Mallorca and Balearic Islands Tour of Stonework

Date: 
Thursday, March 14, 2013 to Sunday, March 24, 2013
Location: 
Spain
Type: 
Tour
Status: 
Completed

Culture, Art and Architecture Walking Tour
 

We ran our second trip to catch the majestic Tramuntana mountains  in full  spring bloom and once again stayed away from the overdeveloped coastal resorts, to discover the other world of Mallorca seldom seen by tourists. 
 
We followed the Ruta De Pedra en Sec, the dry stone way,  (created by the Consell de Mallorca to celebrate the islands' history of dry stone walls), through a magnificent landscape of valleys, cascading streams,  citrus groves, olive terraces and forests of Holm oak.  These ancient cobbled bridal paths once linked Mallorca’s isolated villages to the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
 
We visited  Soller and Palma, and Great Houses and gardens that have lured  the rich  and famous to the island...from Chopin, Gaudi, Miro, Robert Graves to Michael Douglas. 
 
We rode the Red Lightning vintage “Vitamin C Express” railway, an visited an ancient olive press, and some of the famous outdoor markets...all part of the cultural and economic backbone of the island.
 

Along the famous GR221 Dry Stone Way (La Ruta de Pedra en Sec) there are specially marked sections  for  the visually impaired and the blind.  The lower railing jogs where there is signage in Braille .  The jog in the lower rail/guide also has some corrugated wire on it as an indication that there is an interpretive sign.
 
Our last two nights we spent in the beautiful port city of Palma.
 
Again this year we were fortunate to have stonemason, author and historian Patrick McAfee of Dublin, Ireland join us for a few days,  to walk and talk and share his cultural, historical and architectural knowledge with our group.