One does not often have the opportunity to climb up to the sanctum sanctorum of a Mallorcan belfry, but yesterday was my lucky day.

I have a thing about churchbells and bell towers; in fact, I might have told you this much before. I have been interested in climbing up to see the bells of the parish church in Felanitx for a number of years now. My repeated requests had always been well received and agreed to in principal, however, there had always been some excuse or other as to why not next year, or why not during the summer, or why not when the festivities are over and done with. I might easily have given up. But no, perseverance made me succeed in the end, and yes, yesterday I was finally invited to climb the 33 metres of the Campanar de la Església de Sant Miquel in Felanitx, and there they were.

I was impressed. For some reason, I had expected to see six bells, but there were but five. Each bell has a name, N’Eloi, Na Cor de Jesús, Na Extremuncío, Na Combregars and Na Vespres, and each one has a specific function. The biggest of the Felanitx church bells only rings four or five times a year, on special church holidays such as Good Friday, Corpus Christi or Christmas. Another bell is only rung for a funeral. Only two of the five bells are rung on a regular basis and for each and every church service. N’Eloi, the biggest of the Felanitx church bells, was founded in 1680 and is now 330 years old. Quite impressive, really. N’Eloi is the top one of the two bells in my photo, in case you are interested.

The photos were taken in Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: October 30th, 2010. The time was 12:18:36 and 18:30:01, respectively.