Showing posts with label La Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label La Victoria. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

MALLORCA TODAY - La Victoria: Match report

At times, news really isn't news in Mallorca; it is basically a repetition of the previous year with a few words changed. So it is with the fiestas, and that of La Victoria, largely ignored by anyone other than diehard local Mallorcans but probably more authentic than most, gets its annual match report, this year's word changes including references to a cold northerly that meant people left early.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Monday, July 02, 2012

MALLORCA TODAY - Alcúdia giants defy the bad weather

Funny photo with the link here. The Alcúdia giants had waterproofs on when they took part in yesterday's climb to La Victoria as part of the fiestas of Mare de Déu de la Victoria.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

MALLORCA TODAY - Pilgrimages hit by rain

Traditional post-Easter pilgrimages to and picnics at Crestatx in Sa Pobla and La Victoria in Alcúdia were affected yesterday by rain that fell in the morning. Another of the pilgrimages, that to the cave of Sant Martí in Puerto Alcúdia on Sunday, may also be affected as the weather looks unstable through the coming weekend.

See more: Diario de Mallorca

Sunday, August 14, 2011

MALLORCA TODAY - Small forest fires in Alcúdia and Sa Pobla

The regularity with which forest fires have been breaking out in Mallorca has not stopped today. There have been two more today, one affecting 7000 square metres in the area of Crestatx near to Sa Pobla and the other affecting 5000 square metres in La Victoria, the mountain area north of Alcúdia town. Both fires were brought swiftly under control by a combination of fire crews and water-fighting aircraft.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

MALLORCA TODAY - Investment for La Victoria in Alcúdia

The regional government's ministry for social affairs has announced that the government will make available 330,000 euros as investment for upgrading the youth hostel at La Victoria in the mountains to the north of Alcúdia.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Walking Back To Happiness

"I love to go a-wandering ..."

Personally, anyone who wants to go a-wandering or a-hiking or a-anything that requires placing one foot in front of the other for further than it takes to get from the beach-bar to the sea when it's this damn hot needs, I feel, the attention of those who study the brain. But there are those who have a macho and indeed masochistic desire to go a-yomping through the mountain greenery when most sane people are a-floating on a lilo. A whole bunch of them did so just the other day in order to inaugurate the new wandering route that starts from Alcúdia, goes by Coll Baix and then on and past La Victoria. 20 kilometres in all. Insane.

Not that the route is insane as such, just doing it at this time of the year is. Anyway, this new route, with its guiding posts and maps and what have you, has been created at a cost of some 45,000 euros. From now on, in honour of the apparent monthly earnings of a lucky-lucky man along The Mile, this equates to a mere 18 Luckies. Sounds pretty good value to me. It's all part of a programme called "Camina per Mallorca", and so no doubt there will be some promotion at some point that seeks to attract hordes of hikers and ramblers to the island, and to Alcúdia in particular. Not a bad idea - but not for the summer tourist, bar those with an especially hearty bent.

And the attraction of non-summer tourists, or more specifically the need to attract non-summer tourists is aired yet again, this time by ACOTUR, the ones who have started the anti-lucky-lucky men campaign. This tourist businesses organisation reckons that up to 50% of businesses in certain areas of the island are up for sale, the consequence of, you've guessed it, lower spend, all-inclusives, the euro-pound situation and a shortening summer season. ACOTUR's spokesperson pointed to all these factors as being harmful to its members' interests, though he did not wish to sound alarmist. Why not? Some bugger should be standing on top of the local hillside and clanging that alarm bell day and night, except of course he would have the Noise Patrol swoop and check his sound limiter. And talking of which, the Delfin Azul hotel fell foul of the patrol, but are now a-noising again. But this is beside the point. What is, is that business organisations like ACOTUR are just the ones who should be kicking up a hell of a stink, be it lucky-lucky men or the state of the tourism industry, as the latter - and expect this to last certainly into next year - is not a state of happiness.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - James Brown. Today's title - who? Clue: she was a one-time, long-ago teen sensation who then found religion.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Came Down The Track And She Blew

The technical bods have deliberated long and hard and decided that the planned extension of the railway from Sa Pobla to Alcúdia will follow the route of the main road from the motorway. I wouldn't have thought that it would have needed much deliberation. The alternative was to go by Albufera, a route that would be far more complicated and could not really go any further than the old "Es Foguero" place by the roundabout from Sa Pobla, and a terminal there would make it almost Playa de Muro and not the "pueblo" of Alcúdia. A decision has yet to be made regarding the siting of that terminal and, though the report today ("Diario de Mallorca") refers to the fact that the railway line would then go on to link the "pueblo" (the town) to the port and Can Picafort by means of a new tram line, local opinion is that the train terminal would be most likely to be just outside the "pueblo", i.e. by the Horse Roundabout. It might just be feasible to run a line from the roundabout coming into Alcúdia across finca land to end at, say, the roundabout to Puerto Pollensa, but that would just have the effect of making more complicated the laying of the planned tram line, I would have thought.

If it does actually get built, the rail extension could well prove very popular, so much so that some consideration must surely also be given to the number of carriages that one train would carry. A train line from Alcúdia into the centre of Palma would have the distinct advantage for many, myself included, who shy away from driving into the centre of Palma as it is, frankly, something of a nightmare. It would take longer, but it would be considerably less stressful. But the capacity of the trains would be an issue, especially in summer. At present, tourists tend not to use the train (from Sa Pobla) in great numbers because of the obvious hassle with getting to Sa Pobla in the first place; this would all change with a terminal in Alcúdia.

Then there is the proposed tram. To connect with Can Picafort, there is only one way that it could go, and that would be along the main road (the carretera Artà). This would not be without difficulties, one of which would be how to deal with the bridge over the canal from Albufera in Playa de Muro. Short of widening the bridge (which would be no bad thing as it is currently quite dangerous anyway), there presumably would have to be a traffic light system to give the tram priority. In addition, there would be the new roundabouts along the carretera to negotiate; the one at the top of the Mile, which is tight already, should prove fun. Which does of course raise the question as to whether the new layout of the carretera from the Magic Roundabout all the way to Can Picafort was ever conceived with a tram in mind. I very much doubt it. All that development and all that cost, and they'll have to rip it up and start again. I guess that a tram could use the side roads, but there are breaks in these, so the simplest solution would be to go straight down the middle of the main road, which raises the question as to whether the space really exists. The tram line (or lines) by itself (themselves) could probably be accommodated, but then there are the platforms to be taken into account.

Whatever they decide, and God knows how long it would take to build the thing (if it gets done), the presence of a few trams hacking along the centre of the carretera is going to make using a car even more joyous than it already is. Cyclists, people on roller blades, trikes, tourists wandering in the middle of the road and now trams. Sounds like great fun.


And talking of fun. On the WHAT'S ON BLOG, I have added the events for the La Victoria fiesta that takes place on 1 and 2 July. This is one of the most traditional local fiestas, but it is a bit out of the way, and a taxi is advisable partly because of the amount of drinking that goes on on the night of 1 July.


QUIZ
Chain - Ohio to the Ohio Players to the Players Association and therefore "Turn The Music Up". Yesterday's title - Elvis Costello, "Shipbuilding", but here is Robert Wyatt's version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6T9qp9XbRY). Today's title - those who remember Uncle Mac should know this.

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

Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Lonely Goatherd

Hunting, shooting, fishing. The next big thing for Mallorcan tourism. Well not necessarily, but there has been a move in promoting tourism of the “highest” quality in hunting. The mountainous area of La Victoria outside Alcúdia has been awarded a certification of quality for the goats that can be hunted by the Balearic commission for hunting.

Go to the hermitage at La Victoria and you will commonly find goats munching their way through the undergrowth. They wander freely around the place, until that is someone points a gun in their direction. Normally, visitors only go as far as the hermitage, but if you head up the mountain further one of the first things you see is a sign warning you about “dangerous” animals. I fancy there is greater danger from human animals than anything on four legs.

Hunting is not something one might associate with Mallorca, but it is big news – in hunting circles at any rate. The hunting organisation holds an annual event; it was in Alcúdia three years ago. That hunting is popular here should not really be a surprise. Though an island, Mallorca’s history is as much bound up with the land as the sea. Go back in time and, apart from Palma, much of the coast was sparsely populated. It was the land that sustained Mallorca, and traditions in for instance cuisine have their roots in peasant cooking using the produce of the land. Goat is a traditional Mallorcan dish. Among older Mallorcans in particular, the tradition of the land runs deep. Hunting and horsemanship. I know some most unlikely people who are superb horsemen.

By contrast with hunting, fishing is already popular with tourists. Most of this is sea fishing. Requests for information about fishing are something I get quite often. One is, strictly speaking, meant to have a licence, the annual fee for which is pretty cheap – around 12 euros. But it is a hassle to get hold of one. Mostly, therefore, tourists (and indeed others) just get on with it, though the police are quite within their rights to demand to see a permit. One British resident of many years’ standing was caught. He didn’t even know you needed a licence, but you do. And so, I suppose, you also need one for hunting. Presumably if they’re going to promote hunting tourism, the obtaining of a permit will be made rather easier than that for fishing.


EROSKI
My mistake, the streetlights have not been painted red, just the whacking great Eroski pole and sign. Still an awful lot of red though.


QUIZ
Yesterday – Neil Diamond. Today’s title – well it could be a herd of goats, couldn’t it? Anyway, where’s this from? Easy, easy.

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Thursday, October 11, 2007

The Enchantment

It just goes to show. One of the good things about this blog is when someone picks me up on something, offers a different slant. It’s as it should be. So following on from the piece about Barcares, Anne Marie says that it is her “favourite place in the whole world” and that it has a “calm enchantment”.

On reflection, yesterday’s piece was probably a bit of a disservice, an observation made at the fag-end of the season when the weather is not at its best. But also one of the things about Barcares and that whole stretch of coast to Manresa, Mal Pas, Bonaire and then up to La Victoria is that it exists at the opposite end of the spectrum to what most people experience of Alcúdia - which is The Mile. Chalk and cheese.

In a way, you wish more visitors would go to this part of Alcúdia. I can quite understand a sense of “calm enchantment” that, for sure, one would never feel along The Mile. Having stopped off at Barcares yesterday, I then drove up to the hermitage at La Victoria, one of those hairy drives on a narrow hillside road, but not in the real-hairy category of the road to Formentor or, more so, to Soller. And when you get to La Victoria, it’s all peace and total tranquility, mountain goats appearing out of the woods and munching away, the view across the bay to Pollensa one of the finest views the island has to offer.

Anyway, here is a touch of the enchantment and also a scene from the hermitage.




Columbus. Tomorrow, 12 October, is the anniversary of his “discovery” of America. “Euro Weekly” runs an unattributed piece on Columbus this week, noting the anti-Columbus protests aimed at his misdeeds. I take an interest in this because of his iconic status in Spanish history and also because of the ongoing claim that he was from Mallorca (for which there is little more than wishful thinking).

I have had cause to correct the history of Columbus in the past, and the EW article gives similar cause. The implication of the article is that Columbus first landed at Hispaniola or La Española; itself a common claim. He did not. On 12 October 1492, Columbus landed at an island in the Bahamas he was to call San Salvador. He then went to Cuba before La Española. According to the article, Columbus discovered the Dominican Republic, travelling on his way from the island of Hispaniola, today called Haiti. This gives a wholly wrong impression. The island of Hispaniola (La Española) comprised both modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic; they are not separate islands.

The article goes on by implying that Columbus, on his first trip, discovered a “little patch of land that later came to be called America”. He did not. It was on his third voyage in 1498 that he found the mainland (it was Venezuela); and it was only then that he realised that there was a large mainland. On his fourth voyage, he found central America of the modern-day Honduras and Panama. The article continues by saying that at the end of his return journey (by which one assumes the article to mean his second voyage), the Spanish left with 1600 prisoners. They did not. Columbus did order the seizure of 1600 or so Indians in response to a “rebellion”, but only 550 were sent back to Spain (Castile).

I’m sorry if this sounds a tad picky, but it galls me when such inaccuracies are presented as fact.
Where the article is a bit surer is in looking at Columbus’s role in the treatment of the indigenous Taino Indians, which is the basis for much of the anti-Columbus protest. But it is too simplistic to suggest that he was responsible for “wiping out a people”.

Columbus may have been a great discoverer, but he was a lousy administrator who wielded too much power in a generally incompetent fashion. The brutality of which he, and also his brother Bartolomeo, are accused, was partly a result of a failure (or unwillingness) to distinguish between peaceable Tainos and the cannibal Caribes, who were judged fair game even by supporters of the Indians such as Las Casas; it was also a result of some Tainos not being prepared to commit submissively to Christianity; it was also a result of being unable to control the various factions and other adventurers who came to the Caribbean in Columbus’s wake; it was also a result of greed in seeking gold and slaves (a crime committed by many others); it was also a result of the period in history.

The Taino population did decline dramatically, but this is only partly explained by extermination. Many were deported as slaves; many died of various causes, not least the diseases that the Europeans brought with them; many (well women) were taken by Spanish men, and the resultant cross-bred offspring added significantly to the fall in the pure population.

Tomorrow is the day to celebrate Columbus. Good or bad, let’s at least judge him on the whole story and let’s at least try and get the facts straight.

(As before, I would acknowledge Hugh Thomas “Rivers Of Gold” as source for some of this.)


QUIZ
Yesterday - Meat Loaf “Bat Out Of Hell”. Today’s title. Well, bit of a long-shot this I guess, but it’s the title of one heck of an album by which jazz pianist who also once performed a great track called “Spain”.

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