Mallorca Travel: A Vintage
Train Ride to Sóller and Explorations of
the “Costa Nord” – Mallorca’s
North Coast
I woke up to another day of gorgeous sunshine and
took a seat on our spacious balcony at the Torrenova
Aparthotel complex. The surrounding view of the
Mediterranean was astounding and I still could not
believe that we had lucked out with this beautifully
located water-front hotel after booking it extremely
inexpensively over the Internet.
The train station for the Ferrocarril de Sóller
in Palma de Mallorca
Shortly before 10 am we drove on the coastal highway
to Palma and my friend dropped me of at the Estació
Intermodal on Plaça d’Espanya. My goal
today was to take the historic train ride on the
famous Ferrocarril de Sóller to the mountain
town of the same name. This railway line was constructed
in 1911 and opened in 1912 with the profit from
the orange and lemon trade that was flourishing
in the bowl-shaped mountain valley of Sóller.
The historic train of Sóller, the "Red
Arrow"
The vintage electric train was already parked in
the Estación de Palma and when I arrived
there at 10:40 virtually every seat in the train
was taken. While this narrow-gauge train route was
originally built as the main line of transport between
Sóller and Palma early on in the last century,
today it is a major tourist attraction and the vast
majority of passengers are tourists from all over
the world. I walked all the way to the front of
the train to take a picture of the “Red Arrow”
vintage electric train and then took my seat in
the last wagon.
The interior of the historic train to Sóller
10:50 am was the official departure time, but we
did not get going until about 10 minutes later.
The train started to slowly and quietly roll away
from the station into the streets of Palma where
it occupied the median on a major street. Palma’s
historic apartment houses started to recede as we
headed for the suburbs. Then suburban housing developments
gave way to flat agricultural lands that were framed
in the north by the impressive Tramuntana mountain
chain.
Rural train station along the way
I left my seat and passed through the door of the
railcar to take up a spot on the outside platform
of the last car in order to have a great panoramic
view of the countryside we were traveling through.
Every once in a while a fellow traveler would come
through the door, take some pictures and disappear
again to relax in the comfort of the train car.
I enjoyed the warm wind and the great views from
the end of the train.
Mallorca countryside from the back of the train
We started to get closer to the mountains, and the
flat plain gave way to groves of olive trees and
stands of fir trees. Now we were heading into the
mountains and started to enter one tunnel after
another. Altogether this 27 kilometre long railway
route has 13 tunnels, and one of them seemed like
it was 10 minutes long. After entering this tunnel
I could see the light from the tunnel entrance for
several minutes until the train took a turn and
I was standing in complete darkness. Standing on
the platform with the wind grazing my skin and absolutely
no vision at all, I enjoyed this ride, sensing the
motion of the train and the gentle air flow on my
arms. At some point the experience was almost surrealistic,
as if we were headed to the centre of the earth,
in total darkness.
Leaving behind one of the many tunnels on the train
to Sóller
Once we had crossed the major part of the mountain
range the train stopped and several passengers got
off to catch some photos of the great panoramic
view of the Sóller Valley that opened up
below us. Then the train went along the hill slopes
southwest of Sóller and within an hour we
had arrived at the historic train station in Sóller
which is located inside a fortified house dating
back to the early 1600. A café and a museum
dedicated to the work of Pablo Picasso and Joan
Miro are also located inside the train station.
View along the northern coastline of Mallorca
My friend was waiting for me on the main square
of Sóller; he had taken the road over the
mountain pass of the Tramuntana Mountains. We started
our drive into the mountain village of Fornalutx,
a tiny hamlet that has won many different prizes
and recognition for its beauty and conservation
efforts. From here we headed westwards to Deià,
another gorgeous mountain village with a great view
down towards the northern coastline of the island.
Georgeous view from the Deià cemetery over
the Mediterranean coastline
Deià is most well-known for being the long-term
home of British poet Robert Graves, who lived here
from 1929 until he passed away in 1985. A church
is scenically located on the highest point of the
village and the view from the adjacent cemetery
towards the sea and the mountains is simply breathtaking.
The scenery in Mallorca continues to amaze me.
Grave in the cemetery of Deià
Continuing westwards along the coastal road high
above the water, we stopped at another one of the
island’s main attractions: Son Marroig, the
coastal estate of Archduke Ludwig Salvator, a member
of the Austrian Habsburg family. Ludwig Salvator
first arrived on the island in 1866 and became captivated
by the island’s beauty. He even fell in love
with a local woman and learned the local Mallorcan
dialect. He authored a highly recognized seven-volume
work about the history, archeology, folklore and
traditions of Mallorca.
Archduke Ludwig Salvator, a huge fan of Mallorca
The estate occupies a gorgeous position high above
the coastline and can be visited for 3 Euros. Access
exists to the main floor’s common areas and
the impressive formal dining room on the second
floor whose balconies open up to provide a phenomenal
view over the Mediterranean. The estate is surrounded
by beautiful gardens and a white marble rotunda
at some distance away from the main mansion. The
beauty of Mallorca’s north coast becomes evident
in Son Marroig.
The famous rotunda at Son Marroig
Our next stop on our country drive was the Port
de Valldemossa, a tiny hamlet on the northern coastline
that essentially consists of only a couple of restaurants
and a handful of houses. To get down to the village
we had to drive on a steep narrow road with hair-raising
hairpin turns. Back at the top again we went to
the inland village of Valldemossa, one of Mallorca’s
favourite tourist destinations.
Valldemossa, a pretty mountain village
Valledemossa is an extremely scenic village with
cobble-stoned streets and many bars, restaurants
and souvenir shops. The main sights in this town
are the Real Cartuja (the Royal Charterhouse of
Jesus of Nazareth), a Carthusian monastery dating
back to the 14th century. Among the famous former
residents of this town are composer Frederic Chopin
and the French writer and feminist pioneer George
Sand who came here to spend the winter of 1838 to
1839. George Sand wrote “A Winter in Mallorca”
here which actually painted a rather unflattering
portrait of the locals.
Stone cross in Valldemossa
Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones
have a home nearby and some years ago they founded
a cultural centre called “Costa Nord”
which is now owned by the town. We sat down at a
nice restaurant with an outdoor patio and enjoyed
some savoury local bread with olive oil and tomato
paste. Sitting in the shade, we watched the locals
and the tourists go about their businesses and I
also managed to get my souvenir-shopping done in
this town.
One of my favourites: fresh crisp Mallorcan bread
with tomato paste & olives
In the late afternoon we drove back to our home
base of Palmanova and relaxed on our balcony, overlooking
the Mediterranean before we headed out to explore
some of the local restaurants. Palmanova features
a large selection of British pubs, Italian, Indian
and Thai restaurants. We settled in at “Los
Curries”, a restaurant with a large second
floor patio overlooking the Bay of Palmanova that
offers traditional Indian fair. I enjoyed a tasty
channa massala while my friend had lamb tikka.
A view over the rooftops of Valldemossa
The restaurant owners were very friendly and provided
us with local travel advice. At the end of the evening
they offered us two glasses of free orange liqueur
which provided a nice ending to another busy day
of discoveries in Mallorca.
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