Page 521 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

THE BALEARIC ISLANDS  519

0 Alfàbia
Carretera de Sóller km 17. Tel 971 61
31 23. @ Closed Sat pm & Sun, Dec.
& ∑ jardinesdealfabia.com
Very few possessiós in Mallorca
are open to the public, which
makes Alfàbia worth visiting.
The house and garden are an
excellent exam ple of a typical
Mallorcan aristocratic estate and
exude a Moorish atmosphere.
Very little remains of the original
14th-century architecture, so it
is well worth looking out for the
Mudéjar inscription on the ceil-
ing of the entrance hall and the Houses and trees crowded together on the hillside of Deià
Hispano-Arabic fountains and
pergola. The garden is a sump- the village is Son Marroig, the La Moreneta, the Black Virgin
tuous 19th-century creation, estate of Austrian Archduke of Lluc, supposedly found by
making imaginative use of Ludwig Salvator (1847–1915), a young shepherd boy on a
shade and the play of water. who documented the Balearics nearby hilltop in the 13th
in a series of books included century. The sanctuary is home
in a display of his possessions. to a children’s choir, the Blauets,
q Sóller established in the 16th century.
E Museu Arqueològic The kids sing the “Salve Regina”
Baleares. * 9,100. £ @ n Plaza Carrer Teix 4, Deià. Tel 971 63 90 01.
España 15, 971 63 80 08. ( Sat. twice a day (see the website
_ Sa Fira & Es Firó (2nd week May). Open Tue, Thu, Sun. 8 for times). Along the Camí dels
Misteris, the paved walkway up
Soller is a little town grown to this hilltop, there are some
fat on the produce of its olive bronze bas-reliefs by Pere
groves and orchards, which Llimona. Just off the main Plaça
climb up the slopes of the dels Pelegrins are a café and bar,
Sierra Tramuntana. In the 19th and a gift shop. The museum,
century Sóller traded its oranges on the first floor, includes
and wine for French goods, Mallorcan paint ings and medieval
and the town retains a faintly manu scripts. The monastery
Gallic, bourgeois feel. incorporates a guesthouse.
One of Sóller’s best-known From Lluc, 13 km (8 miles) of
features is its delightfully old- tortuous road winds through
fashioned narrow-gauge rail way, the hills and descends towards
complete with quaint wooden the coast, ending at the beauti-
carriages. The train departs from ful rocky bay of Sa Calobra. From
Palma and terminates in Sóller, here, it is just 5 minutes’ walk up
at the station in the Plaça the coast to the deep gorge of
d’Espanya. From there, an Statue of La Moreneta at the the Torrent de Pareis.
antique tram travels to the Santuari de Lluc
fishing village of Port de Sóller,
5 km (3 miles) to the west. w Santuari de Lluc
Lluc. @ from Palma. Tel 971 87 15 25.
Environs Open Sun–Fri. & museum only.
From Sóller a road winds south- ∑ lluc.net
wards along the spectacular
west coast to Deià (Deyá). This High in the mountains of the
village was once the home of Sierra Tramuntana, in the remote
Robert Graves (1895–1985), the village of Lluc, is an institution
English poet and novelist, who regarded by many as the spiritual
came to live here in 1929. His heart of Mallorca. The Santuari
simple tombstone can be seen de Lluc was built mainly in
in the small cemetery. The the 17th and 18th centuries
Museu Arqueològic, curat ed on the site of an ancient shrine.
by the archaeologist William The monastery’s Baroque church,
Waldren, offers a glimpse into with its imposing façade, Sheer cliff face rising out of the sea
prehistoric Mallorca. Outside contains the stone image of at Sa Calobra

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