Discouragingly, my cough and overall condition haven’t improved overnight and might even have worsened over yesterday. So obviously a bike ride is out for today. It’s too bad - I’d really been hoping I could complete the ride I’d originally planned for when we were here, a 22 mile loop into the the foothills through Orient and Bunyola. With us leaving for Palma the day after tomorrow (by taxi, since that day’s weather looks terrible), we’ve about had our long-anticipated Mallorcan biking experience - in two weeks I’ve biked a flat 80 miles, and Rachael about half that.
The good thing in all this is that we haven’t quite used the place up. We really could come back some year and hope for better luck.
Like yesterday, we each plan our own outing and agree to meet back at the room in time for lunch. Rachael strikes out in a new direction this time, walking more or less straight north and into the gap west of Puig d’Alaró. She really enjoys her eight mile walk more than yesterday’s, and later over lunch shows me the photos and videos of her experience. She especially enjoyed communing with the sheep, goats and a donkey she encountered along the way, testing out her enticing animal calls to elicit a response. And she tells me of being slightly embarrassed by being caught out chatting with a donkey just when a woman passed by, the only person she’d seen since leaving town.
I’m not sure how much of a hike I’m going to take when I leave our hotel, but it begins with a meander through the village looking for points of interest. Not surprisingly, I find a few:
The main thoroughfares are narrow and a little unnerving, forcing you against a wall when a car comes through. Most are quiet and relaxed like this though.
Standing against the church is the The Creu del Cós, a wayside cross which once designated the municipal boundary. The cross dates from the 16th Century and stood originally in Calle de Can Ros: A violent storm destroyed the cross in 1884. In 1958 it was renovated and in 1963 declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Heritage of Cultural Interest).
The crucifix is supported by an octagonal capital, on each face of which there are elements such as the wing from Alaró's coat of arms, the tower of the Castillo de Alaró, St. Sebastian, St. Barbara and St. Bartholomew.The cross rests on the capital itself, it shows Christ and four diamond-shaped medallions, on which you can see a pelican (the symbol of the Eucharistic Christ), the Virgin Mary, St. John and Mary Magdalene.
Standing in front of the church, looking up the central square. We had lunch here on the day we arrived. The arcaded building on the right is the town hall.
At the far end of the square is the statue I took a poorer photo of earlier. It’s a better shot here, but I couldn’t read the inscription and still don’t know what story it portrays.
Karen PoretI cheated and looked this up (!) the sculpture is entitled Retorn al bon cami which means “return to the good path”. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
Scott AndersonTo Karen PoretThanks, Karen. I like that - it gives a new perspective to think about this from. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
Many of the houses on these streets have a wooden ramp tipped up against the doorway, presumably used as an inclined plane for rolling loads up across the curb.
The washing place of Pontarro forms part of a water supply network that transports water from Ses Artigues Spring to the village center. People of the village met here to wash their clothes.The hydraulic system starts at Ses Artigues (one kilometer outsidethe village). In former times, the system not only supplied village and public washhouses with water but also powered several mills.
Keith AdamsThat's a wonderfully-composed photo. It gave me an immediate impression of strongly geometric abstract art, which I don't usually care for but in this instance I'm strongly attracted to / by it. This one could be a contender for the calendar edition at the end of the year. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
Scott AndersonTo Keith AdamsThanks, Keith. I was really pleased with it too. It took about five shots from different angles until I found the perspective that brought it out best. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
This is out of sequence - it’s the fountain on the village square, back by the church and city hall. It’s part of the same ancient water system that the wash house above is sourced from.
Once out of town, for about a half mile I followed the same route north that Rachael took yesterday. For much of the way the sides are blocked by long, solid walls offering only occasional breaks allowing views behind them. A little frustrating, as Rachael reported yesterday.
Something important must be hidden behind that wall.
About a mile into my walk I branched off from Rachael’s route of yesterday and took the road west into the hills that eventually leads to the ruined castle at the top of Puig d’Alaró. It’s a strenuous hike up there and more than I’ll do today, but I get further than I expected as I keep getting sucked into another switchback and a better view of the castle and back toward the valley. I don’t see any of the birds I was hoping for today - there are plenty of birds around, but they’re all annoyingly coy and too far off - but I do get my own interesting farm animal encounters. I don’t try talking to them though.
(News flash! I forgot to mention this yesterday, but in addition to the three new birds I posted I also saw a Hoopoe! In typical hoopoe fashion, it zipped across my field of vision and disappeared before I could react. I’m counting him anyway though - you can hardly misidentify a hoopoe).
The road to Alaró Castle, which you can just make out crowning the top of the cliff. The road gradually rises like this for about a mile, and then steeply switches its way up toward the saddle to the left of the peak.
After about a mile the road narrows, coarsens and steepens. There’s still an occasional car going up to or returning from the parking lot below the castle, as well as the occasional hiker or jogger.
I’m still well below the castle though. Castell d’Alaró is one of the three remaining rock castles in Majorca together with Castell del Santueri in Felanitx and Castell del Rei in Pollença. These castles protected the island for centuries from attacks by pirates and raids by foreign powers. Their impregnability has been proven: in 902, during the Muslim invasion of Majorca, the Saracens spent eight years and six months attacking an insurmountable wall. That was the duration of the siege against the castle, in which the Majorcan Christians who resisted had to surrender. They had run out of food.
Rachael AndersonTo Eva WaltersIt as great hiking around there! I’m doing better than Scott but I am having some issues with dizziness. After I had a concussion 5 years ago, I periodically have issues with dizziness but when it first occurred I was given a procedure called the Eply maneuver to relieve the dizziness. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanNot perfect yet, but then at this age that’s too much to hope for anyway! Definitely on the mend though. Reply to this comment 8 months ago
8 months ago