Holy island: Hiking under the crosses of Christ

Olive groves, hidden gorges, panoramic views and the most beautiful mountain villages of the island: a charming long-distance hiking trail leads away from mass tourism across Mallorca's wild Tramuntana mountains.

We want to hike the Tramuntana mountains complete - a hard way, dry and beautiful. Follow me all the way to the other side of a well known and complete unknown isle - today we're on a hidden beach.

(Please read chapter one here, chapter two here, three here, four here and five, six & seven & eight)

Mallorca has more to offer than just beaches: In addition to a fascinating play of light in the cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for example, also a statue of the Virgin Mary, which led pirates astray with fog - tips on the cultural history of the Balearic island. How many churches, monasteries, hermitages and Christian shrines are there in Mallorca? With the best will in the world, we don't know. 

But that Mallorca is more than just a party island with a beach becomes clear when you hike across the island, once through the entire Tramuntana mountains. Because in addition to impressive nature, there are sights at almost every corner and especially striking: imposing churches, monasteries and castles, all worth a visit.

Red sunset, azure bay

The most spectacular sight in Mallorca is not a red sunset and azure bay. It's the play of colors from the rose window in Palma Cathedral. In the morning, it looks like someone has painted floor tiles, pews and columns in all the colors of the rainbow. But it is the light falling through more than 1000 pieces of colored glass that colors the church interior. A cathedral as a house of light. Anyone who has experienced it knows: it is worth discovering Mallorca's spiritual heritage.

Many tourists do not even know until their first visit that the vacation island has a place with a real old town and cathedral. And what a cathedral! Its vault is higher than that of the Cologne Cathedral. Above the altar and on the opposite west side, each has a huge rose window set into the wall.

Big eye over the altar

With a diameter of over ten meters, the one above the altar is considered the largest Gothic eye in the world. Twice a year, on February 2 and November 11, there is a big church cinema. Then, at around 8:30 a.m., the sun falls through the larger rosette in the chancel in such a way that its play of colors is projected directly under the rosette on the opposite wall.

This results in an eight there. The upper circle is made of glass, the lower one of light - the double rosette of Palma. A second spectacle occurs on the days of the winter solstice between December 20 and 23, when the projection of the large rosette is superimposed on the smaller one.

No joke: the Catholic Church, which is the state religion in Spain, owns 219 properties on the Balearic Islands. Among them are monasteries and holy places, churches, chapels and ruins. The direct counterpart to the party ballerina is the monastery of Lluc, a place of complete silence and peace - and has been for 700 years.

A place of rest for eye and ear alike, at least as long as the regularly arriving busloads of tourists seeking peace and quiet do not arrive.

Mallorca's holy mountain

Almost heavenly peace awaits the traveler on Mallorca's Holy Mountain, the Randa pilgrimage mountain. From its summit plateau one overlooks the whole island. On one side, against a dark mountain silhouette, stretches the jumble of Palma's white roofs, the sight of which was once aptly compared to a pile of dumped shell fragments. On the other side, the southern plain is lost in the haze between sky, coast and sea.

Here was also the hermitage of the medieval polymath Ramón Llull (1232-1316). Here he developed a truth machine consisting of seven discs that rotate around a common center. On the discs are written terms such as "knowledge", "difference", "agreement". By turning the discs, one can link these terms according to the if-then principle. The logic discs can be seen today in a small museum on the monastery terrace of Table Mountain.

The sails of pirate fleet

A visit to the island's best-preserved medieval fortress, Castell de Capdepera in the northeast, illustrates how threatened Christians felt when Muslims conquered the island. Originally, an entire village was housed within the defensive ring. From the watchtowers, you look out over the island plain to one side - another wonderful view - and to the sea on the other. In the past, the sails of a pirate fleet could appear there at any time.

The fortress shows better than many a thick volume of history how central to the people of that time was their religion: the heart of the complex is a chapel, and the pride of this chapel in turn is a statue of the Virgin Mary, to which the inhabitants attributed special powers: she could send out fog from the castle, which made it impossible for the approaching pirates to land on the coast. "Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza", Our Lady of Good Hope, is the name of the chapel.

No traces of the arabs

Unfortunately, traces of the Moorish culture are hardly to be found on Mallorca. The Reconquista has done a great job here. Exceptions are the remains of the Arab baths in the old town of Palma and the endless stone walls that cover the entire island.

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