Not all of the front line is uniformly in kit form, some of it is even quite attractive (all things being relative of course), but many of the bars and restaurants have been constructed (a word used in its widest and most liberal sense) from a design that does disservice to the word design. There isn't any in other words, other than the build-by-numbers approach of large floor space with usually brownish tiles (to disguise sand no doubt) enclosed by aluminium-framed glass windows. There is some disruption to this monotony - the use of wood for example - but otherwise Can Picafort's front line pays homage to a kind of Henry Fordist principle. Rather than any colour so long as it's black, it's a case of any type of restaurant so long as it imitates a barn with all the character of unicolorific mono-dimensionality.
I once read a short review of Can Picafort in which the reviewer referred to its "Spanishness". So surprised was I by this that I was prompted into writing an entire series of articles that attempted to define Spanishness. If Can Pic's front line is indeed representative of Spanishness, it is one that has been imported and moulded according to a cultural imperialism that re-draws whole landscapes and architectures. There is a feel of the English seaside, a chav traccie-bottomness, an understated presence of lowlife, a Jack-the-lad fairground dodgemness and Hyacinth Bucket B&B landlady pretensions of social class way above actual status.
Such Spanishness is there that the names of the restaurants are internationalised. Niagara, Jamaica, Hawaii, Chocolate. It is the anytown, anyresort approach. Front line like an industrial estate of unit homogeneity.
However, I have a penchant for industrial sites as I also have a penchant for the kitsch, the camp, the kiss-me-quick, the post-modernist naffness of much seaside. It's why I defend Alcúdia's Mile. Yes, it is pretty abominable, but this is why I like it. The irony is that from the apparent veneer of a lack of character, character comes tumbling out. It is an example of making something out of nothing. The nothingness of architecture creates a vacuum. And as vacuums are abhorred, something has to fill them.
Can Pic's front line is similar. A lack of ostentatiousness breeds an honesty and a seaside integrity. It is seaside for purpose, not for show. Front lines adorned with the chic have an untouchable aloofness. They are to be admired rather than enjoyed. They are like the show houses that some choose to live in, those which demand you remove your shoes before even crossing the threshold. They are not built for comfort but for esteem.
In the agenda of the regional government's desire for resorts to be modernised, you would have to place Can Pic's front line very near the top of the list. But there is a reason why it conveys the impression of much of it having been jerry-built. This is because it has been. The beach is not deep in Can Picafort, so the sea is close. And in this part of the bay of Alcúdia, the beach and the front line are totally exposed. Buildings themselves are exposed to inherent design faults, not just of a lack of design but of having been plonked on what used to be there to protect the coast from the full force of nature - the dunes.
Though efforts have been made to stop or to reduce the flooding and the sand being hurled inland in winter, the proximity of the front line to the sea determines the nature of its constructed inhabitants. It is front line therefore with an additional purpose - one of not being so daft as to put something up of sophisticated opulence that is going to be given a thorough beating by the weather and by nature.
Of course, they should never have put the front line where it is. Even the maddest of urban planners must now concede this point. But it is where it is and it's not going away.
In winter, Can Pic's front line is stripped of any hint of grandeur. Yet it isn't without a splendid fascination that comes from being unremarkable. Yesterday morning it was all but empty. But it is emptiness which allows you to see somewhere as it really is.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
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