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Military

Boats

The USS Enterprise Visit

By the time you read this, the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) aircraft carrier may have left the bay of Palma de Mallorca, where she arrived last Tuesday with some 6,000 sailors […]

Architecture

Good Vibrations

Last weekend, the Hotel Cala d’Or in Cala d’Or celebrated its 75 anniversary. The building was constructed in 1932 by Mijnheer Veerburgh, a Belgian architect who had fallen in love […]

Architecture

The Cuartel de Son Busquets

Finding your way around Palma de Mallorca, you will probably have come across a number of vast walled-in areas which look perhaps a bit ominous. These are possibly some of […]

History

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 […]

Art & Artists

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 […]

Customs & Traditions

The Peninsular War

In 1807, the French emperor Napoleon moved his troops through Spain to invade Portugal. After feeding more than 100,000 troops into Spain under the pretext of supporting the invasion, Napoleon […]

Architecture

The Crucero Baleares Monument

The controversial monument in Palma’s Plaça de Sa Feixina in memory of the sinking of the battleship Baleares has undergone a complete renovation.  The heavy cruiser Baleares (photo centre) was […]

Architecture

The Castell de Portopí

The Castell de Portopí was built under Rey Felipe III between 1610 and 1612; it became Mallorca’s most substantial fortress. The castle’s name changed soon into that of Castell de […]

History

Time’s Up

It was time’s up for Gordon Brown yesterday, but also for some of Generalissimo Franco‘s heraldic emblems in Palma de Mallorca. Of course, there is no relation between the two […]

History

The Artillery Battery Of Cap Blanc

Throughout history, the island of Mallorca has been concerned with the defense of its coast lines. Naturally, if ever an enemy was approaching, the attack would have come from the […]

Mallorca

Puig Major

Puig Major, also sometimes called Puig Major de Son Torrella, is Mallorca’s highest mountain with a height of 1,445 m, and is the crowning summit in the Serra de Tramuntana. […]

Boats

Viva España

The large monument in Palma’s Plaça de Sa Feixina has been controversial for some time (see my blog entry dated January 25th, 2008). The huge column is a kind of […]

Customs & Traditions

Changing The Guard

A new tourist attraction was created in Palma de Mallorca a few months ago, the recreation of a historical military changing of the guard. I went to Palma yesterday to […]