Air Attacks Over Palma in 1937
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 […]
The Invasion That Never Came
You will probably have seen the bunkers on the beach of Es Trenc, strange and somewhat brutal reinforced dugouts made of concrete. They are a bit of an eyesore. The shelters were […]
Memories of a Dark Past
Yesterday was the 75th anniversary of the assassination of Emili Darder Cànaves (Mayor of Palma), Antoni Mateu Ferrer (former Mayor of Inca, below right), Antoni Maria Qués Ventanyol (founder of […]
The Aeròdrom Militar de Pollença
Mallorca has three airports; did you know? There is Son Sant Joan, there is Son Bonet, and there is an airbase in Port de Pollença. The Aeròdrom Militar de Pollença […]
Prisoners of War Camps in Mallorca
In a blog entry a couple of years ago, I reported about a number of Concentration Camps in Mallorca. Perhaps that term was a bit harsh. Perhaps one should call […]
Ruthless in Felanitx
The largest and most imposing tomb in Palma’s Municipal cemetery houses the remains of Juan March Ordinas and his clan. The Palma cemetery is well worth a visit and once […]
How Mallorca’s Highest Peak Was Robbed of 9 m in Altitude
In 1953, Spain’s dictatorial leader, Francisco Franco, signed a deal […]
The Mysterious Obelisk Towers in Badia d’Alcúdia
If ever you walk along some or other stretch of […]
The Death Of A Tyrant
Whilst Spain’s democracy is busy celebrating General Elections today, November 20th, this is also the date of an anniversary. Thirty-six years ago today, Francisco Franco died, the autocratic dictator of […]
Playing Monte
I don’t see my friend Jaume very often, these days. He’s getting on a bit, being in his late eighties, and he rarely leaves home any more. There were times […]
Contraband in Cala Murada
Cala Murada on the East Coast is as strange a place as you will ever find in Mallorca. When I first went there, some thirty years ago, elderly people sat […]
Sleeping Rough
More people than ever, certainly more than over the last 35 years since Franco died, are sleeping it rough on the streets of Palma. Some have even made the Palma […]
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 […]
The Ni-Ni Generation
Spain is a very particular country. Having lived here, in Mallorca, for close to 24 years I cannot but notice that everything and everyone everywhere is different from anywhere else […]
The Muro de la Memoria
Last Friday, a memorial was inaugurated for the henceforth unnamed victims of the Guerra Civil (Spanish Civil War) in Palma’s Cementerio Municipal (municipal cemetery). I went to the cemetery yesterday […]
The Spanish Second Republic
Eighty years ago this week, in April 1931, the Spanish Segunda República (Second Republic) was proclaimed. Earlier that year, King Alfonso XIII had abdicated as a consequence of massive civil […]
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