Mallorca

"Algaida appears surrounded by windmills. It has 1,946 inhabitants and 604 houses, of which 67 are abandoned. A bit farther on, serving as a splendid backdrop, are the twin peaks of Puig de Randa. Seen from here, we can see the horizontal, beveled strata. Except for 23 houses with two stories, the majority of Algaida’s houses have just one. The majority also have a half-point arched doorway, while many feature a beautiful trailing vine at the door.

The new church, dedicated to Our Lady of Peace, is made of stone and fairly large. It has a three-story facade with an attached tower on the right. On the ground floor, the Gothic portal with the seated figure of the Virgin Mary with Child stands out. On the third floor is a Gothic rosette. The square tower rises up above this floor by two stories. The top floor is open with ogive windows on each side. The church’s interior consists of a nave with seven arches, including those up front and behind. They hold up a gothic ceiling on which we can read the dates, 1773 and 1774. A blind ogive window occupies the space between every two arches, and we count up to five Gothic chapels on either side, with simple ribs that intertwine at the keystone. The third chapel on the left is the largest and has a type of elliptical dome. The chapel subdivides into three: the one with the altar in the center and two more, one on each side. Above these is the gallery for the choir. Six round loopholes up high light the place. In front of this chapel is another one serving as a side entrance and holding the Baroque organ. The main altar chapel has a barrel vault ceiling. The altar is golden in color and presided over by the figure of a saint in a niche.

Randa, a town dependent on Algaida, has 412 inhabitants and some small streets with natural paving. There are 53 houses, 10 of which are abandoned. 18 have a single story, and the rest two. All of them have small windows with sills and a half-point arch portal. Some elm and palm trees decorate the surroundings; the palm trees can already be seen from the valley. The church dates only from the last century. Growing next to it is a beautiful hackberry, and, on the right, a tower with ogive windows, a small dome up high and clock rises up. The sacristy, constructed in 1806, is attached to the left. The interior includes a pointed ceiling held up by three arches, one of which coincides with the opening for the choir. The main altar chapel, low in height, also has a pointed ceiling. A portrait of Ramon Llull by the Mallorcan painter, Bestard, presides over the main altar.

To the right is a path with the creek behind it. We finally come to the branch along the left which reaches Montuïri directly. With 1,861 inhabitants and 597 houses, 15 of which are abandoned, Montuïri sits atop a uniform hill with an elongated summit crowned by 16 windmills. The church stands out amongst them. Most of Montuïri’s houses are one-story tall with a half-point arch portal and small windows with sills. Some are more modern in design, however, with large windows and blinds. Old coats of arms decorate old houses, with keel-shaped arches, and found next to the church on Plaça Nova. The church is very similar to the one in Sant Joan, and its layout is the same. The facade has a round window, a Baroque portal and a tower in the same style crowned by a small dome. The interior has a niche-shaped main altar chapel and six small side chapels, including the one under the choir. In the second chapel on the left, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary or of the Communion, the altar is Renaissance in style with a dome up high. In the chapel dedicated to Saint Peter, by contrast, the old, somewhat small altar, once served as the main altar until the church’s remodeling in the 17^th century. In the ceiling, we can read the dates, 1550-1770, while the lintel opposite the Renaissance chapel bears the date, 1643.

We thus reach the plain bordered by the peaks of Puig se Sant Salvador and the foothills that follow. To our right we discover Son Sant Martí and finally enter the small town of Vilafranca which we have been able to see for a long time with its windmills and conspicuous church.

We climb up and enter the town through Carrer de Palma. Vilafranca has 889 inhabitants and 310 houses, 32 of which seem uninhabited. 13 have two stories, and the remaining just one. They have a half-point arch portal, and almost all feature an exuberant trailing vine at the door, in particular, the houses along Carrer de l’Esglèsia, a circumstance which greatly highlights the uniformity and general monotony of these towns in the plain.

The church is elongated and has a square tower rising up to 122.94 m above sea level. The tower is open on two sides with respective ogive windows. The interior includes three chapels on each side, and the barrel vault ceiling is held up by four arches. Above the main entrance where we can read the date, 1804, is the choir and organ. In the small plaza in front is a cross on a conical pedestal."

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.