Mallorca

"In this town of 1,195 inhabitants, there are a total of 412 houses, and all of them, except 20 are one-story tall. The majority have rectangular doors and windows painted white, except for the frames. The others are painted except for the posts.

Lloseta’s church, a suffragan of Binissalem’s, was founded by Arnau de Togores in 1232, the same year King Jaume I the Conqueror made him lord of these lands with the title of Baron of Lloseta. The church has a square-shaped base and octagonal finish at the dome with rustic lateral columns, rising up to 183.75 m above sea level. It has a rosette on the main facade. The interior is shaped by an elevated barrel vault ceiling held up by six arches with triangular, wedge-shaped ends. The columns rest on a cornice supported by four pilasters with rustic capitals. The main altar chapel, in the shape of a niche, still conserves the ancient image, generally hidden by a curtain representing both Arnau de Togores and the shepherd who made the prodigious discovery. There are four half-point chapels on each side, including the one occupied by the entrance to the church. All are held up by smooth, rustic pilasters.

We soon come to the Mare de Déu del Cocó church, barely one kilometer from Lloseta. The current Count of Aiamans and the Baron of Lloseta, Pascual Felip Sanglada Ballester de Togores, had it built on the same rock under which the statue of Our Lady of Lloseta was found in 1232.

Binissalem, with 2,577 inhabitants and 795 houses, 29 of which are uninhabited, is one of the most important towns on Mallorca. It’s found on the plain but so close to the mountain’s foothills that we’ll talk a lot about said range when referring to the town. What locals from the Balearic Islands know this town especially for is the quality of its wine, produced in large quantities and considered to be the best on Mallorca. The same is said of its dried figs, treated with special care and recently the object of export. The town’s houses bear a flat seal with the date of their construction. Most consist of two stories, 683 total, while 77 have three and only 35 have one story. Their portals tend to be half-point or segmental arches. Their doors are rectangular, and the windows have projected sills. Many of the houses have been built with sandstone blocks, and some have a type of atrium supported on pillars which generally serve to tie up the beasts of burden. Most of the houses open onto unpaved little streets.

There is an old house on Carrer del Trui which people erroneously date to the time of the Moors. It has a rustic half-point arch, three Renaissance windows crowned by conical canopies, also present on three corners of the house. It belongs to Rafael Pons.

To the left of the church is a five-story tower, the top one with two ogive arch windows and pyramid-shaped crest. The interior stands out amongst all the island’s rural churches for its beautiful presence and marble decoration. This church is amongst the best, without doubt. The material used is pure marble and jasper from Mallorca, the majority mined from the nearby quarries. The layout of the church is the Latin cross. Four arches joined at the sides hold up the main nave. The ribs cross and meet at their corresponding keystones in the grey stone dome. Above the transversal nave is the large dome which is octagonal on the outside. It’s held up by eight ribs, with circular windows at the top and various frescoes. A solid pink marble cornice circles the entire church on massive grey marble columns polished locally. Three of these belong to the long staff nave of the church, with pseudo-Romanesque capitals. The others are found in the four corners of the transversal nave and pertinent side chapels. On each side of the main nave we find three chapels with half-point arches starting atop pilasters with capitals similar to that described. The altars, as is habitual, date from the 18^th century. The marble main altar is particularly ornate, imitating the one in Palma’s Seu (Cathedral). In no way is the altar in the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Catalina Thomàs inferior. It too is made of marble and has numerous bronze decorations.

Binissalem connects to Alaró by means of a good road. To get there, we leave the town on Carrer d’Alaró, quickly crossing through two beautiful almond groves.

Farther up and to the left of our path is a new fountain next to the mouth of the creek on the right. In front we have a view of Puig de l’Alcadena and then Castell d’Alaró castle.

Alaró has 3,577 inhabitants and is divided into two districts separated by the Torrent de Banyols: Sa Vila d’Amunt and Sa Vila d’Avall. There are 999 houses total, 95 of which are uninhabited. Almost all of them, without exception, consist of a single story and have rectangular doors and limestone doorframes. We hardly see any half-point arch portals. They have windows with a relatively prominent sill. Some have a type of upper tile sill serving to keep the water away. There are also more modern houses and some with two stories in which a stone cross on a conical pedestal welcomes visitors at the entrance.

The church has an 18^th century portal and a beautiful rosette similar to the one decorating the Binissalem parish church. Attached to the left, is a covered, rectangular tower, without any adornment whatsoever. The interior ceiling is supported on seven half-point arches with simple ribs which cross in the dome and held by the keystone. The main altar chapel is very big though it narrows at the back, while there are six-half point arch chapels on either side of the main nave. The chapels have a tympanum sticking out to finish each arch. The fourth chapel on the left is occupied by one of the entrances into the church and above which is the organ.

On one of the ends of the town of Alaró is the path which climbs up along barren, rocky soil to the “castell” (castle). We cross through beautiful olive tree plantations and pass by the old Son Penyaflor house. The path surrounds and then crosses over the spring found here between large stone blocks. We now find ourselves at the start of a winding path which climbs up along the lower foothills of the promontory occupied by the castle. The slopes have been terraced and are full to the brim with olive trees. We reach the back part of a “toma” where the Holm oaks are, and, walking along the rocky wall, we reach the castle. The Holm oaks alternate here with pine trees, while rockrose and reeds populate underneath. This is where the Stations of the Cross begin. A bit farther, we come to a place from which we can perfectly see the two towers and the covering joining them.

The door has solid iron hinges and is protected by three arrow-slits. Next to it is the path heading to the town of Orient. A staircase leads us to the tower which we access through a half-point arch in front of another, ogive-shaped entrance. From here we access the corridor with battlements extending to the end of the fortified promontory and crowned by a tower with barbican overlooking the great rock found a top a cliff.  On the summit of another elevation is the hermitage. Inside the tower, a small Holm oak grows with difficulty, while several loopholes guard the entrance. We thus reach the small church dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Refugio (Our Lady of Refuge) and perhaps belonging to the old fortress as considered a sanctuary since time immemorial. There were several hermits settling on Puig d’Alaró, though exactly when is not known. In front, the church has a portico with half-point arches and two octagonal columns which provide side support for the tiled sill. The small and modest chapel has a marble altar surrounded by 18^th century images serving as a court for the small wooden statue of the Virgin. Above is the following inscription: “Refugium peccatorum”. The sacristy preserves a portrait of the hermit, Joan Mir, who lived 48 years in Alaró where he was born and then in Trinidad where he died in 1688 at the age of 48(¿¿??) years.

A path descends amongst Holm oaks from the church to the hermitage, founded apparently by Mr. Joan Coll de Bunyola and dedicated to Our Lady of Refuge. Farther down, the Holm oaks cede to pine trees. We continue along an abrupt, open path amongst pines which hide the forward tower of Sa Cova. Next to the latter, a cut in the rocks allows the Cova de Sant Antoni cave to receive light, its entrance found lower down.

Next to Cova de Sant Antoni is another, very small one. From the tower balcony there is a splendid view of the plain to Alcúdia Bay, along with the peaks enclosing the latter and the towns that dot them. In front, are the sheer walls of the mountain. The tower overlooks the summit, forming a square with an edge sticking out. From the terrace we can see both Palma Bay as well as the distant Cabrera.

The panoramic view of the stony colossus of the castle and Alcadena from a small elevation transformed into a garden is simply extraordinary, encompassing also the plain with Puig de Randa and distant Palma and its bay.

A road climbs up to the grand Solleric house, with large plane trees at the entrance and which belongs to Morell.

A picturesque wooden bridge with iron parapets crosses over the torrent cutting through the path. Its banks are densely populated by hackberries. To the right, at the foot of the castle, we see Son Cladera; to the left are Son Verga and s’Alcadena with Puig de Son Grau in the background. Before us rises the massive presence of Puig de s’Estorell and Puig de Lloseta. After passing the last cairn of Alcadena, our view can take in the magnificent extension of s’Estorell with its farms and houses on the left. The path continues along the foothills of Alcadena, and we soon discover a house in ruins followed by two more. The first of these, Son Cocó, is found between black poplars next to a stream which crosses the entire valley. The second is called s’Hort Nou. We finally reach the path that climbs along the right bank of the stream dotted with large stone blocks amongst which some solitary Holm oaks grow. A bridge with a rounded arch and a walled walk leads to the s’Hort Nou house with its garden of orange and fruit trees at its feet.

We descend a hollow which leads to the valley of Solleric where the Tossals Verds is found. An easy-to-cross pass opens up high. Behind it we can see the peaks of Puig de Massanella. The Tossals house with its small, domed “aljug” cistern in back is like a privileged lookout point over the valley of Solleric, Puig de Sant Miquel and Alcadena. We cross over a separating wall and the hill and admire the valley of Almadrà. We then head towards Coll des Rafals de Massanella through a forest of pine trees. After crossing over two streams we reach the Es Rafal house, the surroundings enlivened by the water of a small spring. In front of the house, a walnut tree rises up. A trailing vine decorates the door from which there is a particularly beautiful panoramic view of Massanella and the plain up to Coll d’Artà, Bec de Ferrutx and the towns of Selva, Búger and Campanet. A smooth climb down allows us to contemplate the succession of notable groups of houses in Massanella to the left, in Inca, Sant Onofre, Bonany, Sant Salvador, Monti-Sion de Porreres and Randa. The path to Mancor, now close by, descends at the bottom of a hollow which opens towards Inca but a bit farther to the east."

Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria. Las Baleares por la palabra y el grabado. Majorca: The island. Ed. Sa Nostra, Caja de Baleares. Palma de Mallorca. 1982.