With its mild Mediterranean winter climate, Spain’s largest island in the Balearics is a travel secret hiding in plain sight. Overflowing with an endless array of galleries, restaurants, baroque churches and medieval streets, Palma is a winter city to enjoy sans the madding crowd.

 

I knew that you brought a box of ensaimadas!

 

I heard you craving for pa’amboli every now and then, sobrassada sausages and frito mallorquín. No doubt, you’ve been missing Palma.

 

Yes, the pictures told me that you’ve taken a stroll to a tree shaded avenue in Paseo de Born, and many times you passed along the colonnades of nearby Carrer de Jaune III. You felt good whenever you hear the masts of yachts as they gently clink in the marina while driving straight to the saseu (in Majorcan) or cathedral. Despite of its aged stonework, the 14th century edifice still proudly presides over the old harbor wall never losing its glory and glamour.

 

In Palma de Majorca, I would imagine that the island is full of palacios and promenades. After all the Marivent Palace of Princepe Juan Carlos I, King of Spain is there. Its casco viejo or the old town, radiates an enchanting spell among visitors who set foot into the historical nucleus. Bars, chic restaurants, old fincas (farms) were revived to splendor and transformed into boutique hotels that even after dark, they all bombinate with life.

 

A winter in Majorca by George SandYes, you’ve seen the majestic limestone cliffs, as well as the rocky overhang in search for a soho boho adventure in Deià. Those jagged cliffs that flirt and plunge into the turquoise-hued waters of the Mediterranean. Like George Sand used to say “Majorca is the painter’s El Dorado” who wrote Winter in Majorca depicting her sojourn with Frédéric Chopin in 1839.

 

Like many others before you, you’ve been smitten by the wonders of this capital city of the Balearic Islands in Spain. Like many of them, you too are showing signs and symptoms of Majorcan nostalgia.

 

By the way, I also found out about your trip to Sóller, that quaint town on the other side of the island just off the Spanish east coast? It must have delighted you so much to ride on the ancient Sóller train and be deposited to the 1723 Ca N’Aí farm owned by the Morell’s family, which is now a grand rural hotel surrounded by orange and olive trees.

 

A hotel's courtyard

Mountain views in the town of Soller in Palma de Mallorca

 

You’ve been talking about it in your sleep too! Describing the place as a charming little oasis with sweeping views of the Sierra de Tramuntana. Whereby on the rooftop terraza, you witnessed the late-November sun giving a soft glow to the vast farmland offering a unique vibe that sets it apart from the rest of the island.

The vintage floor and the beamed ceilings as well as the bricks made the place very cozy and furnished with delicate taste. Just a few minute walk, from the finca, is a hill that sends cyclists and hikers to another pretty village. But most of all, you got obsessed with the collection of olive oils craftily mixed with different herbs and spices.

 

Just the other day, you told me that you were meeting the Minister of Tourism in Barcelona but somehow I received a call yesterday that it was postponed to next week. Yes, you flew to Barcelona alright but that was after the day you spent a night at the Castell son Claret. What truly surprised me is that you stayed in a castle!

The entrance of the Hotel Castell Son Claret in PalmaCastell son Claret, was once a forgotten castle covered with thick shrubbery and ivy. Over the course of time, it was magically transformed by a German couple to a sanctuary hotel in the middle of the wild Balearic maquis and outback of the Calvia province.

 

Just a quarter-hour drive from the west part of Palma and adjacent to the village of Es Capdella that lies in the foot of Tramuntana Mountains, sits the 325-acre estate offering a panoramic views of the countryside. How your eyes twinkled with excitement after you explored the gardens, patios and to know that inside the castle’s thick stone walls awaits 38 magnificent rooms filled the luxuriousness of silence.

Yes, I knew everything! And that included the part about missing Majorca – when you planned to book a flight last night while I was asleep.  But tonight, once you’re in deep slumber, I’m going to eat all the ensaimadas you hid in the cupboard, reach for a green tea and tomorrow our bags will all be packed.

 


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