NEW: Majorca Slide Show!

We gather at the Palma Airport (time to be coordinated after everyone’s arrival times are known – trip cost includes just one transfer for the group) to meet our guide, Rich Strutt, and for the bus ride to Puerto Pollenca (aka “Pollensa”), at the north side of the island, about 2 hours drive. After checking into our hotel, we’ll get together for a brief introduction and orientation meeting, and then Rich will take us out to dinner at a local restaurant (cost included) and a short walk around town, to include shopping for lunch provisions. Our lodgings for the next two nights will be the Hostal Bahia, a small hotel in the Mediterranean style, located on the seafront of Puerto de Pollensa. This old 19th-century holiday house was converted into a tourist establishment in 1960 and was totally refurbished in 2004.

Rich will meet us at the hotel after breakfast for the 20 minute ride to the other side of the bay for the start of a 7.4 mile, 1,440 feet up and 1,440 feet down hike to Atalaya de Alcudia. Our route starts in the coastal area of S’Illot with its much painted inlet. We travel up through the trees to find the Cami des Fontanelles, which we follow until we get to the rugged wide ridge running up to the Atalaya, with clear unobstructed scenery everywhere you look. Our circuit continues by dropping down to the old hermitage, recently converted into an interesting hotel. From here we make for a pine tree clad valley to lead us to our eventual goal Bon Aire, where we meet the van for transport back to the hotel. (If the weather is poor, there is a shorter alternative hike available to Cala San Vicente, where colorful cliffs meet the sea and there are pre-historic caves.) Dinner is on our own, with recommendations from Rich. Overnight at the Hostal Bahia.

We pack up and board the bus with our luggage for the ride to Pollenca town, about 5.5 km inland, for the start of our hike to Lluc Monastery. (The van will continue on with our luggage, which will be waiting for us at the monastery.) We’ll be on our own (unguided) for this popular, sign-posted walk of 20 km (12.4 mile), 1,950 feet up and 800 feet down along country lanes and cart tracks. High in the Tramuntana Mountains, the Monasteri de Lluc is regarded by many as the spiritual heart of Mallorca. It was built in the 17th and 18th centuries on the site of an ancient shrine, where, according to legend, a shepherd boy claimed to have found an image of the Virgin Mary carved in a stone. Pilgrims come every year to pay homage to La Moreneta, the Black Virgin of Lluc. Our simple but comfortable lodgings for the night are in the monastery, where we’ll make our own beds with the crisp linens provided. (A towel is also provided, but bring your own soap – there’s a private bath with shower in each room.) Dinner tonight at a restaurant in Lluc is included.

After breakfast at the monastery we meet Rich and board the bus with our luggage for the 40 minute drive to the Cuber Reservoir, to start our guided walk down the famous Pilgrim Steps to Soller. This hike of about 8.7 miles, 815 feet up and 2,440 feet down, is probably the most popular walk on the island. Every twist and turn of our route from the high mountains down to the sea reveals something special. Along the way we pass through a deep limestone valley and then drop down into an impressive canyon, where we touch on the 16th Century pilgrims’ route to Lluc Monastery. Soller is a town of old buildings, lush gardens and open plazas, surrounded by olive groves and citrus orchards and the towering Sierra Tramuntana. It’s another 3 km (1.9 miles) down to Puerto de Soller, on the rugged western coast, where we’ll be spending the night. We can walk it or take the historic (1912), narrow gauge tram with wooden cars (5 euro, not included). Dinner with Rich at a restaurant in Port Soller is included. Our lodgings for the night will (probably) be the Hotel Generoso.

Rich will guide us on a 6.8 mile, 1,235 feet up and down walk along narrow lanes and terraced groves of orange and lemon trees to the picture postcard village of Fornalutx. Along the way, we’ll stop at Sa Capalleta, a unique shrine built high on the slopes overlooking the busy town of Soller. Its unusual fairytale like appearance makes the climb up to it all the more rewarding. A recently restored pathway leads us on to the village of Fornalutx with its network of narrow cobbled streets, distinctive stone houses with green shutters, colorful flower boxes and well kept gardens, all in the shadow of Puig Major, the highest mountain on the island.  We’ll plan to buy lunch in the village. On the return route we can visit a centuries old olive oil producing factory for a tour (5 euro, not included). We return to Port Soller for the night, at Hotel Generoso. Dinner will be on our own at a restaurant in town, with recommendations by Rich.

We pack up and leave our bags for Rich to transport to our day’s destination. Today we’re on our own for a 12 km ((7.4 mile), 1,560 feet up and 1,140 feet down walk along the scenic Cami de Son Castello path to the village of Deia. The vibrant colors we encounter on this walk make it easy to understand why this part of the world has attracted so many artists and writers.  We walk along lanes and paths full of rich vegetation and a balcony path high above the deep blue Med. Along the way we pass an interesting house called Ca'n Prohom, which was used by the then Queen of Spain, Isabel II, for a visit to Mallorca in 1888. Deia may be the most famous village on the island. Its setting is idyllic, with stone buildings clustered beneath steep, terraced hillsides of gardens and orchards. This was the home of English poet Robert Graves, who died here in 1985 and is buried in the town’s cemetery. Rich will be arranging dinner for us at a restaurant in town, but at our own cost. Our lodging for the night will be the small, quaint Villa Verde Guest House, on a quiet side street in Deia, with great views of the mountains and sea.

We’ll need to carry our luggage the short distance from the hotel to the village main street, where we meet the van for the half hour drive that will take us to Bellver Castle, in a large park high above Palma City. (Our bags continue on to our night’s accommodations.) There we’ll meet up with Rich for a 12 km (7.4 mile), 325 feet up and 910 feet down walk that Rich calls a “cultural” walk. Palma de Mallorca is Spain’s sixth largest city, and this walk is designed to show us the old and new, blended and working together.  We’ll start with a tour of historic Bellver Castle (3 euro, not included) then we walk through woodlands, past some resident parrots, through the lower gates of the park and into the old part of Palma, with its interesting and historic architecture. There will be many shops and cafes along the way where we can stop for mid morning coffee and, later, for lunch. We’ll end our walk at our hotel in Palma (still to be determined as of this writing.) Rich will accompany us to dinner in Palma, cost included.

We’ll meet Rich and the van for the short (20 minute) drive to the Calvia Region and Cap (cape) Figuera, a rugged peninsula southwest of Palma, for a guided walk along the rocky coast, about 10 km (6.2 miles), 715 feet up and 910 feet down. Our route takes us past caves, gorgeous inlets and an old, deserted military base last used during the Franco era, but now inhabited by seabirds. Parts of this coastline clearly haven’t changed since King Jaume 1st, of Aragon, sailed across in 1229 to seize the island from Muslim control. Weather permitting, we’ll finish up at a place to swim in the transparent, aqua marine water of the Mediterranean (bring a swimsuit). Our van will return us to the hotel in Palma, for our final night on Mallorca. Our farewell dinner will be on our own.

After breakfast, we pack up and meet the van for our transport to the Palma Airport, and the end of our Mallorcan adventure.