Tag Archives: Ciutat

The Church of Nuestra Señora de la Porciúncula

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

The church of Portiuncula in Playa de Palma is really called Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles de la Porciúncula. The temple is also known as Iglesia de Cristal (Glass Church).

The church and its monastic annex were built in 1964 and inaugurated in 1968. Originally, the complex was conceived as a seminary to prepare students for priesthood. Somehow, over the years, the Catholic church in Spain and in Mallorca has suffered a set-back, though, and monasteries, convents, monks, nuns and priests in general are now on the decline. I am not sure where the few candidates who nowadays elect clergy as a professional career are being taught; I suppose it might be at the Seminari Nou round the corner from Carrer de Monti-sion in Palma’s old town.

The Portiuncula church is of a circular shape; its main feature are the 39 stained glass windows designed by Juan Bautista Castro, a painter. The visual effects are quite stunning. You should go and have a look. There is also a Museo de la Porciúncula offering archeological titbits, ethnological oddities and a hodgepodge of numismatic items, recommended really only for its odd eccentricity. If you want to have a look at perhaps 300 maggot-eaten Cuban cigars, this is where you will find them, neatly arranged in glass display cases.

Occasionally, concerts are held here and not only of a religious content. The acoustic qualities of the church are quite remarkable. Again, if you would have the opportunity to attend, I feel you might not be disappointed.

The photos were taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 25th, 2012. The time was 18:52:58, 18:21:09 and 18:30:21, respectively.

Air Attacks Over Palma in 1937

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

75 years ago this week, there were two days of severe air attacks over Palma, coming from the Republican resistance to the military putsch of the Falangist movement. Plenty of damage was caused, including the loss of civilian life, particularly in the boroughs of Santa Catalina and Porta de Sant Antoni, where nowadays Carrer de Sant Miquel and Carrer dels Olms would meet. Palma’s leading newspaper at that time, La Almudaina, reported extensively about the Canallesca hazaña de los aviadores rojos (Despicable deed of the red flying machines), when in reality the attacks were aimed at the commandos of the war planes of Benito Mussolini‘s Aviazione Legionara (Italian Air Brigade, financed by none other than a certain Juan March Ordinas) and the German Legion Condor who had come to the help of the Caudillo‘s (General Franco’s) attempt to overthrow the government of the Second Spanish Republic. The foreign air forces had shortly before attacked Durango and Gernika in the Basque province in Northern Spain. Both, the Italian as well as the German air legions had a major presence here in Mallorca during the duration of the Guerra Civil. The Italian Air Brigade, for instance, bombarded Barcelona with air planes stationed here in Mallorca in March 1938.

Later in 1937, Palma suffered two more bombardments on October 7th, and December 7th, respectively.

Both photos were borrowed from the Internet, the top one courtesy of diariodemallorca.es, and the bottom one, courtesy of nothemingwaysspain.blogspot.com.es. Thank you very much, and

muchas gracias.

The Museo de Mallorca

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

One of the most interesting museums in Mallorca is the Museo de Mallorca. Sadly, this museum is closed for a total overhaul and has been closed for over three years now. What a shame.

But, as luck would have it, somebody had a brilliant idea. A large number of emblematic exhibits from the Museo de Mallorca were moved to a temporary exhibition at the Centre Cultural Sa Nostra, in Carrer Concepció in Palma, and will be on display there until the Museo de Mallorca reopens.

The presentation at Sa Nostra‘s Cultural Centre comes under the heading Essència i Presència del Museu de Mallorca (Essence and Presence of the Museum of Mallorca). The exhibition is composed of three hundred and fifty works, from a selection of periods, cultures and styles, and can be admired from Monday to Saturday, 10h00 to 21h00.

The cultural centre is located in a building known as Can Castelló, dating from the 18th century. The building is worth a visit in its own right for its architecture, its typical eighteenth century courtyard with arches and Ionic columns of red marble, a remarkable staircase and some beautiful ceiling murals from the nineteenth century. Admission is free.

The photo (top) was chosen from my archive. It was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: February 17th, 2009. The time was 13:08:31. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of obrasocialsanostra.com.

Moltes de gràcies.

Protests and Caceroladas

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

Over the last two to three months, a large number of protest activities have been staged all across Mallorca, in places such as Manacor, Alcúdia, Sa Pobla, Felanitx and Palma. The topic of contention was and still is public education or rather, the planned severe cut-backs in spending in the education sector. In all of Spain, budget cuts in education amount to 3,000,000,000 €; the figure given for the Balearic Islands is 30,000,000 €. Just to put things into perspective, may I remind you that the Spanish government has just bailed out Bankia (Spain’s third largest lending bank) to the tune of 4,000,000,000 €, after the conglomerate bank had already received 4,500,000,000 € from the Spanish government just over a year ago.

Yesterday, there were similar protests all over Palma. In the morning, 20 students occupied the office of the Conseller for the education sector, Rafael Bosch. In the afternoon, a few hundred protesters congregated outside the Conselleria de Educación, Cultura y Universidades and in the early hours of the evening, a few thousand protesters assembled in s’Escorxador (see photos). It is said that 100 schools all over Mallorca participated yesterday in protest demonstrations as well.

Often, political demonstrations in Spain and other Latin countries are accompanied by Caceroladas, where kitchen utensils are loudly banged to create a mind-numbing noise. The demonstration in s’Escorxador included such noisy beatings, as did a protest outside IES Ramon Llull in Palma, two weeks ago (see video below).

The photo (top) was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Spain. The date: May 22nd, 2012. The time was 19:35:54. The photo (centre) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, Bartolome Ramon. The video was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of YouTube and Barrumbo.

Thank you very much, and

muchas gracias.

A Thousand Roads to Sóller

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

I reckon that one does not really know Mallorca in all its beauty until one has been to Sóller and Port de Sóller. There are a thousand ways (well, not quite) of getting to that part of the island, a task that not all that long ago proved quite a daunting and challenging one.

Those of us who have children or even grandchildren, have probably already enjoyed the experience of boarding the Palma to Sóller train, leaving from Palma’s Plaça d’Espanya seven times every day and coming back again, five times (see photo centre). Now would seem like a good time to embark on this journey, as the Tren de Sóller has just completed its first centennial. This trip on the old train and its wooden carriages is like a magic journey to the past. There are no longer any excuses for not boarding the train, even though charges have recently gone up, again, to 19.50 €  for adults (14 € for Balearic residents) for the round trip. Up to 1,000,000 tourists take the one hour train ride to Sóller every year, but that should not deter you from enjoying the landscape on the way, especially now when most of the tourists have not arrived on the island yet for this year’s holiday and when temperatures are not hot and scorching.

Of course, you could always take the car to Sóller via the tunnel. The Sóllerics more than welcomed the new Sóller tunnel when it was inaugurated fifteen years ago. This new connection cut their travelling time to Palma down from some 60 minutes to less than twenty; not a mean feat when you are going about your daily business instead of, like most of us, going about our leisurely ways. These days, taking the car to Sóller through the tunnel, which starts not far from the splendid Alfàbia gardens, would cost you a fare of 4.80 € (one way). The Sóllerics are not so enthusiastic at the moment at all as they were promised to have their fares subsidised by the Consell de Mallorca, with tolls being paid in full upfront and subsidies being reimbursed at a later stage. However, these subsidies have not been paid for the last 15 months or so. Thus, the tunnel was recently blocked for hours on end in protest against the high charges and broken promises. Be warned that the Sóller tunnel has one of the worst test results on safety standards, according to the British AA, with 39 points out of 100, even though no accidents have ever occurred.

If you want to see Mallorca and one of its most beautiful landscapes, I would like to suggest that you take the road from Palma to Sóller by car, and up into the mountains along that almost alpine road full of serpentine bends at a length of some 14 km. When I went with some friends up to the Coll de Sóller and down again last week (see photo top), there were plenty of cyclists tackling the challenge. Of course, they wouldn’t be allowed through the tunnel, and the mountain climb is a welcome physical endurance test for them as it is.

You could also get to Sóller from Port de Sóller by tram. Fares have gone up to the ridiculous amount of 5 € (one way) for the ten minute ride, but still worthwhile at least once in a blue moon (see photo bottom).

And you might want to sail from Palma to Port de Sóller, a bit like Junípero Serra in 1749 when he set off from Port de Sóller to Mexico to set up numerous monasteries in Baja California as well as in what is now California, USA.

The photos were taken in Sóller, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 14th, 2012. The time was 14:15:14, 17:08:36 and 18:29:37, respectively.

A Submarine Visit in Palma

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

Not often do we have an opportunity to look at a submarine vessel here in Mallorca. There was a time when such visits were more frequent, during the seventies and eighties, and most of them, courtesy of the US Navy.

Two days ago, a submarine belonging to the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy) docked in Dic de l’Oest in Palma’s port. The vessel with the name of Dolfijn entered service in 1993 and was built at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (Rotterdam Dry Dock Company) in Heijplaat, Netherlands. She has a length of 67.7 m and a beam of 8.4 m with a surface displacement of 2,450 tons. The diesel-electric attack submarine can reach 13 nautical knots on surface and 21 knots when submerged. The Dolfijn has a crew of 50 men and women. The vessel will remain in port until Monday. The Royal Netherlands Navy currently operates 4 submarine vessels.

The Dolfijn had visited Mallorca on three previous occasions, in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

Unfortunately, we will not be allowed to enter the Dic de l’Oest to admire the submarine from close range, I don’t think. Should you have information to the contrary, please let me know.

The photo (top) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es and the photographer, Manuel R. Aguilera. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of dutchsubmarines.com.

Muchas gracias, and

thank you very much.

Good-Bye V. O. S. E.

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

When we came to Mallorca to settle we, by choice, had no TV set. We could not watch any movies in Palma’s cinemas either because they did not offer any non-dubbed movies at that time. We were desperate to watch a decent non-blockbuster foreign film either from Britain, France, Germany, Japan or wherever, in its original version but, tough luck. No such thing here on the island. A friend of ours even thought of going into the movie theatre business himself in order to be able to watch the films he would have liked to have seen in their original version, and by extension, us, his friends. The nearest place where we could watch such films, mostly of the independent genre, was Barcelona, a long way for just a night at the opera, sorry, movie house.

Then, some time in the late Eighties, Cines Renoir started up in Palma at the s’Escorxador complex. We were delighted. Some of the better foreign films we had heard about, now came to Palma as well in their original version (V.O.S.E.) with Spanish subtitles, sometimes even before they were shown in Britain. Over the years we have been able to watch films from India, China, Japan, Korea, Britain, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Egypt, Palestina, Argentina, Mexico; you name it, we saw it.

Sadly, today will be the last day of such pleasures here on the island. Cines Renoir Palma is closing down for good. It seems as though the enterprise has proved to be a loss-maker for the last seven or eight years but, even worse, the movie industry insists on a digitalisation of the movie theatres’ film presentation. Such equipment is said to cost in the neighbourhood of 100,000 Euros per screen. Cines Renoir Palma inaugurated a fourth Sala only three years ago; thus, the total investment would have been near enough 400,000 Euros. If I had that sort of money lying around and spare, I might even chip in. I am sad to see Renoir go. We shall have to buy a TV set now; only joking, we bought one when the children were old enough.

The cinema business in Spain – or anywhere else for that matter – is not in a very good shape these days. I suppose computers, the Internet, pirating, streaming and other contemporary digital contraptions are to be blamed. In Palma alone, two large Multiscreen cinema complexes closed down in the last few years, first Multicines Chaplin and more recently, Multicines Metropolitan. After Renoir‘s closing, only two independent cinema theatres will remain in Palma, Salas Augusta and Multicines Rivoli. The other remaining Multiscreen complexes are internationally owned and under the tight influence of the Hollywood industry moguls. No chance for any V.O.S.Es. I am afraid, whatever Multicines Porti Pi might say. I will believe their promises when I see them.

The photos (top two) were taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: May 7th, 2012. The time was 15:38:15 and 17:50:19, respectively. The photo (bottom) was borrowed from the Internet, courtesy of diariodemallorca.es.

Muchas gracias.

The Oratorio del Temple

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

There must be a good couple of dozen churches in Palma and some of them are amongst the finest. The Oratorio del Temple is such a jewel of a church, albeit of a small dimension, situated in the precinct of Es Temple and dating back to the 13th century. Sadly, the oratory seems not to be in use any longer with the exception of perhaps two church services per year (Easter and Christmas). Access will be granted though for brief visits upon application, or for private functions with a religious motive (weddings or christenings). One simply rings the bell at the rectory.

The old fortified enclosure of Es Temple was known during the Almoravids period as the Almudaina de Gumara and presented a gateway to the city of Medina Mayurqa. At the time of the conquest of 1229, the enclosure was granted to the Knights Templar (the Order of the Temple). The Templars proceeded to build a small church here in the Gothic style. In 1311-12, this military order disappeared at the behest of the Council of Vienne, and possession passed into the hands of the Knights Hospitaller (the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem). The name of Temple was maintained, and what remains of the fortified enclosure today still bears that name.

The church property was confiscated during the Ecclesiastical Desamortización in the 19th century. I am not sure as to when the Spanish church regained possession of the oratory of El Temple; it certainly did and it may well have been at the beginning of the 20th century.

The photo was chosen from my archive. It was taken in Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: September 19th, 2008. The time was 17:42:48.

The Monestir de La Real

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

The Monestir de Santa María de La Real just to the North of Palma was founded in 1235 by designation of King Jaume I, the Conquistador. From 1265 to 1274, Ramon Llull lived and worked there, studying Latin, philosophy, theology and the law. Here, he wrote his first books, Compendi de la lògica d’Algatzell and Llibre de Contemplació en Déu. These treaties were written in Arabic and only later translated into Catalan. I understand that both manuscripts form part of the library that Llull bequeathed to La Real. I am not sure if or how one can gain access to the Bibliotequa de La Real, said to be one of the most emminent ones on the island but I am sure one could find out.

I do know, however, that one can gain access to the cloisters of that monastery. Although the convent appears closed at all times, visitors can ring the doorbell and will be admitted for brief visits as long as peace and quiet are respected. You should consider an excursion to this spiritual oasis, not far from where you might reside.

The photos were taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: April 2nd, 2012. The time was 12:57:11 and 13:11:27, respectively.

Wild Flowers

Posted by mallorcaphotoblog on

If you have lived in Mallorca for a number of years, say ten or even longer, you will not fail to have noticed that there are certain patterns, be that cycles in the weather or a certain rhythm in bird sightings or the blooming of flowers or trees. But now and then you will find that suddenly everything is upside down, or out of synch.

This year, for instance, we had much less than the usual amount of rainfall during February and March. Perhaps the rain will come in May. Wildflowers are usually out in massive appearance during April, as they are indeed this year, but the amapolas (red poppies) usually don’t come out in force until May. Well, this year May is April, or so it seems, at least as far as the poppies (Papaver rhoeas) are concerned. And I can’t say that I’ll complain.

The weather pattern is another thing. It was unusually cold over the last few days with even a hint of snow above 1300 metres. Yesterday, the sun came through again with temperatures rising ever so slightly. The outlook is quite good for the next few days with temperatures rising further from today to hit 20º C by the weekend. I won’t complain about that either.

The photo was taken near Palma, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: April 17th, 2012. The time was 14:33:58.