Valldemossa | The Daily Norm

Nov 23

Yet more praise for Mallorca’s awe-inspiring autumn

Now before your eyes roll upwards as you cast an initial glimpse over yet another post dedicated to Mallorca’s autumn, allow me to excuse my inexhaustible passion for the season as it exists on this island. For coming from England, autumn is an altogether damper affair, and while there are moments when the sun shines and the colours of the trees shine through, by that time, most of the leaves are already sludge on the pavement after the preceding days of rain; and then of course there are the howling winds which have pushed them there.

Here in Mallorca, autumn is a very different story. I’ve often seen pictures of the perfect autumn images – trees totally transformed into shades of orange and red, glowing like fire under a crisp blue sky. But I had never experienced such an idealised season before I came to Mallorca. And here, you benefit not just from the beauty which results from consecutive days of sunshine, but also the little quaint villages whose ochre stone walls and green shutters work alongside the autumn shades as though they had been meticulously selected for the purpose..

This union of natural and manmade autumnal magic was no more obvious than on a recent visit to the stunning little village of Valldemossa; a mountainous retreat whose cluster of houses in a deep mountain valley has become the very picture-postcard image of Mallorca. And with good reason, for it’s one of those villages which is utterly quaint at every turn, and at every time of the year… no more so than in autumn, surely my most beloved season in Mallorca.

Aug 7

On the trail of S’Arxiduc (Part 2): Monestir de Miramar

Following on from our visit to Son Marroig, our tour of the Deia coast on the trail of S’Arxiduc, the Archduke Ludwig Salvador, took us back towards Valldemossa and to the Miramar Monastery. Contrary to the name, there is very little left of the 13th Century monastery which once stood on the site, other than one length of what must have been a stunning cloister, now to be found almost floating amidst a garden full of flowers. However what was left of the monastery was purchased by the Archduke in 1872 when he fell head over heels in love with the coast, and there he converted the site into another of his great coastal houses.

The old monastery, the house an its gardens

Today the main attraction of the house is undoubtedly the gardens and land which surround it. As the Archduke himself declared: “Without doubt no other place on earth deserves with more reason the name Miramar”. And on this count, I could not disagree, for just beyond the more formal gardens which surround the ancient chapel and old cloister remains, extensive land takes the visitor all the way to a cliff edge which benefits from utterly breathtaking views over to Son Marroig and the stunning emerald sea below. From there, the grounds lead on to a mysterious Italianate pool, and beyond a series of canals and mills which appear to be left over from the ingenious reign of the Moors whose engineering innovations managed to tame this otherwise uninhabitable land long before the Archduke arrived.

Views and aspects of the land beyond

It is not at all hard to appreciate why the Archduke fell so in love with this incredible strip of coastline, and it is thanks to him that much of the coast today remains unspoilt and unashamedly beautiful for us all to enjoy today.

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Aug 4

Mallorca Sketchbook: Garden at the Son Viscos

Readers of my post yesterday will not be surprised that my short stay at the Son Viscos bed and breakfast in Valldemossa provided sufficient inspiration for the creation of a little souvenir artwork. For in that hour or so we spent in the fresh, sun-dappled leafy garden alongside the beautiful light-infused farmhouse kitchen, clutching a glass of chilled white wine in one hand and a book in the other, we felt utterly tranquil. It was as though time had stood still, and there was certainly enough to make this little sketch of the kitchen door, framed by creeping plants, with a rustic set of steps leading up to it from the verdant garden below. Precious memories, now enshrined in this page of my sketchbook.

Garden at the Son VIscos (2015, © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. 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.

Aug 3

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Mallorca’s ultimate eden: The Son Viscos Bed & Breakfast

Many may smirk when the inhabitants of paradise complain, but even we locals of Mallorca know when enough is enough. And having lived now for almost two months of temperatures in excess of 35 degrees, every so often, one just has to get away from it all. Nothing extreme mind you – I’m not talking the 20 degrees drop which a visit to London may entail, but rather a drive up into the stunning Tramuntana mountains where, at night at least, the air is notably fresher than city life in Palma and sumptuously comfortable. And as this very hot weather happened to coincide with my 32nd birthday (yesterday!) it seemed like the perfect excuse to treat ourselves a little, and book a little night away in a cooler, lusher paradise.

The location we chose could not have been more perfect. Located in the footfalls of the Tramuntana in the valley which gives the magical town of Valldemossa its name, the Son Viscos Bed and Breakfast was like a home from home, but we’re talking the kind of home which only the most avid readers of interior design magazines could wish for.

Interiors of the Son Viscos

Owned by the proprietors of the popular interior design store, Mosaic, located in cool Santa Catalina in Palma, the Son Viscos hotel is a euphoria of design harmony, with understated muted tones and natural woods offsetting perfectly amongst carefully chosen rustic antiques and ceramic items. The west-facing kitchen, which was flooded with light in the afternoon, and filled with a bounteous feast of the freshest breakfast produce in the morning, was the beating heart of a guesthouse which maintained all of the characteristics of the most welcoming of family homes.

The Son Viscos garden

Our room, the Menta suite, offered the very best of comfort with a lavish but pared down minimalist wooden four poster bed, together with haphazardly placed original art, design arm chairs and super soft towels. Flooded with light from an ample terrace, the room boasted enviable views of the Valldemossa monastery, and benefited from all of the freshness of the lush mountains opposite.

And it was precisely that fresh air which so loving nurtured us as we settled down for our night at the Son Viscos, finally able to escape the suffocating heat which had tampered with our dreams for months. Waking enlivened and refreshed, we had yet more pleasures to discover, for opposite the Son Viscos, the hotel’s extensive grounds extended to sun dappled woods hugging the side of the valley, and included fresh water streams, ancient moorish mills and even a dainty stone bridge which had more than survived the tests of time.

The Son Viscos’ sumptuous grounds

The Son Viscos hotel was frankly an experience in a million, for its meticulously conceived design, its perfectly bucolic location, and for the sheer welcoming comfort it offered. As I sit here now, back in hot Palma, recounting my time there I long to return. Something tells me it won’t be long.

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.

Mar 12

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Discovering Mallorca: Valldemossa and its port

Mallorca has been, and continues to be, the home of many notable persons, and chief amongst them were Fédéric Chopin and his lover, the pioneering French writer George Sands, who, in her account of their 1839 stay described the natural beauty which pervades Mallorca. That is no more so than in the stunning hilltop village where Chopin and Sands made their home, Valldemossa, a picture-perfect rural retreat which is every bit the archetypal Mallorcan village, with its stone-built houses, green wooden window shutters, and small shop-lined cobbled streets.

The hilltop village of Valldemossa

It was to this bucolic idyll that we recently ventured, taking with us our friend visiting from London in order to share with her this most perfect example of a Mallorcan pueblo. Valldemossa is not huge – indeed it comprises of a main shopping street with a few narrow side streets each plied with their fair share of pretty cafes and shops selling local produce. But its best selling point is the grand turquoise-tile-topped Real Cartuja monastery which was itself home to Chopin and Sands. Towering above both the town and the stunning mountain valley which gives the village its name, the monastery is a place of utmost solitude and tranquility, not least on its breathtaking garden terraces, which tickle each of the senses with their bounty of flowers, perfumes and unbeatable vistas, all accompanied by the gently bonging of sheep bells in the distance.

The Real Cartuja monastery and its surroundings

But Valldemossa does not stand alone, and rather benefits from its own little fishing village; an even more idyllic spot which, while appearing to be close to the upper village on the map, is in fact down a perilous zig zag of hair-pin bends which are enough to put the fear of god into the most experienced of drivers, let alone me. But the views which greet the visitor upon their descent are well worth the effort, for the little port of Valldemossa is surely one of the most beautiful I have seen on the island.

The port of Valldemossa

In the port itself, a handful of unostentatious fishermen’s cottages make up a tiny settlement which is situated amongst some of the most stunning mountain scenery imaginable. For surrounding the port are steep rocky mountain cliffs plunging directly into the crystal clear seas, while on the odd beaches formed from falling stones, one can find rocks of hugely varying colours, from the most peachy pink to a deep golden ochre.

A rainbow panoply of rocks

Between these two sites, both the port and village of Valldemossa, there could be no doubting the reasons as to why George Sand had been so inspired to describe the natural beauty of Mallorca, nor the impetus for other visitors, both renowned or otherwise, to make the island their home. But while many of Mallorca’s most beautiful spots have been ravaged by tourism and modernity, both parts of Valldemossa retain a local authentic charm which cannot help but present Mallorca at its very charming best.

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.

May 31

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Mallorca in May – A photographic miscellany

While Mallorca’s capital of Palma may exude elegance, the surrounding island competes in charm, beauty and manifest variety. Who cannot be wooed by the picture-perfect hilltop town of Valldemossa, with its mélange of old stone town houses and green window shutters, topped by the turqouise-tiled campanile of the Real Cartuja de Valldemossa, the monastery made famous for the short stay of Frédéric Chopin and his lover George Sand during an embittered winter now immortalised in Sand’s book A Winter in Majorca. And if that idyllic town does not exhaust your capacity for admiration entirely, don’t forget Palma’s stunning coastlines, such as the view of the Illa d’es Malgrat from Santa Ponça, or the charming sight of a traditional fisherman’s vessel, laden with ropes and nets in the old fishing port of Andratx.

Despite only a short weekend trip to Mallorca, and my attendance at a whole series of lunches, dinners, and meetings during that time, my camera was never far from my side, enabling me to add yet more new shots of this magical island to my growing collection. Of particular interest to me this time round were the new sights and experiences – for example the brand new Port Adriano – a vast new complex which lacks the natural aesthetic charm of the Ports of Andratx or Soller for example but which, with its Philippe Starck designed street furnishings such as quirky street lamps dressed as standard lamps and chic glass and steel staircases, makes for an interesting sight, especially when enjoyed with a glass of something sparkling from one of the many swanky (but rather empty) bars that line the yacht-filled marina front.

So without further ado, here are 30 more shots of Mallorca in May – the island which very evidently never stops giving.

: This buoy looks like a Norm!

: Valldemossa

: These colours are stunning

: Philippe Starck’s street lamps

: I want to eat at this table!

: The Port Adriano

: Valldemossa’s monastery

: Fishing boats in Puerto d’Andratx

: Valldemossa

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