Mallorca is located approximately 160 miles south of Barcelona, Spain in the Balearic Sea. Traveling to Mallora I plan to split my time in two locations. The first being the area in the northern portion on the island, Pollenca. This installment is about Pollenca and its nearby environs. Mallorca is vastly different from my last location in Italy. The obvious differences being the food, the attitude of the spaniards, and the fact that there are rules of the road and they are pretty much obeyed. This island is extremely clean, litter free, and unlike a lot of places in Europe, they recycle. The typography is also quite stunning. There are plenty of amazing beaches, as well as mountains rising 4,700 feet above sea level.
Map of Mallorca. You can see the location of Pollenca as indicated by the small quote bubble at the top.My home for 5 nights is the Son Brull Hotel & Spa. It is nestled in vineyards and a citrus grove. The building was originally built as an Arabic farmhouse in the 12th century during Arab rule, before becoming a Jesuit monastery in the 18th century.View of some of the vineyards from the hotel property.Son Brull pool area with vineyards in the background. That veranda in the background is a great place to chill with a cocktail.View from the hotels entry.The main courtyard at the hotel.The nearby beach area at Cala San Vicente. It was a 35 minute e-bike ride away.One of many access points to the water.Snorkeling and floating in the beautiful waters.Beach scene at Cala San Vincente.One more stunning view of the water and rugged coastline. I chose the Can Axartell winery to visit and tour. It’s an old winery with a new main building for performing almost every phase of the wine’s production. The family of the former German cosmetics entrepreneur Hans-Peter Schwarzkopf, an obviously very wealthy family, owns the operation and spared little expense in the construction of the building as you will see in some of the images which follow.German engineering is evidenced all over this place.The bottling area is almost antiseptic in how organized and spotless it is.The vineyards nearby.No low budget operation. Look at this winery’s main structure which is approximately 220,000 square feet. At capacity it is capable of producing approximately 100,000 cases annually. Currently they are producing about 28,000. Pollenca town square area.Unlike the tiny islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, these locals are connected. This Spaniard is enjoying a cerveza and checking the soccer scores.Flamenco dancer. Love his “Beatle Boots”.This little motorist wouldn’t last 2 minutes on most of the streets in Italy.
