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.

Serra de Tramuntana

The day before, while looking for parking I noted signs that said keep free for Wednesdays for the market. Oh goody, I love walking through markets and this one is in the town square almost on the hotel's front step. I got up early to check it but they were still setting up. So I had a leisurely breakfast and returned later.

The stalls in the square sold fruits and vegetables, smallgoods, preserves, and confectionery. There was a pottery staff and a flower stall. In side streets, clothing was sold. Most of it was mass produced stuff, but there were artesan stalls offering home knit goods. There were many leather stalls. I read that Mallorca has a thriving leather industry.

It was not only an opportunity for stallholders to get cash for their products but also to catch up with each other. I noticed that a cafe in one corner was the favoured gathering spot. Probably had been so for as long as people remember.

I couldn't resist buying some figs and kaki from a stall run by a couple of ladies, possibly mother and daughter, selling fruit from their garden. From another stall I bought a punnet of strawberries. I refuse to eat most Australian strawberries. They are unripe travesties of what strawberries should be.

I could have spent hours wandering the market but I had to start touring. Maybe next Wednesday. No, what am I thinking. There is no next Wednesday. There is no next time. There is only today.

About 7 km from where the mountain route peels off from the main road, it start to ascend into the Serra de Tramuntana. The road snaked up hairpin bends.  I passed many cyclists. Tough cyclists to be doing these mountains. There were so many of them that there must have been some event on.

Some 30 minutes into the trip I reached Monestir de Lluc. This is an important religious site of Mallorca. Admission was free but they charged for parking, more for tour buses. Sensible; if you come by public transport, there is no parking charge.

It is possible to stay in the monastery, though the facilities are a bit spartan and it's meant for retreat and reflection. But I noticed at the reception that you can buy Wifi access if you must.

These roof tiles were sponsored at 2€ each to replace those damaged by a storm.

There is a botanic garden of native Mallorcan plants. But it seemed to be suffering from neglect as there were no organisation or descriptions. There were no flowering plants so it wasn't that enticing visually. There were a lot of water features in the garden though.

Pressing on, the hairpin curves got more and more acute and the heights more dizzying. I took a side road. My destination was Cala Tuent, a small cove. But the road was the star of the show. At this point, the road engineers had to make the road loop back under itself to change direction by 270°. This picture is the best I could do; it was not possible to stand back far enough to capture the whole loop. A bar is under the arch for people to refresh themselves after marvelling at this feat of road engineering.

This is how the road continues downhill from there. I began to wonder if the cove was worth this scary drive. But I thought, if I don't go, in years to come I will wonder what I missed. So I girded myself and set off again.

I was glad I had a petrol car (a Chevrolet Aveo) instead of a diesel like on Menorca. The engine was more responsive and the handling was better. But I didn't like the shape of the car. The side pillars were thick, obstructing part of the view and the turning radius was larger than I'm used to.

Cala Tuent looks prettier from afar than when you get there. The beach is pebbly and there is very little parking.

The verges of the road were lined with yellow gorse, making it a colourful drive.

After Cala Tuent, I returned to the main mountain road and continued past Georg Blau, a catchment area for Mallorca, to the viewpoint of Mirador de ses Barques. There is a view of Port de Sóller from there and I recognised the cove where I had been over a couple of weeks ago. By now the afternoon haze had moved in.

It was clear that I was over optimistic about driving the whole length of the Serra de Tramuntana route in a day. I would have to do the southern half the next day. When I looked at the odometer, I had covered 250 km. Less 120 km from Palma to Port Pollença twice meant that all those bends had effectively doubled the length of the mountain trip compared to as the crow flies.