads into the death of the resort during winter by having the hotel open for almost ten months. We now know what the company meant. Good for the hotel, some employees and some suppliers, not much good for anyone else. Professional cyclists won't be paying a great deal of attention to the rest of the resort, which is just as well. A couple of cafés and restaurants open at times but not one other hotel open. Not a single shop open. Even the little supermarket is closed.
This winter has been worse than ever: in Playa de Muro, in any resort on Mallorca. According to the hoteliers federation, a mere 17.5% of hotel places are actually available in January. It isn't only Mallorca, though. As an example, comparisons with Benidorm neglect the fact that, while Benidorm unquestionably attracts far more visitors in winter than any resort on Mallorca, it has been experiencing a downward trend for some years. In the Alicante province as a whole, hotel winter closures have risen by ten percentage points in the past two years. As a further example, on the Costa del Sol, that part of mainland Spain which benefits from the best winter weather, the hotel closure rate is up by around 5%. This still means that some 65% of hotels are open (oh that Mallorca could say the same), but even the Costa del Sol is not immune to the decline caused by seasonality.
Neither the Costa Blanca nor the Costa del Sol have quite the same disadvantage as Mallorca in terms of winter flight schedules. Their falls are attributed less to the logistics of travel and more to economic hard times in Europe as a whole and especially in Spain. Benidorm, regardless of the image conveyed by the Garveys and The Oracle, is every bit as much a Spanish resort as it is British (or any other nationality). It may, therefore, enjoy a bounce when or if the Spanish economy recovers, though even this might be questionable; the downward trend has existed for longer than economic crisis has.
Nevertheless, there is this domestic market which can come to the aid of the Costas in a way that it doesn't come, to anything like the same degree, to Mallorca's aid. The winter Spanish "pensionista" market may have been undermined by lack of subvention, but in truth it doesn't contribute hugely, and apart from this, the Spanish winter market is relatively small and generally confined to Palma and some agrotourism.
Pinning hopes on a revival in the domestic market is, however, a diversion, be this in Mallorca or on the Costas. Indeed, pinning hopes on anything is increasingly looking like a diversion. The Mallorca hoteliers federation, in lamenting the dire situation with hotel openings this winter, has announced that "we (in Mallorca) need to position Mallorca as a destination for the low and medium seasons". Well, who would ever have thought that this might be the need?
It is desperate that the hoteliers federation can be making such a statement, as it is one that has been a familiar annual cry for years. The Balearic Government may have come up with a "plan" for tackling seasonality, but this plan is little more than a re-working of equally familiar solutions and prescriptions, ones that have had minimal impact.
Mallorca is far from alone in seeking solutions to its winter malaise. The Costas advance similar solutions, as do destinations elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Only where heat is far more guaranteed is there a solution, and it is the same as that which drives summer tourism. Mallorca, therefore, will continue to beat the drum for its winter alternatives while coming up against the same drumbeats from other destinations hoping to break the cycle of seasonality and almost certainly failing because there is no differentiation and nothing that is unique or of sufficient incentive to create winter tourism over and above the very small scale.
You don't just give up, but does Mallorca have to resign itself to a fate that there is never going to be a winter season? Perhaps it would be wise if the delusion that there will be was dispensed with once and for all. Only then, might minds be exercised sufficiently in seeking solutions other than the piecemeal of some cycling and some cooking. Solutions beyond tourism.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, January 14, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 14 January 2013
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.30am): 9C
Forecast high: 13C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Northwest 3 to 4 and at intervals 5, backing West during the afternoon. Wave swells up to two metres with rain and risk of storm.
Similar morning to yesterday with sun and cloud. The cloud formation looks identical to yesterday, so it may well rain quite soon, though the rain risk is relatively low today. Alerts in place as from tomorrow for wind and coastal conditions, and they are likely to be in place for much of the week.
Afternoon update (17.30): Rather better day than it looked as though it might have been in that there was a good deal of sun and clear skies, but nippy with highs just over 14 degrees.
Plague Healer And Gay Icon: Saint Sebastian
What does Derek Jarman have to do with Palma's patron saint? The answer is that he doesn't have anything to do with him directly. But indirectly, in his capacity as a film director, he does. Or did. Jarman is of course long dead, though not as long dead as Saint Sebastian, Palma's saint.
To explain the Jarman connection, Sebastian acquired a reputation as a gay icon, largely thanks to Renaissance artists who depicted his all but naked torso with arrows stuck in it. Jarman, a notable activist for gay rights, debuted as a director with a film about Saint Sebastian. What made "Sebastiane" especially odd was the fact that the dialogue was entirely in Latin. Critically acclaimed for its daring, the film was, thanks mainly to the dialogue, all but unwatchable. The film's daring went beyond the Latin; it was ground-breaking in its depiction of homosexuality.
Jarman had taken, therefore, a theme that has long attached itself to Saint Sebastian, a theme that has been entirely the work of the arts world. How easily Sebastian's reputation sits with his current-day status within the Catholic saintly hierarchy, I honestly couldn't say. I would imagine that it would be a reputation that would be disputed, as historically there is nothing to suggest that Sebastian was himself actually gay. Had he been, one suspects he might be looked upon rather differently, but be that as it may.
Sebastian didn't enjoy the best of relations with Rome towards the end of his brief life (he was probably 32 when he died). In the third century AD, Rome had yet to become Christian, and a fanatically anti-Christianity emperor, Diocletian, had it in for Sebastian once he got wind of Sebastian's successful attempts in converting some Romans to Christianity. It didn't help Sebastian's cause that, though he came from what is now France, he was also a Roman soldier. Adopting Christianity was not the best career move that a soldier of that era could have made, and so it proved. His career, his whole being came to an end when he was finally finished off by being clubbed to death, having previously somehow survived having numerous arrows fired into him (hence the Renaissance paintings) on the order of Diocletian.
The martyrdom of Sebastian does not explain how he came to be Palma's saint. To understand this, one has to move forward in time some thirteen centuries after his death and to a period in the sixteenth century when Palma was enduring a great plague.
The story goes that an archdeacon called Manuel Suriavisqui from Rhodes arrived in Palma at the height of the plague, bringing with him a bone that was alleged to have come from one of Sebastian's arms (some say it was from one of his legs). Whatever part of his body it may or may not have come from, the bone did the trick. Its arrival was interpreted as a sign from God, the bone was handed over to the Cathedral, and within no time the plague came to a miraculous end. A hundred or so years later in 1643, a brotherhood of Saint Sebastian having been formed in the meantime, Sebastian was named as the city's patron.
Whether the bone was authentic is not known, but as the plague suddenly disappeared overnight, this would have been taken as a sure indication as to authenticity; no certificate of origin or some such was deemed necessary. And as Sebastian had previous when it came to a spot of plague miracle-working, e.g. in Rome itself, then there was even less reason to question the bone's provenance.
Sebastian was elevated to high rank in the Church's league of saints. Yet there remains, for the Church at any rate, the rather uneasy issue of the gay iconography. Derek Jarman was merely following a centuries-old tradition, one that can be attributed to several Renaissance artists, and one in particular, Guido Reni, who devoted seven paintings to Sebastian. Reni lived with mother but was otherwise a confirmed misogynist and almost certainly a closet homosexual. It was Reni, as much as any from the art world, who created an image of Sebastian that was far removed from what he would really have been like, but the image caught on and endured. As an example, Oscar Wilde, in his last years in exile, adopted the name Sebastian Melmoth, the Sebastian coming from Saint Sebastian.
All of this will mean very little to revellers during the Sebastian fiestas, but the story of Sebastian serves as a reminder that behind every saint there lies a legend, and in the case of Sebastian, more than one legend.
* The fiestas of Saint Sebastian (Sant Sebastià) take place this coming weekend, most obviously in Palma. Main events for Palma in English: Wotzupnorth Sant Sebastià Palma 2013
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
To explain the Jarman connection, Sebastian acquired a reputation as a gay icon, largely thanks to Renaissance artists who depicted his all but naked torso with arrows stuck in it. Jarman, a notable activist for gay rights, debuted as a director with a film about Saint Sebastian. What made "Sebastiane" especially odd was the fact that the dialogue was entirely in Latin. Critically acclaimed for its daring, the film was, thanks mainly to the dialogue, all but unwatchable. The film's daring went beyond the Latin; it was ground-breaking in its depiction of homosexuality.
Jarman had taken, therefore, a theme that has long attached itself to Saint Sebastian, a theme that has been entirely the work of the arts world. How easily Sebastian's reputation sits with his current-day status within the Catholic saintly hierarchy, I honestly couldn't say. I would imagine that it would be a reputation that would be disputed, as historically there is nothing to suggest that Sebastian was himself actually gay. Had he been, one suspects he might be looked upon rather differently, but be that as it may.
Sebastian didn't enjoy the best of relations with Rome towards the end of his brief life (he was probably 32 when he died). In the third century AD, Rome had yet to become Christian, and a fanatically anti-Christianity emperor, Diocletian, had it in for Sebastian once he got wind of Sebastian's successful attempts in converting some Romans to Christianity. It didn't help Sebastian's cause that, though he came from what is now France, he was also a Roman soldier. Adopting Christianity was not the best career move that a soldier of that era could have made, and so it proved. His career, his whole being came to an end when he was finally finished off by being clubbed to death, having previously somehow survived having numerous arrows fired into him (hence the Renaissance paintings) on the order of Diocletian.
The martyrdom of Sebastian does not explain how he came to be Palma's saint. To understand this, one has to move forward in time some thirteen centuries after his death and to a period in the sixteenth century when Palma was enduring a great plague.
The story goes that an archdeacon called Manuel Suriavisqui from Rhodes arrived in Palma at the height of the plague, bringing with him a bone that was alleged to have come from one of Sebastian's arms (some say it was from one of his legs). Whatever part of his body it may or may not have come from, the bone did the trick. Its arrival was interpreted as a sign from God, the bone was handed over to the Cathedral, and within no time the plague came to a miraculous end. A hundred or so years later in 1643, a brotherhood of Saint Sebastian having been formed in the meantime, Sebastian was named as the city's patron.
Whether the bone was authentic is not known, but as the plague suddenly disappeared overnight, this would have been taken as a sure indication as to authenticity; no certificate of origin or some such was deemed necessary. And as Sebastian had previous when it came to a spot of plague miracle-working, e.g. in Rome itself, then there was even less reason to question the bone's provenance.
Sebastian was elevated to high rank in the Church's league of saints. Yet there remains, for the Church at any rate, the rather uneasy issue of the gay iconography. Derek Jarman was merely following a centuries-old tradition, one that can be attributed to several Renaissance artists, and one in particular, Guido Reni, who devoted seven paintings to Sebastian. Reni lived with mother but was otherwise a confirmed misogynist and almost certainly a closet homosexual. It was Reni, as much as any from the art world, who created an image of Sebastian that was far removed from what he would really have been like, but the image caught on and endured. As an example, Oscar Wilde, in his last years in exile, adopted the name Sebastian Melmoth, the Sebastian coming from Saint Sebastian.
All of this will mean very little to revellers during the Sebastian fiestas, but the story of Sebastian serves as a reminder that behind every saint there lies a legend, and in the case of Sebastian, more than one legend.
* The fiestas of Saint Sebastian (Sant Sebastià) take place this coming weekend, most obviously in Palma. Main events for Palma in English: Wotzupnorth Sant Sebastià Palma 2013
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Changes anticipated to Pollensa town hall administration
An observation here in line with what I have been saying about the make-up of Pollensa town hall's administration, i.e. that there will have to be changes, now that the coalition between the Partido Popular and La Lliga effectively no longer exists, the consequence of the merger between La Lliga and the Convergència and the infighting that exists between members of these two parties. They should hold another election, as any solution will be unsatisfactory. Crisis, as ever, at Pollensa town hall.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
MALLORCA TODAY - Weather Alcúdia and Pollensa 13 January 2013
No Frills Excursions
Morning high (8.30am): 12C
Forecast high: 14C
Sea conditions (northern Mallorca; Alcúdia and Pollensa bays): Southwest 4 to 5 and at intervals 6, veering during the morning to West and Northwest and easing by the evening to 3 to 4. Risk of rain and storm.
A mainly bright morning with some cloud. Quite mild but unlikely to get that much warmer during the day. The outlook is unstable for the coming week, Sant Antoni Eve looking potentially wet and very windy, but the forecast for the snow line now places this much higher, so seemingly little chance of any falls near sea level.
Afternoon update (17.15): The morning's brightness quickly gave way to a heavy shower. Some spots of rain mixed with sun on a chilly day, a high of just over 13 degrees.
Agony Without Ecstasy: Glosadors
At a Sant Antoni celebration in Muro one year, a friend and I took ourselves away from our group that was assembled at a bar terrace in order to investigate what could only have been described as a God-awful racket. It was being made by an elderly lady and a younger gentleman. She was playing the ximbomba, he wasn't, and they were taking turns in making utterances in a tuneless half-sung fashion. I knew what they were, as I had encountered such utterances before, though not with the "musical" accompaniment. They were glosadors, two of the many Mallorcan performers of the art of the "glosa".
It's impossible to describe glosadors as singers, as they specialise in singing only in the loosest sense of the word. What they aren't, are straightforward verse poets. The glosa can and does veer off at a tangent, an improvisational element being important, as the glosador rarely, if ever, performs alone; he or she is normally in "competition" with at least one other and quite often with several others. The improvisation, indeed the whole performance, can also be aided by alcohol. Some glosadors stick to water in order to lubricate the vocal chords, such as they are, but others can take on board copious amounts of wine or mezcla, so much so that the performances become more like drinking-song contests.
The glosador tradition dates back at least to the nineteenth century when "professional" glosadors emerged who would travel the island to take on rivals in glosa combats. The glosadors, historically, have played an important part in Mallorca's culture, not just because they are part of a folk tradition but also because they were a vital conduit for disseminating information.
Mallorquín, as with other local Mediterranean dialects and lesser languages, used not to be written, and one reason why it wasn't written was because few Mallorcans would have been able to read it. Lack of education and little by way of print media made the written word pretty much redundant. Those who could read were the elite and they wouldn't have been reading Mallorquín, even if scripts or texts had been available. So the glosadors were a means of communication. Their songs could be ribald, but they also provided political and social commentary, with satire an essential ingredient.
The lack of written Mallorquín means that little of the work of glosadors from years ago has been captured for posterity. While some will have been handed down, in the time-honoured fashion by which storytelling is passed on, only fragments will have been. The essence of the glosa was, in any event, of the time, rather than it being folk storytelling. There is an example, however, of a combat that took place in 1944 in Felanitx and which was written down. What is quite revealing about this contest was that it was of course conducted in Mallorquín, and yet it took place at a time when Catalan and Catalan dialects were supposedly banned - for public purposes at any rate. Perhaps it demonstrates that the totality of proscription wasn't as total as is generally assumed. And perhaps it also shows that it was the glosadors who helped to keep the popular use of Catalan and Mallorquín alive before the Franco regime did start to relax its linguistic prohibition.
Nowadays, the glosadors are identified with the politics of language. One of them, Santa Margalida's "Xurí" (most glosadors have nicknames), contributed to a publication in defence of Catalan in which he referred to history repeating itself in Catalan being attacked. The glosadors are, therefore, very much part of the wider movement to defend the island's Catalan culture, and at a dinner ahead of the Sant Antoni fiestas in Sa Pobla, mayor Biel Serra, a member of the Partido Popular who is one of the more sympathetic towards language defence in the party, fought an impromptu glosa battle with opposition political leaders.
The glosa is most certainly an acquired taste. The chances are that you wouldn't have a clue what the glosadors were on about, while the style can verge on the excruciating. But this is down, in no small part, to the fact that the local accent sounds as though it is being spoken/sung by someone who is in agony. This is the nature of the Mallorquín dialect and accent, however. The vocal sound isn't lovely; it isn't ecstatic, it is in pain. Yet for all that glosadors may seem impenetrable to the foreign observer, it should be noted that they play and have played a significant part in the island's culture. Go along and see them some time, and just laugh when the Mallorcans laugh.
Xurí featured in this glosador combat; Xurí is the young one.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
It's impossible to describe glosadors as singers, as they specialise in singing only in the loosest sense of the word. What they aren't, are straightforward verse poets. The glosa can and does veer off at a tangent, an improvisational element being important, as the glosador rarely, if ever, performs alone; he or she is normally in "competition" with at least one other and quite often with several others. The improvisation, indeed the whole performance, can also be aided by alcohol. Some glosadors stick to water in order to lubricate the vocal chords, such as they are, but others can take on board copious amounts of wine or mezcla, so much so that the performances become more like drinking-song contests.
The glosador tradition dates back at least to the nineteenth century when "professional" glosadors emerged who would travel the island to take on rivals in glosa combats. The glosadors, historically, have played an important part in Mallorca's culture, not just because they are part of a folk tradition but also because they were a vital conduit for disseminating information.
Mallorquín, as with other local Mediterranean dialects and lesser languages, used not to be written, and one reason why it wasn't written was because few Mallorcans would have been able to read it. Lack of education and little by way of print media made the written word pretty much redundant. Those who could read were the elite and they wouldn't have been reading Mallorquín, even if scripts or texts had been available. So the glosadors were a means of communication. Their songs could be ribald, but they also provided political and social commentary, with satire an essential ingredient.
The lack of written Mallorquín means that little of the work of glosadors from years ago has been captured for posterity. While some will have been handed down, in the time-honoured fashion by which storytelling is passed on, only fragments will have been. The essence of the glosa was, in any event, of the time, rather than it being folk storytelling. There is an example, however, of a combat that took place in 1944 in Felanitx and which was written down. What is quite revealing about this contest was that it was of course conducted in Mallorquín, and yet it took place at a time when Catalan and Catalan dialects were supposedly banned - for public purposes at any rate. Perhaps it demonstrates that the totality of proscription wasn't as total as is generally assumed. And perhaps it also shows that it was the glosadors who helped to keep the popular use of Catalan and Mallorquín alive before the Franco regime did start to relax its linguistic prohibition.
Nowadays, the glosadors are identified with the politics of language. One of them, Santa Margalida's "Xurí" (most glosadors have nicknames), contributed to a publication in defence of Catalan in which he referred to history repeating itself in Catalan being attacked. The glosadors are, therefore, very much part of the wider movement to defend the island's Catalan culture, and at a dinner ahead of the Sant Antoni fiestas in Sa Pobla, mayor Biel Serra, a member of the Partido Popular who is one of the more sympathetic towards language defence in the party, fought an impromptu glosa battle with opposition political leaders.
The glosa is most certainly an acquired taste. The chances are that you wouldn't have a clue what the glosadors were on about, while the style can verge on the excruciating. But this is down, in no small part, to the fact that the local accent sounds as though it is being spoken/sung by someone who is in agony. This is the nature of the Mallorquín dialect and accent, however. The vocal sound isn't lovely; it isn't ecstatic, it is in pain. Yet for all that glosadors may seem impenetrable to the foreign observer, it should be noted that they play and have played a significant part in the island's culture. Go along and see them some time, and just laugh when the Mallorcans laugh.
Xurí featured in this glosador combat; Xurí is the young one.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
MALLORCA TODAY - Valladolid 3 : 1 Real Mallorca
Mallorca away at Valladolid, who are having a steady season lodged in mid-table. Bringing the on-loan signing, Antonio Luna from Sevilla, into midfield for his first game, Mallorca came under early pressure, relieved only by an effort by Dos Santos. The lively Omar, though, delivered the pass for Ebert to put Valladolid ahead after 20 minutes. Mallorca responded well, and Victor headed in the equaliser eight minutes before the break. Dos Santos almost put Mallorca ahead immediately after the break when his free kick hit the woodwork, and Mallorca were competing strongly during the second period, even if at times they appeared content to hold on for a point, Dos Santos being booked for timewasting as early as the 60th minute. And just when it looked as the visitors would get their point, Oscar put Valladolid back in front with three minutes of normal time left. In added time, Nsue had a goal disallowed for a clear offside, and caution thrown to the wind, Mallorca conceded a third, Ebert sealing the win for Valladolid with his second of the match. Mallorca stay in 16th position on 17 points, though, dependent on later results, they might drop.
Valladolid:
Hernández; Rukavina, Sereno, Valiente, Balenziaga; Rubio, Sastre; Ebert, Oscar (Baraja 90), Omar (Bueno 71); Larsson (Guerra 80)
Goals: Ebert (21, 90+), Oscar (87)
Yellows: Sastre (48), Sereno (59)
Mallorca:
Aoutae; Nsue, Nunes, Geromel (Hemed 89), Bigas; Pina, Martí (Fontás 85); Arizmendi, Dos Santos, Luna (Pereira 56); Victor
Goal: Victor (37)
Yellows: Dos Santos (60), Bigas (61)
Valladolid:
Hernández; Rukavina, Sereno, Valiente, Balenziaga; Rubio, Sastre; Ebert, Oscar (Baraja 90), Omar (Bueno 71); Larsson (Guerra 80)
Goals: Ebert (21, 90+), Oscar (87)
Yellows: Sastre (48), Sereno (59)
Mallorca:
Aoutae; Nsue, Nunes, Geromel (Hemed 89), Bigas; Pina, Martí (Fontás 85); Arizmendi, Dos Santos, Luna (Pereira 56); Victor
Goal: Victor (37)
Yellows: Dos Santos (60), Bigas (61)
MALLORCA TODAY - 350 cars in Palma protest over hire-car tax
A parade of some 350 cars that was designed to bring Palma to a standstill yesterday passed off with relatively little disruption. The action was staged by associations representing the hire-car sector which is opposed to the introduction of a so-called eco-tax on the hire of vehicles.
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
MALLORCA TODAY - Balearics will see minimal growth in 2013
The regional government in the Balearics has admitted that there will be barely any growth of the economy during 2013: at most by an increase of 0.3%. Employment is not expected to show a significant rise until 2014. The region has failed to meet a target of reducing its deficit to 1.5% in 2012, but the government says that the deficit is not as much as 2%.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
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