Eyeless In Alcúdia: A cave, a ranch and some apartments

If you take the right turn by the traffic lights close to the auditorium in Alcúdia, the road heading past the cemetery and down to the horse roundabout, as you negotiate the bend there are various signs. Some of these are billboards, Wind and Friends, Bulldog Clothing, but there is also a much smaller road sign, its pink or purple or whatever colour washed out by the sun, in rather similar fashion to the way in which the sculpture of the horse on the roundabout has been beaten by the weather, turning it a salmon colour, thus adding to the debate as to whether it really is a horse or not.

This smaller sign I had never noticed. Until yesterday. It is for the "Cova de Sant Marti". The Sant Marti cave. Positioned quite some distance from the cave, a good four kilometres or so, I wondered if there were further ones to advise the driver as to the trail of the cave with its icons. There weren't. None that I could see, anyway.

Why direct people to the roundabout? Because that's about as far as you would get before giving up or winding down the window and asking a cheery local for directions, one who would - in all likelihood - have no idea what you were talking about. If there is one sign, then there should be several. Especially as the cave is meant to hold such importance in Alcúdia's heritage. But the absence is indicative of the half-hearted, impractical nature of promotion, as opposed to that which may find its way into local tourism literature, and even with this I'm not sure that the cave does actually get much of a mention.

For many, its existence is unknown, including those who live locally. This may have to do with where it is. Middle of nowhere in truth, stuck between Bellevue and the bypass by the mountain. Its unknown presence is nothing new. When I spoke with Jan at the Jolly Roger about the "good old days", she mentioned that the girls - Joy and Julie - used to go and play at the cave and that few others, at that time, seemed to know that it was there.

By coincidence, I was later at the ranch in Puerto Alcúdia - Rancho Ses Roques. A place, a bit like that road sign, I had been unaware of in terms of what lies behind the entrance building and stables. A small zoo, a magnificent white stallion, cows which look like they are advertisers-cartoon moo-moo's promoting butter and full-fat milk. Hayley said that they take riders on a horsey excursion past the Sant Marti cave, hence the coincidence. It would probably be the only way these riders ever become aware that it is there.

Unlike the cave, the ranch is well-publicised. Therefore, it's a mystery to me why it is such a mystery - to me. Not quite so much now, though. Its rural ambience, lying by the old "cami" road, and close to the karaoke and lager of The Mile, seems a peculiarity of juxtaposition. But there was something else about this short visit to the ranch. As I walked towards the entrance buildings, I happened to look across to my left. It was a stunning sight. Nothing particularly beautiful. Quite the contrary, really, but impressive nonetheless. The Siesta 1 apartments building. The sight stopped me in my tracks because I had never seen the apartments from this angle or distance. The impression, close up, is of a tower with arms off; it's an illusion. My familiarity with the apartments is such that I have always classed them as only slightly better than hideous. But this new view changed all that. The different perspective was magnificent, and reinforced the impression, when speaking with Jan, as to the dramatic changes to the landscape that had occurred almost forty years ago. From where once was nothing came the Siestas and Bellevue. And their brooding imposition, today, only serves to remind us of what once was but now seems to be being taken away.

There are things that you have never seen - in Alcúdia, Pollensa, wherever. And some of these things can still astonish. Small signs, stallions and Siestas. Just one day, once more.

(The photo shows the Siesta 1 apartments, taken from Ses Roques.)


Alwyn - Gavin's At The Port
Just a note to say that the mightily well-liked Alwyn, Gavin's dad, is doing well after his heart attack a few days ago. Gavin reports that he is "ok", which is a relief. Speedy recovery, Al.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.

I Saw The Sign

The will it close, will it not close confusion continues regarding the frontline road from Llenaire into Puerto Pollensa. There was a letter to the "Ultima Hora" newspaper the other day about the projected closure and also about the new bypass. Unfortunately, it was in Catalan, but I get the gist. Lack of information as to the exact plans of the town hall, was the bypass really necessary; that sort of thing. It also mentions, as I pointed out a while back, that there is a sign at the roundabout as one comes from Alcúdia that directs traffic into the centre along the very road that is meant to be closed at some point. In other words, it doesn't direct traffic along the bypass, unless, that is, you want to go to Palma perhaps.

I have been along the bypass a few times now. It's a joy. There's hardly any other traffic. Of course there will be if the coast road is closed, but if it isn't, then the letter-writer's complaint as to the destruction of the area around Llenaire, brought about by the hugely expensive bypass, has some substance. As for that sign, a few days ago there was a sort of blue bin-liner affair attached to it with an arrow pointing towards the bypass. I presume that it wasn't official, and that some wag had put it there as a way of making a point to the town hall (or whoever is responsible for road signs). Even if the frontline remains open, why not send traffic along the bypass? You can get to the centre just as easily; more easily in fact. Anyway, this temporary bin-liner sign is no longer there, and just to emphasise how much the town hall recognises that everyone is still of course using the coast road, there is another sign, a damn great big one across the road that announces this weekend's fisherman's fair in Puerto Pollensa (see the WHAT'S ON BLOG - http://www.wotzupnorth.blogspot.com - for information).

They seem to have a bit of a problem with road signs here. The classic road sign that isn't a road sign by the Hiper supermarket in Puerto Pollensa is one of the finest examples. What it is, is a warning road sign, intended to tell you to get into lane for the real road sign at the lights some 100 metres further along - around a slight bend, so conveniently you can't actually see that there are other signs and a junction. What happens therefore is that the uninitiated slow down or stop, get confused, cause the driver behind to get mad, and then maybe proceed or go left or right, which is not what you should do.

Then there is another bypass. The one that goes at the back of Bellevue in Puerto Alcúdia. This road is similarly lightly used. It may take you out of your way, but in summer it is much quicker to use it than crawl along the carretera in order to get into the centre of the port or to go to Alcanada or the old town. The only problem is that the sign at the roundabout directs traffic to Palma and Sa Pobla, which is fair enough, but it neglects the bypass possibility. Moreover, at the next roundabout the sign for Palma directs you along the road to Sa Pobla, the old one by Albufera; the old one with that bridge where it is one-way traffic. What it does not do is direct you along the bypass to Palma, which is by far the simpler route. As one enters Alcúdia from the motorway, the bypass is similarly poorly signed. It says Can Picafort and Arta. Again, this is fair enough, but it fails to therefore inform the driver that this is the road for, for example, Hidropark and Bellevue, to say nothing of Playa de Muro. For the tourist especially, these signs are, shall we say, less than useful.


WHAT WAS YESTERDAY?
The day England became World Cup favourites? Bloody hot, the consequence of all that air being sucked in from Africa? Well, one of these. It was also the "day of the tourist". If you are a tourist, congratulations, you have a day named after you. It was Puerto Alcúdia's day of the tourist. Did anyone know? Anyway, there were sports, arroz brut (bet that went down well with the Bellevue crowd), and musical "spectaculars", among which was a performance by the omnipotent Beatles tribute - Beatlejuice. And they are omnipotent. Everywhere you go, these non-lookalikes are to be found. With the greatest respect to some friends with whom I spent an evening being serenaded over a meal by said Beatlejuice, I found them singularly underwhelming. They liked them. There again, I'm none too taken with most, if any, tributes. What do I know. There again, I'm not a tourist. Wasn't my day.


AND WHAT IS TODAY?
The day for a hangover after England's glorious victory? The anniversary of you know what? Both. It also marks a 600.

Mention of those signs by Hiper brings me to the fact that this entry is the 600th on the blog. One of the earliest entries spoke about these very signs. You won't find that entry any longer as I've started a process of deleting old archives. The blog's just got too big. Accordingly, the stuff for 2006 now starts in July of that year. Some of the old stuff may well be worth revisiting at some point and re-doing. Anyway, as this is number 600, I'd just like to say thanks to all of you who come here. I had never anticipated that making entries daily back in October last year would have had so much impact. I have had those who tell me they are "too addicted" to the blog or who look at the blog as the first thing once the computer has been powered up. It is quite nice to know that. It's also nice to get comments that the blog is "refreshing", "very good incisive stuff" and an "antidote to some other sites where the sun always shines on the sangria". So to all of you, once again, thanks a lot. I very much appreciate your time in both reading the blog and contacting me. Do keep sending your emails, comments, observations, disagreements, and answering the odd quiz question. Which brings me to ...


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Racing Cars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7xEfNrXOLg). The vocals on the video are not very clear. Today's title - Swedish.

Oh, and today is also someone's birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAREN!

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