People Get Real

There was this thing on Five Live the other day. It was about disappointing or overrated tourist sites. Stonehenge - a few rocks in a field; that was the sort of condemnatory comment. It made me think. What are the overrated tourist sites here? There are some which are not. The Calvari walk in Pollensa, if you can take it, is worth it if only for the view once at the top. Albufera, if you like tranquility and bird and wildlife, is a treat of nature, but one not on your average tourist's list of must-sees. Across the island there are many sites - Palma Cathedral is inspiring as are the mountains of the Tramuntana and the run from Soller to Deia and Valldemossa or the arch over the cove at Sa Calobra. But there are places that are overrated or not as interesting as you might have thought. I feel treacherous in saying it, but the Roman ruins of Pollentia are not something you would rush back to see. As chance would have it, there was a recent piece in the "Diario" about a local tourist site that is not only a schlep to get to but is also likely to inspire the question once you get there - "is that it, then?"

Son Real, the necropolis along the coast going away from Son Bauló in Can Picafort, is a not unimportant historical site. There had been a plan to put a golf course on the finca area of Son Real, but the enviros held sway and the local town hall (Santa Margalida) accepted this with what seemed like somewhat grudging approval. The council's endorsement of the tourist potential of Son Real was underwhelming, or that was how it appeared. One suspects they might have quite liked the golf course. Still it is the Balearic Foundation for Sustainable Development that now has control of Son Real and a centre is due to open before the end of the summer. Fantastic. Perhaps it will be as unremarkable as the centre in Albufera; the nature park is wonderful but the centre is not much to brag about.

The necropolis is but one small part of Son Real, all 395 hectares of it, but it is the best-known feature. Its sheer antiquity, further back in time than Pollentia, should afford it a reverential status, but a few rocks by the sea might be an appropriate if Philistine description. The whole of Son Real may have more than just the necropolis and its "prehistoric funeral sites", but is it really going to attract that much hoped-for different type of tourist? How many visitors have there been to Son Real this year? 4,500. How many visitors have there been to Can Picafort and Son Bauló so far this year? I don't know the answer, but take into account that there are nigh on 50 hotels. Are they all trekking off to Son Real? No, I don't think so either. The tourism councillor reckons that there will be 20,000 visitors a year. I also don't know what he bases this on. Perhaps they will include all those school trips, if Son Real is anything like Albufera.

The preservation of Son Real is admirable. I shall doubtless visit - in winter when there is nothing better to do. The golf course idea was ridiculous, not for the environmental reasons but because, like the mooted course on Son Bosc in Muro is unnecessary, it was not needed. But we return to the delusion of the "different" tourist and therefore to the unreality surrounding Son Real. It's good, it's laudable, it's surely right, and it's not going to make any difference. 20,000 visitors. I wonder how many Marineland get in a week?


On a totally different and totally personal note. One of my neighbours died two days ago. Carina. She was one of the first to inhabit the urbanisation. Her house had taken years to make perfect. Her garden was a thing for sightseers. She had first come to the island with her mother who owned a house in Can Picafort. This was at least 50 years ago. The mother's house is still there, something of a ruin, but still in the family. Carina and her husband, who died in the late '80s, bought the plot in Playa de Muro in the sixties when there were no proper roads, no utilities and plenty of sand and scrub. I have seen the photos, the history of Can Picafort when there was barely anything there, when the likes of the Via Suissa were sand tracks to the almost empty beach. I have seen the photos, the history of Playa de Muro, of her house, of her family. Carina's history equates to the transformation of this part of the island, from the complete lack of development to the current-day luxury of the villas and the hotels.

Two days before the stroke that ultimately led to her death, she had done me a favour and driven me to collect my car from its service. It was a filthy day in May. As I got out of her car, I gave her a little kiss and she smiled almost coyly, almost like a child. Apart from seeing her pass in the car the following day, that was the last time I saw her. She was taken back to Germany, leaving the house that she loved and all that history. And yesterday her boyfriend rang me with the news. It fell to me to be the one to break the news to the neighbourhood. Sad news always brings close communities together, but - as an incomer - you don't always appreciate how close that is. And perhaps some will say that Mallorcans do not always embrace those from outside. Not these Mallorcan neighbours. "Buena persona. Buena amiga." For Carina.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Pet Shop Boys, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnMiwRj_C7Y. Today's title - a lesser-known song by another of this blog's favourites; named after a French football team.

(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)