Mountains of Mallorca
Barry A. Klinger
Maps Home Page
The Spanish Catalan island known for its beaches and large numbers of northern European tourists, is also home to spectacular mountain scenery, particularly along its north coast.
The eastern half of the mountains is home to the village of Valldemossa, described by writer George Sand (Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin) in her biting memoir A Winter in Majorca about her 1838 visit there with composer Frederic Chopin.
The western half includes the otherworldly cove Se Calobra.
Close-up views show Valldemossa sitting on a saddle point between mountains of over 600 m. As the map shows, the highlands descend abruptly to a narrow coastal fringe.
The one region with a relatively wide, flat area is the valley of the town of Soller, which has a port surrounding a small protected bay. Se Colabra is the double valley around the bay about 10 km east of 3oE.
A perspective view does not add much information, but illustrates the dramatic topography. The top two views are from vantage points north of the island. The third image shows the eastern peninsula ending in Cap Formentera, where a lighthouse is perched high above the sea.
Larger-scale views show that Mallorca is one of three set of islands - collectively the Ballearics - that rise from a submerged pensinular extending from continental Spain.
