The Colegio de Montesión
When my friend Lluís went to secondary school quite a few years back, he went to the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de Montesión, then a boys only school. Nowadays, the […]
The Shoe Making Museum
Mallorca now has a shoe making museum, in Inca, where else. Until very recently, when China captured the market of shoe making and everything else, Inca was big in leather […]
The Studium Generale Lullianum
The making of a university in Mallorca has been in the works for the best of 735 years. Ramon Llull, Mallorca’s wunderkind, philosopher, poet, theologian and mystic, founded the Col·legi […]
Cardinal Despuig
One of the most eminent families of nobility in Mallorca’s history has to be the Despuig family, counting amongst them the Condes de Montenegro and Condes de Montoro. The most […]
Albert Camus and the Balearic Islands
Albert Camus, French novelist and dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Camus was born in Algeria from a French father and a mother of Spanish descent. The mother […]
A Lack Of Harmony
The verdict is out. Frédéric Chopin never did touch the piano (above) on display in Valldemossa’s cell no. 2, nor did he ever put his head to rest there either, […]
Ramon Llull And The Inquisition
Ramon Llull (1232-1315) was a Mallorcan writer, philosopher and mystic. He is considered to be one of the most influential authors in the Catalan language. Some even say that he […]
Hole in One
You probably know better than me that in golf, one talks about a hole in one when a player drives the golf ball directly from the tee into the cup […]
Free-Fall At Es Pontàs
Es Pontàs is an impressive bridge-shaped rock anchored in the Mediterranean Sea near Cala Santanyí. In times gone past, the natural monument has attracted a large number of artists, all […]
The Orquestra Simfònica de Balears
Classical music in Mallorca on a philharmonic or symphonic level was made possible thanks to the love affair of a Korean composer and a young señorita from Mallorca. Eak-Tai Ahn, […]
Palma’s Sa Calatrava District
Do you know the district of Sa Calatrava in Palma’s upper old town? The barrio can be found in the immediate neighbourhood of the Call, Palma’s old Jewish quarters. In […]
The Conquistador
December 31st is Jaume I’s big day, or so we are told. Mallorca had been governed by Moorish Walís since the year 902. Already in 1205, King Pedro II of […]
The l’Estendard Celebrations
Most everybody is probably way too busy with preparations for a decent New Year Eve’s dinner, or party, or whatever to take notice of a quaint little festivity going on […]
The New Felanitx Music School
The old municipal Escorxador (slaughterhouse) of the Ciutat de Felanitx was originally built in 1919 as the town’s first Fàbrica d’Electricitat (electricity plant). The building has been converted over the […]
The Miró Foundation in Palma
Twenty-seven years ago, in 1983, I happened to be spending Christmas in Mallorca when I was shocked to read in the local papers that Joan Miró i Ferrà had died […]
Manacor’s Favourite Son
Rafa Nadal was acclaimed Hijo Predilecto (Favourite son) in Manacor, his birthplace, last Friday. The town’s statutes had to be changed specifically, as until now, such a distinction had only […]
