Mallorca – Day 1: Serra de Tramuntana

Flying into Mallorca is a magical experience. As soon as the island draws into view, it dramatically unfurls its rows of craggy mountains into the sea. The peaks occasionally gleam with a patch of sunlight but mostly maintain a dark mien; forming a high range along the northeastern coast, they hold back a barrage of dark clouds from pouring over the southern flatlands. These, the visitor soon observes, are dotted with a host of old windmills: round and quadrilateral, painted and bare, they find themselves in various stages of disrepair.

Once we rented our car in Palma, my dad and I set off for Valldemossa, a quaint town nestled in the Tramuntana range north of the island’s capital. We made this decision at the last minute since it took us forever to agree on our itinerary for the trip. Indeed, we didn’t even book a hotel in advance.

We found Valldemossa windy, cold, and covered in clouds. Although the town itself was undeniably pretty, the weather made it difficult to comprehend why Chopin and George Sand decided to spend an entire winter there instead of visiting a sunny beach somewhere close to Palma. It is no wonder that the composer’s tuberculosis got worse on this trip, especially if he had weather as bad as ours. Due to the holidays, the Carthusian Monastery was closed, so we spent our few moments in Valldemossa walking along alleys and viewing the valley from lookout points.

Our next stop was Sóller. Closer to the sea than Valldemossa, the town is split into two settlements: Sóller proper and Port de Sóller, which are connected by a tunnel facing seaward. The more inland part of Sóller stands in the shadow of the massive Saint Bartholomew Church, whose circular, highly patterned rose window belongs to the island’s finest. Approaching the town, we discovered that many of the roads leading to the centre were closed for the day’s festivities. A lengthy search finally allowed us to penetrate the historical area, and after some clueless driving we even found a parking lot.

We did not stay long in Sóller as its most important churches were closed, though we did find one attraction we had not expected to see: out of order in the winter, the historical wooden trams all stood at the depo. Continuing to Port de Sóller, we took in a few views of the seaside town, now shimmering in the light of the setting sun. The port is rather unremarkable in the winter, but I wager it must be quite a bustling destination in warmer months.

The night fell quickly as we left Sóller. I found this quite discomfiting as much of the winding mountain road still lay ahead of us, and every time we had stopped the car to admire the roadside views, we heard the bleating of fearless and unpredictable sheep. Nevertheless, we plodded on, impelled by the necessity of finding accommodation and a supermarket where I might buy a toothbrush (despite making a note to myself on the previous day, I forgot mine at home).

We reached Sanctuari de Lluc with its Basilica de la Mare de Déu in the evening hours. We knew that the basilica would still be open, and having arrived late, we found it completely empty, the warm shimmer of its carved wood and golden decorations reserved for our eyes alone. Although the festive season has made life more difficult for us in some ways, it was nice to see the aisle adorned with drooping garlands of paper snowflakes. The basilica, we learned from our guidebook, was founded on a site where a young shepherd once found a statue of the Virgin Mary. Despite being brought to a nearby church many times, the statue always mysteriously returned to the place where it was discovered, for which reason a church was built there instead.

Although we knew the sanctuary now functions as a hotel, we decided to continue northwards in the direction of Pollença. We figured that being this close to the northern tip of the island would give us a head start on our morning drive to the cape of Formentor. Our intensive internet search eventually led us a little farther to the east, as all hotels in and around Pollença were either booked out or absurdly expensive. Instead, we found a hotel in the beautiful walled town of Alcúdia. For dinner, I had a tumbet, a vegetarian dish typical of Mallorca that consists of eggplants, zucchini, and red peppers.