The End Is A New Beginning
Is it the end of an era or is it the birth of a new beginning? After 38 years, Palma’s persona grata Toni Llabres has finally thrown in the towel […]
Understanding Etymology in Felanitx
This photo blog cannot aspire to educate about linguistics or the dogmas thereof. Instead, the blog intends to portray Mallorca in a comprehensive, all-embracing, perhaps encyclopedic manner. I am constantly […]
The Goods Train in Palma’s Underbelly
Right underneath the Cathedral, an intricate tunnel system connects what used to be Palma’s harbour with the Plaça d’Espanya where the train station of the Ferrocarriles de Mallorca was situated. […]
The Mallorcan Possessió
A manor house with agricultural land in Mallorca is called a possessió. There are a few dozen of those around here on the island, all competing in their splendour and […]
The Festes de la Patrona in Pollença
If I had to choose my favourite Mallorcan festivity to recommend to a friend or visitor, they would probably be either the Pi de Sant Antoni in Pollença (in January), […]
The Da Vinci Code
I do not have many regrets in my life; nothing serious, anyway. But, I wish I had learned Latin. It was never offered to me; I never went to that […]
Crushing Grapes
The first grapes of this year’s crop are ripe now. They are mostly grape varieties suitable for eating. The vines earmarked for winemaking are in their last throes of maturing. […]
Civis Pollentinus Sum
These days, Alcúdia is celebrating the Festes de Sant Jaume, as are Santanyí, Binissalem, Calvià, Manacor, Algaïda and Muro. It’s a shame really that we can’t be everywhere at the […]
Rice-Growing in Mallorca
I am constantly amazed about things one can find in Mallorca that I had never imagined to find here. Like rice-growing, for instance. Believe it or not, rice was cultivated […]
18 July 1936
July 18th, 1936, was a fateful day, when the Spanish Guerra Civil (civil war) began 75 years ago today. Actually, the putsch had started the day before, on the 17th […]
Oyster Beds in Mallorca
Yesterday, my friend Lluís asked me quite nonchalantly if I liked oysters. As it happens, I do. Mind you, I did not think that now, July, was the best time […]
Oh When The Saints Go Marching In
In Mallorca, there are saints and village fêtes dedicated to them, all through the year. Somehow, though, it seems that in July there is an even bigger concentration of saints’ […]
Maioric Regi Munus
Llucmajor is historically important for a date in 1349 when a battle was fought at the Camp de Sa Batalla near the village between King Jaume III and his brother-in-law, […]
The Paris Meridian
In 1718 and thus, long before Greenwich, the Paris Meridian was established as the Prime Meridian (Zero Meridian) to map the world. In 1666, King Louis XIV of France had […]
Mysteries of Talayotic Mallorca
Not very much is known with certainty about Mallorca in prehistoric times. Many mysteries surround the Talayotic period. According to the book Tuhfat al-Arib fi al-Radd written in 1420 by […]
Mallorcan Parish Churches
You will find that in Mallorcan pueblos it was quite common to rebuild and replace their parish churches over the centuries. Normally, the new church outclasses the previous one in […]
