Falling into Mallorca's exotic charm

Northern Europeans live through hard and cold winter every year - although climactic changes have dramatically shortened the days and nights of deep snow at minus 15 to 26 degrees. We feel a strong need to shed off winter in some sunnier lands, which was how I felt when I decided to travel to Palma de Mallorca earlier this month.

Why do we travel? French writer George Sand - who came to Majorca in November 1838 with her lover, world famous pianist and composer M. Frederik Chopin, tried to answer in her book " A Winter in Majorca". "Why travel unless you must?" And she writes: "It is not so much a question of travelling as of getting away; which of us has not some pain to dull, or some yoke to cast off?" For me, it is the need "to dull some pain" over losing someone nearly a year ago.

So I came to Palma de Mallorca - Spain's famous tourist resort for royalties, celebrities and commoners alike. I left behind a Swedish spring stifled by a stubborn winter of rain and frost. I was told that my heritage of 400 years under Spanish colonisation of the Philippines, would allow me to appreciate some kind of second home. April is a benign month in Mallorca where the sun shines almost all year round. It can be ruthlessly hot in the high summer months of June to mid-August.

Soon after I checked in at Palmanova Hawai hotel, I was out by the swimming pool inhaling the ocean breeze and hurriedly shedding off my pale winter skin. Several half - naked hotel guests were paler than I was and I wondered how their delicate white skins could tolerate the exposure to the sun. That was two days of sun tanning that ended with a big glass of sangria at the neighboring English sports pub. The long cove-shaped beach is filled with pubs and restaurants, of which a majority are British-owned. The promenade lane along this long stretch is paved concrete, with benches to sit on for resting, reading and watching others pass by.

One often has some biased notion that popular tourist destinations are over-exploited and no longer leave any rooms for surprises. This was not how I saw Mallorca. True, the tourists can sometimes overwhelm its 400,000 population with as high as 150,000 arrivals at high season, but tourism is the life that pulsates in Mallorca's veins. Its agricultural produce consists mainly of olives and citrus which are exportable. Plus leather, like in other parts of Spain. But tourism is its soul. It has sun throughout the year, a beautiful mountainous landscape such as the Tramuntra and a rich cultural history from the Moorish occupation to the Spanish take-over in the 14th century.

What I discovered - along with hundred others- during my fourth day was Mallorca's two underground caves - the Martel cave and the Cave of the Dragon in Porto Cristo-Manacor. The stalactite and stalagmite formations defy any descriptions that could do justice to their majestic beauty. An underground palace, a cathedral that has strategic lighting to show off the million different formations and an underground lake, as well. At the Dragon cave where they have the Sea of Venice, the visitors are entertained with a concert - a floating concert consisting of a lighted boats, on which one had a pianist playing Mozart. At the largest of all caves called " Sea of Venice" there was a performance. It was a boat with a couple dressed in a rich Spanish costume and in the background was Mozart's music and a video show. The effect against the rugged formations of the cave was out of this world.

Another unforgettable trip was the island excursion that consisted of a train ride to Soller, a beautiful village nestled in the heart of Serra de Tramuntra. The old train kept in polished shape takes one to the past, and passes though olive and citrus groves. Soller is a valley surrounded by steep mountains over 3,000 feet. The journey continued by tram. Then we transferred to a boat that took us to Sa Calobra, a small cove where the tourists could savour the view of the sea and eat their lunches. The way back home was through the steep winding road of Tramuntra, a view so eirie to look down from the double deck tourist bus. We had a chance to stop at Lluc cloister built in 1200, and rebuilt in 1600-1700. There one can pay homage to the Black Madonna, the popular saint of the Majorcans.

The next trip was to Valldemossa, an idyllic and romantic mountain retreat that Polish composer and French writer George Sand has immortalized in music and history. The guided tour included a showing of a documentary on Valldemossa including the famous historical figures like Chopin and Sand, a walk along the street that led us to the Carthusian monastery turned into a museum. The view from the Valdemossa mountain peak is truly breath-taking.

My friends think that it is boring and lonely to travel alone. I was not bored and lonely at all. There was too much history and beauty to digest in so short a time. And even if the rest of my travelling companions were elderly Spanish, English and German couples - enjoying their well-earned retirements, I was content to be alone with myself. In the evenings I had the company of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, whose autobiography "Living to Tell the Tale" was a most satisfying read. I could not have thought of a better companion.