Travel | The Daily Norm

Jan 26

Winter Weekend in Ibiza | Part 1: The Dalt Vila

When I think of Ibiza, images of boozy beach parties and cocktails under the stars accompanied by the mechanical beat of Buddha bar and the chilled groves of Café del Mar spring to mind. And while for thousands every year, a trip to the Balearic’s most infamous island means, in the words of the Vengaboys, that they’re “gonna have a party, Whoa! in the Mediterranean sea…”, at this time of the year, the only party you’re going to have is with the shadows filling the deserted streets and beaches. For as I discovered when a business trip took me to Ibiza last weekend, Ibiza is officially in the midsts of its hibernation.

Ibiza’s historical old town

This is no more obvious that in the hilly streets of the Dalt Vila, or “upper town” as the ancient old town of Ibiza’s capital is called – an area packed with stunning little cobbled streets which twist and turn all the way up to the Santa Maria d’Eivissa, the church which towers across Ibiza’s main port. While the plethora of quaint little houses lining those streets suggested that in the warmer months, they would be a tourist’s paradise, in January not a single business was open. And so it was that my Winter Weekend in Ibiza was a rather bizarre affair. For the Med’s party paradise was punctuated with neither a disco beat, nor any other human sound, and the only action that could be found was in the modern extension of the city (the Eixample), where some locals continued to live on, despite the silence all around them.

Historical streets of the Dalt Vila

Of course this desertion was not all bad. For crowds are undoubtedly overrated, and while the town undoubtedly lacked the charm it would exhibit when open for business, I was at least joined by my partner, and together we were able to explore both the old town and its surroundings relatively undisturbed. And with the sun shining its winter warmest, this could not have been a more pleasant experience, not least when the steep roads out of the old town took us onto the vast ancient city ramparts and the natural rocky outcrops upon which the city is built.

Rocky outcrops and views of the stunning natural surroundings

So while this first set of photos is unlikely to feature much by way of people action, I think it aptly demonstrates what is undoubtedly a charming and unique historical centre and a feature of the island which undoubtedly falls unjustifiably within the shadow of Ibiza’s all encompassing party reputation. After all, the clubs and the larger louts form a very small part of an island which is otherwise both geographically stunning and historically rich – features which are no more obvious than in January when the drunks are safely ensconced a thousand miles away.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 23

Mallorca Moments: Sunday stroll to Portixol

It’s funny how quickly one becomes accustomed to routine and habit; how we as humans are drawn to certain patterns and securities. I suppose it is what makes us who we are – knowing that there is a certain structure in place around which the greater vicissitudes of life can gain some stability. And I am no exception. For despite what has been a huge move from London to Mallorca, including a complete change of career, language, society and goodness knows what else, I have still found myself falling into new structures which help to normalise this big transformation.

Chief among them has been my Sunday stroll to Portixol. A little port lying just East of Palma’s city centre, it is only a short 30 minute walk away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but it couldn’t be more different. With small story fishermen’s cottages, pastel coloured facades, and of course an enviable position directly next to the Mediterranean sea, Portixol has all of the charm and charisma of a typical seaside village with the most laid back of sensibilities.

This makes Portixol the perfect place to dine, wine and recline, and with the number of cosy restaurants and bars lining the waterfront, it is no wonder that the port has become our perfect Sunday retreat. And should all the food become a little too much for the good old new year’s dieting resolutions, there is a real spirit of the great outdoors about the port, as its ample paseo maritimo is used by joggers, cyclists and rollerbladers alike.

So here in Palma, Sunday morning has a new morning: Coffee on the beach, a stroll along the seafront, a continuous view back to the glorious cathedral and ahead, the food destination of Portixol a mere half hour away. It’s another of those Mallorca Moments that makes my new life in the Balearics such a daily joy.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 21

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Rural idyll in Mountainous Mallorca

It is sometimes difficult to remember, when passing most of one’s time in the bustling city centre of Palma de Mallorca, that mere miles outside of the city lies some of the most stunning natural scenery in all of the Mediterranean. From wide planes peppered with ancient windmills and sprawling olive and citrus groves, to incredibly vast vertiginous mountain scenery, Mallorca is an island rich in stunning vistas and bucolic idylls, and when I got myself a set of wheels last week, I enjoyed my first samplings of the island at its very best.

The car took us deep within the vast Serra de Tramuntana, a stretch of mountains which forms the backbone of the island sprawling from South West to North East, and which was awarded UNESCO world heritage status in 2011. Reaching the village from Palma involves an easy motorway drive East to Alaró from where the road turns inwards into the heart of the mountains.

While the meandering mountainside road can be a little nail-biting at times, the accompanying views and sensationally untouched countryside are amongst the most stunning I have ever seen. Beneath towering mountains, terraced planes filled with olive trees and red stony terrain play host to mountain-hardy sheep and goats who totter around with iconic bells hanging around their necks. The result is a soporific melody of soft bells jangling in the still mountain air, a soundtrack which mesmerises me into an other-worldly state of epiphany.

Meanwhile through the delicate olive branches, soft warming sun rays bounce and scatter light across a crumbling dry soil, and all around insects stir against their beds of rustic tree bark and rocky-bound plant life. The landscape is almost biblical in its magnificence, and of course it lends itself to photography like none other.

So let me leave you to enjoy the fruits of my first visit inland. I can assure you now that there will be many more new mountain adventures to come.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 19

Demons and dynamite: The Palma Correfoc

I’m feeling very spoilt by my relocation to Palma de Mallorca. Spoilt because every day, the sun shines a little stronger and for a little longer, despite the fact that we are heading deeper into the winter. Spoilt because each week I discover some sensational new landscape a mere stone’s throw from my front door. And now spoilt because a mere 10 days after the Christmas lights were switched off after the 12th night, they are now back on again, twinkling their beautiful best in celebration of Palma de Mallorca’s patron saint: Saint Sebastian.

And as public festivals go, it looks as though this one is set to be a biggie. As I write, stages are being erected in almost every square in the city; a programme of extensive musical entertainment is waiting in the wings; and a mountain of fireworks is being heaped by the cathedral ready to be ignited. But although most of the celebrations will kick off this evening, on Saturday night, a very unique event hit the streets of Palma: the Correfoc.

Roughly translating as a firerun, there is frustratingly little that can be found on the internet to explain the history of what is ostensibly a satanic orgy of dancing demons setting off a continuum of shrieking fireworks to the beat of traditional gralla drums. But whatever the source of this tradition, this typical folk festival characteristic of a Catalan celebration is an eye-opening sight to behold. Except open your eyes too wide and you could live to regret it – for in a crowded spectacle alive with the pop and crackle of a bounty of exploding whizzing fireworks set off in all directions including over the heads of the heaving crowds, health and safety is not exactly paramount.

But everyone knows that health and safety spoils a real party, and Palma’s unrepeatable firey festival certainly proved worth the risk. Grinding dancers gyrating to the carnal rhythm of drums; horrific demon costumes silhouetted against the mass of burning fireworks; and the sound of fireworks shrieking like taunted spirits as they burst and and flew through the air; all the elements amassed to create a spectacle which felt like both a surreal nightmare and an incredible piece of performance art, and Palma’s biggest street party.

Jan 13

Mallorca Moments: A January Sunday on the Port d’Andratx

Before you look onwards to the photos below, I want you to remember (as you purview the crystal clear blue waters, accompanying blue skies and verdant plant life) that this is January. Yes January. And while for the Malloquins, this sunny January Sunday may be expected, to we two Londoners, this is just incredible. 18 degrees, and a sunny stroll on a beach along the Mediterranean sea. If this is January, then what are we to expect from July?

But weather asides, the topic of my latest Mallorca Moment is a place surely worthy of further exploration. For the Port d’Andratx (or Puerto Andratx) on the South Western coast of Mallorca is a gem of the island, whether in Summer or mid-winter. Benefiting from a naturally curved harbour, almost closed to the forces of the Mediterranean sea, Andratx is a true seaside haven, where fishing boats reside naturally alongside pastel-painted houses and hotels, while next to a cobbled harbour edge, cafés provide the perfect sunny sanctuary for visitors to enjoy the stunning views: of clear blue skies, hillsides clustered with houses, and a direct vista onto the Med.

Reflections on Port d’Andratx

And this is exactly what we did this Sunday past, as we started to explore outside of our home of Palma with the aid of a trusty hire car and something of a will of iron in getting behind a wheel, on the other side of the road, after several years passed without a single day’s driving practice. But as they say – it’s like getting back on a bicycle; the driving skills returned to me, and we whisked off through a picture-perfect mountain road to this inimitable little port.

After a tipple of the necessarily non-alcoholic kind (such are the downsides of driving), our explorations took us to the port’s stunning coastline, where craggy rocks jut out to sea like mysterious figures from a surreal landscape by Dali. There as the winter sun steadily strained over the rocky outposts, long shadows created some stunning photographic effects, and made for an extremely sultry soujourn to while away the early afternoon.

The stunning craggy coastline

But heading back towards the car, we found another wonder of nature away from the coast, where a small river met the port. Here, with rushes and long grasses growing naturally in marshy land alongside the small little stream, we felt as though we were in a rural idyll rather than metres away from a bustling port. My photographs taken here have to be amongst my favourite of the day.

Rushes and grasses by a stream

But you know it’s winter when the sun descends early, and as the pearly round fireball started to make its rosy descent into the horizon, we headed back to Palma, to a garden centre to start a nature reserve of our own. Now, in my office amongst plants freshly installed, I await the onset of Spring, and yet more Mallorca moments in the sunshine.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Jan 1

New Year 2015: Starting as I mean to carry on

I am a great believer in starting something as I mean to carry on, and if New Year’s Day 2015 is any indication of how the 364 days to come, then I cannot wait to enjoy each and every one of them. For waking up on 1st January of any year is always an experience of great hope for me – it may just be the difference of a day or the turn of a calendar, but with each new year there is a fresh benchmark by which a new list of ambitions and objectives can be measured, and other unfinished and unfulfilled projects relegated to the past. However this year’s 1st January was even more drizzled with the sweet nectar of hope – for how else can a person feel, when waking to bright blue skies, dazzling Mediterranean sunshine, and knowing that this place is not just a holiday destination, but a home.

The day that followed this happy awakening has been one of colours to cradle, flavours to savour, and sounds to nurture. For the sounds, the Vienna New Year’s Concert provided the perfect melodious backdrop to my morning’s cooking, a few hours hard labour which produced a mouthwateringly tender roast chicken with a rich cava-infused gravy and sweetly caramelised apples. So that was the flavour, and as for the colour – a sun-drenched barely-Wintery Palma de Mallorca was waiting just outside the window, and with lunch barely digested, Dominik and I rushed out into the streets to savour all of the splendid vistas which this city so unceasingly affords.

And of course the record of all these New Year’s treats is in the photos I’m posting, or at least the sights of our day are recorded this way. For the flavour of the food, I’m afraid you’ll need to get yourself an invite… And if you weren’t listening to the New Year’s concert in Vienna, I suggest you find yourself a clip on TV catch-up while you still can. But for the sights of my day at least, I come with gifts aplenty – a post full of photos freshly uploaded from a New Year’s day full of hope for the 12 months ahead.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 31

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2014: My year in photos

It has become something of a tradition on The Daily Norm to spend the last day of the year looking back at photos capturing the 364 days before it, reflecting on all of the splendid and captivating sights which have made up the year. And perhaps more than any other that has gone before, 2014 has been a year which the camera has loved. For when I look back at my photos of the last 12 months, I am met with an overwhelming body of diverse and beautiful shots which encapsulate a year overflowing with incredible sights and experiences.

I count myself very lucky to have seen and experienced all that has passed in a single year. From the quaint dark streets of Barcelona in February, my travels took me to the incredibly unique medieval citadel of Dubrovnik, the jaw-droppingly beautiful Amalfi Coast (including Positano, Ravello and Capri), the inspiringly-vertiginous mountain town of Ronda in Southern Spain, the vine-rich planes of coastal Tuscany, the floral festival of Pilar in Zaragoza, and the much applauded Czechoslovakian beauty that is Prague. And travels asides, it was the year when I held my first solo art exhibition in 6 years – a huge amount of work which dominated the first half of the year, but a wonderfully satisfying artistic and commercial success which will mark out this year as a creatively significant one.

However, appearances can be misleading, and when I look back on these photos, in particular those taken while travelling around Europe, I remember those holidays as escapes into unreality, moments of happiness snatched and nourished in between a stark reality which was becoming more and more difficult to endure. Once my exhibition was over, I found myself faced with a career which failed to inspire me, a city which made life a daily grind, and my partner feeling increasingly depressed for the same reasons. And it was this realisation, and a very unique opportunity that came from it, which triggered perhaps the most significant of all experiences that 2014 brought: our move to Mallorca. A life changer on so many levels; a bundle of new experiences which have only just begun.

And so it is sitting here in sunny Mallorca that I make this review, delightedly gathering up my memories of the year full of the positivity which has accompanied our move to a new life in Spain. Fast forward 365 days, and I look forward to telling you all about it.

Happy New Year to you all!

: Beach umbrellas, Positano

: Streets of old Barcelona

: My 2014 solo exhibition

: The cerulean sea of the Amalfi Coast

: The beautiful yet hostile city of London

: A kaleidoscope of flowers, St James’ Park London

: My favourite fountain, Marbella

: Tramlines, Prague

: The stunning island of Capri

: Sunshine and shadow, Barcelona

: A magical bay, Dubrovnik

: Autumn tropicana, Palma de Mallorca

: The ultimate ripples, Palma de Mallorca

: Old town rooftops, Prague

: Pigeons in the evening sun, Dubrovnik

: Brugmansias in a Cloister, Dubrovnik

: Lemons on the Amalfi Coast, where else?

: Colour profile, Marbella

: Floral walkway, Positano

: Atmospheric rooftops, Dubrovnik

: Paradise on earth – Capri

: The ancient gardens of Ravello

: Flowers at wonderful Wimbledon

: Marbella’s calming cementary

: Historical rooftops, Prague

: Mallorca calling – fans on show

: Sunset and masts, San Vincenzo, Italy

: Ceramic temptations, Positano

: Barcelona’s Cathedral Geese

: Barcelona’s inimitable Sagrada Familia

: London’s foggy cold landscape

: A walk to work…London

: Picture-perfect Ronda

: The ultimate Andalucian landscape

: Old women chatter, Marbella

: The ultimate end of the rainbow, Palma Cathedral

: Grape harvest in Castagneto Carducci

: A sea of terracotta, Dubrovnik

: Sunrise in South London

: Fiesta del Pilar, Zaragoza

: Birds in flight, Barcelon

: Good times indeed… on Dubrovnik Beach

: A stunning Spring sunset, Marbella

: Palma from our rooftop, Palma

: Dubrovnik’s enchanting streets

: The famous clock of Capri’s main piazza

: Ronda, Spain

: The stunning gardens of Villa Cimbrone, Ravello

: Beach life, Donoratico

: Tuscan terracotta

: Prague’s riverside spectacle

: Italy sunset

: Autumn glory

: The ultimate art space – Zaragoza

: So proud of my first solo exhibition in 6 years

: Sunset in Positano

: Now that’s what I call a way to spend December

: The magnificent cathedral of Palma de Mallorca

: Semana Santa in Marbella

: Ronda’s famous bullring

: Palma dressed up for Christmas

: Beautiful Capri

: Now there’s a place to get married – Amalfi

: Gold and shiny Palma de Mallorca

: Typical Tuscany

: Masts at sundown, Mallorca

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Dec 11

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Mallorca Photo Folio: The reds and the greens

Last week I took you on a whistlestop tour around the city of Palma but only through the narrowest application of my artist’s palette. For the focus of my photo folio selection was shades of glittering silver – the kind of metallic sparkle which we now see regularly when the sun breaks free of wintery clouds and reflects over the expansive Mediterranean sea. This week’s folio selection follows the trend of the moment: Christmas, and as such concentrates on the colours of the season: the reds and the greens, and much in between.

Ironically, despite their being the colours of Christmas, red and green have a prominent presence here in Mallorca all year around, where the sight of green wooden shutters on sunbaked terracotta walls is amongst the most common on the island, and where tropical green leafed plants are abundant in rotund red fruits. So far from being Christmassy, these colours actually inject a feeling of the tropical into this photo collection, reminding me of paintings by the likes of Gauguin, whose earthy red paintings fringed with green tropicana were the staple of his Tahiti collections.

Back in the urban jungle of Palma, these photos are reflections on a city ripe with life, leisure and lovely, lovely views. They feature the colourful abundance of painted palaces, the plants which are lustrous and healthy even at this time of the year, and the little characterful features which make Palma such an inspirational place to live in.

Dec 9

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Discovering Palma: The ancient and the sacred

With my mother in town this last weekend, it was time to go back to tourist status, a role I slip into particularly well having only been a fully fledged resident of Palma de Mallorca for less than a month. As such I am still very much in the discovery stages, and already I have ascertained that the sprawling and ancient old town of Palma contains as many hidden corners as it does winding multi-directional streets. And by far the most sprawling, seemingly unplanned and historically rich of all the quarters is that to be found immediately behind and to the East of the Cathedral: the old moorish heart of the city.

With the weekend’s festivities meaning closure of many of the main sites, we began our whistlestop tour of the city with one of the attractions that was open: the old Arabic Baths. And thus began a tour which focused on the ancient, and the sacred. The Arab Baths are not as fine and complete a monument to the previous moorish rulers of Spain as, say, La Mesquita in Cordoba or the baths in Ronda, but they are still a beautiful and historically poignant monument to a bygone age. Dating back to the 11th century and containing two halls – one for hot steaming and the other a warm ante-room, today the baths are little more than a stone archive, although one can easily decipher the moorish arches whose antiquated stone is dappled with the sharp light filtering through holes built into the domed ceiling. The best part of the baths for me however is the gardens of the adjacent Can Fontirroig manor – a lush spot which looks as beautiful in the winter as in the spring, especially when graced with the sun which happily accompanied our weekend.

Leaving the baths and unfurling one further winding street after another, we came upon the Convent of Santa Clara, a romantically austere building and church whose side chapels are filled with the gilded floats which will be paraded in the city’s Easter processions, and whose nun inhabitants bake traditional convent sweets for sale. Naturally we couldn’t resist the purchase of a marzipan, nor a bag of our favourite polverones – a fragile powdery biscuit named after the dusty nature of its constitution.

This led us swiftly onwards to yet another of Palma’s religious hot spots: the Franciscan Monastery whose stunning baroque facade dominates the Plaça de Sant Francesc with its exquisitely detailed depiction of the immaculate conception crowned with Saint George and the Dragon. But the Monastery’s greatest asset has to be the significant cloister set alongside the large main basilica. Drenched with sunshine, the multiple thin columns are amongst the most elegant I have seen in any of Spain’s many monasteries, and lend the cloister a special airyness which made our visit on this sunny afternoon especially hypnotic.

Happily those sugary sweets purchased a little earlier from the nuns of Santa Clara gave us the pick me up we needed – at least until we were able to end a thoroughly illuminating day’s sightseeing with a much needed authentic chocolate stop at Can Joan de S’Aigo – surely the perfect traditional way to end our dip into Palma’s history.

Nov 27

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Discovering Palma: Waterfront Walk

Asides from the wall to wall sunshine, the resonance of a new language filling the air, the smells of garlic and pimenton wafting throughout the streets, and the injection of a new culture, the best thing about moving to a new town (and indeed country) is discovering it. Despite a few previous visits to Palma, its maze of streets, particularly in the old town, remain excitingly unknown, and ever since we arrived in the city some 10 days ago, we have been constantly on the move discovering.

A recent stroll took us through the quaint narrow shopping streets of central Palma, beyond the imposing cathedral and out onto the waterfront where the majority of these photos were taken. They capture a time of late afternoon, when people were out sharing our pleasure of strolling amongst long winter shadows and still warm autumn sunshine, taking an afternoon coffee or something stronger in the sidewalk cafes, and heading down to the water’s edge where the sun danced languidly atop of the crests of meandering ripples.

From the waterside walk into the marina itself, we strolled amidst the industrialised port of Palma, where huge yachts are being covered in plastic ready for their winter makeover, and beside the tightly cordoned Royal Yacht club, where only the most devoted of socialite sailors remain in the quiet season, drinking cocktails on an empty veranda with views of the sun setting over the boat-filled marina. There we bore witness to the most sensational of light effects, as the setting sun radiated a golden hue which bounced and sparkled over a still blue marina and upon the shiny surfaces of the yachts and liners which fringe Palma’s waterfront.