Eileen and Marian on Sunway’s Majorca Marvels Discovery Tour

Marian Benton (Travelbiz) Joins Eileen Penrose (Sunway Holidays) in beautiful Soller. We are now becoming familiar with the Tramontana Mountain Range, which forms the northern backbone of Majorca, as today’s journey takes us along the mountain coastline to the Port of Soller. We drive past Valldemossa making a brief stop at Son Marroig House Museum to take in the spectacular views. San Marroig is a traditional Mallorcan ‘posesió’ or country estate formerly the home of Archduke Luis Salvador of Austria who fell in love with the region’s stunning natural landscape.

We continue our journey and a little further on pass the home of the First World War poet and writer, Robert Graves. Graves lived in the postcard pretty village of Deia from 1929 until his death in 1985 and is buried in the local churchyard. More recently Deia has become a bolthole for many celebrities who enjoy the peace and tranquillity of this small, secluded village. We continue past the Valley of Soller, one of the oldest inhabited settlements in Majorca with its almond and olive groves.

The Tramontana Mountains are a noted training ground for elite cyclists and at times there were so many racing bikes it seemed as if we had wandered on to a stage of the Tour de France. We were glad to sit back in our comfortable coach and not have to negotiate this particular traffic hazard!

We arrived in the Port of Soller with options to walk up to a viewing point or take a stroll around this attractive town and find a nice spot along the seafront to enjoy lunch. We then boarded the historic 1912 tram from the centre of the Port of Soller to the inland town of Soller itself. Our scenic journey takes us up the mountain passing orchards of oranges and lemons on the way. The end of the line is the Plaza de Espana. A short stroll down the tree lined avenue of Es Born leads to Plaza Constitución, the bustling centre of the town of Soller, with the Town Hall on one side and the church of Sant Bartolomé on the other. Time to enjoy an ice cream in one of the many outdoor cafes surrounding the Plaza before heading back to the train station for our vintage train to Palma. A leisurely one hour later we are in Palma taking our short bus trip back to our hotel.