Southern Tramuntana and Miró Museum

I intended to pick up where I left off the day before, but south of the Palma-Soller line, which I had done on my first day in Mallorca. I intended to refuel in Inca but got held up by a cycling event on the off-ramp so I decided to avoid them by not entering the town at all. Palma is surrounded by ring roads and I wasted time looking for a petrol station, the low fuel light flashing by this time. I also needed to pee. But I finally found one.

I was supposed to take the turnoff for Esporles but missed it and found myself on the highway to Andratx, the southern point of the tour. Oh well, I'll do the tour in reverse then. From the highway I saw many beautiful hillside homes. I wondered how many rich Spanish and expatriates have homes in Mallorca. Andratx is described as a picturesque town but before I could find a place to park I was on the road up the mountains. It looked sleepy in the morning heat anyway.

The southern Tramuntana is greener than the north, and more settled. Houses and farms use terraces to cope with the slope. From a mirador I viewed the blue Mediterranean, but the horizon was indistinct compared to yesterday due to the humidity.

There were many tourists on the same road trip, many of them Germans. This cafe at the mirador was not open which was a pity. I (and probably others) would have liked to have a coffee and view there. Also I was forced to find a secluded spot to pee again. Then I had a mid-morning snack of fruit.

The next town up the coast was Banyalbufar. But before that was a mirador just outside a vineyard.

This part of the Tramuntana is keenly used by hikers, and cyclists of course. They seemed to have taken up all the free parking spaces. Not that there were many to begin with, the road narrows to a single lane in places and traffic has to take turns if there is conflict. So I pressed on to Estellencs. By now I was back on the leeward side of the Tramuntana and it was a unremarkable drive returning to Palma.

I took lunch at Porto Pi, the biggest shopping centre in Mallorca, on the opposite side of Passeig Maritim from the boat terminal. It actually wasn't that big compared to Australian malls, but then Palma is only a small city. The air-conditioning seemed to be struggling in the hot day. At Carrefour I bought a roast chicken and bread which would do me for dinner, as I was tired of the sit-down dinner routine.

Then I went to the nearby suburb of Genova where the Miró Museum, or to give its full name, Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró a Mallorca, is located. This is where the artist worked for the last decades of his life. Previously I had only seen his work in Barcelona. Normally I have little patience with surrealist art, but I like Miró. (I don't even like classical art that much but that's a different story.) I like his patterns and colour, which are often vivid, he being Spanish, because to me they don't entertain speculation about "what the artist meant". I enjoy them for what they are, pure form and colour.

Besides paintings and tapestry there are also sculptures within the museum and in the grounds.

You probably have seen a Miró design even if you didn't realise it. He created a logo for the Spanish tourism board, still in use today. With economy of design he suggests what Spain is to its people and the world.

Another beautiful design is this Woman and Bird mosaic sculpture in Barcelona.

Another part of the site contains the workshop where he worked. He had many projects going at the same time; he enjoyed working that way.

There is a beautiful vista to sea from the gardens.

On the way out I drove through the suburb of Genova. It seemed to be a middle class suburb with nice views of the bay.

After that I called it a day for touring and drove back to Port Pollença to nap until dinner.