Mallorca ( also spelt Majorca) appears to have been inhabited for at least 6000 years. Little is known about the early people but it is likely the Phoenicians, Carhaginians and Greeks inhabited both Mallorca and Menorca. The Romans conquered Mallorca in 123BC and remained until the 5th century. The Romans used the island more as a staging post than as a permanent settlement, with few Roman remains evident. After the Romans left, the island fell into the dark ages and was a favoured base for pirates and Cosairs.
The Moors bought new prosperity, when they arrived in the 10th century, but they were driven out by King Jaime 1 in 1229, supported by the combined armies of Catalonia and Aragon. This conquering army bought the Catalan language, which is spoken by many islanders today. The 13th-15th century were a golden age with a vast increase in population and wealth, but as Spain began to turn her attention to the New World, her Mediterranean territories became less important. The pirate attacks increased but otherwise little of historical importance happened in the next few centuries, other than building many churches and houses for nobility. In more recent times with the post-war advent of mass tourism, Mallorca's fortunes have been revived and changed forever the former agricultural-based economy.
And...tourism is very alive and well today. As we journey down the coast, there is scarcely a beach that is not tightly packed with sun worshippers until late into the evening. All the coves and bays are full of pleasure craft, from small runabouts to very large motor cruisers, yachts and day tripping ferries and catamarans. All this makes for a lively scene and the impression we have gained is that the Spanish economy is quite buoyant. However taxi drivers tell a different story!
Having sorted out our domestic needs, we relaxed a while in Porto Cristo. After a cafe breakfast John opted to wash down Trilogy while the rest of us visited the local excellent caves, 'Las Cuevas del Drach'. With the heat above ground soaring, the cave visit was a great choice. The caves were already known in the Middle Ages and since the early phase of exploration, they have been a reference point for worldwide spieliological study. The circuit through the caves is about 1.2 kms and there are several lakes, the largest being 170 metres long and between 4-12 metres deep. The cave formations are of excellent quality and every bit as good as Jenolan Caves in NSW and more spectacular as it is one continuous cave. The highlight of the visit was a classical music recital by two violinists, a cello and harmonium. The musicians glided along in a long row boat lit only at the gunnels and superbly guided by a silhouetted boatman's oars. The crowd were seated in the cave amphitheatre and the well known melodies ( including Canon de Pachabel) perfectly filled the otherwise silent space. Quite a wonderful experience!
When we all gathered back on board, Trilogy departed the marina in the late afternoon for a quieter anchorage a bit further south. As we manoeuvred Trilogy clear of all mooring lines, we encountered three dive boats, one yacht, one large ferry and a crowded tourist catamaran all entering the narrow waterway together. The skipper had opted to reverse Trilogy down the waterway as there had been little room to turn, and this made life very interesting for a while.
We nudged our way into another lovely natural cove, Cala Magraner, where we anchored for the night. The bay was filled with yachts on arrival and another two yachts arrived after Trilogy. By morning, the last two yachts to arrive had taken off for elsewhere and maybe their exposure to the swell in the mouth of the bay had proved too uncomfortable. First thing, the skipper spent quite some time making phone calls to track down an English speaking engineer in Palma, but all to no avail....the problem of getting service organised in advance is always a frustrating challenge! A swim works wonders when frustrations are high, especially when it is followed by coffee and peanut butter toast on the foredeck!
Next stop, Cala Mondrago. The journey was special as we had a very light breeze on a beam reach and this lead to hoisting the beloved Code Zero sail, our secret weapon that won us the Beneteau Cup in Italian waters in 2012. This beautiful gossamer light sail was hoisted forward of the headsail and unfurled before the headsail was furled. Trilogy lifted from 2.5 - 3 knots to 6 knots in a flash! We were all so engrossed in the sail that the way point was missed and we had to do a U turn and pass all the yachts we had just overtaken....
Cala Mondrago was full of pleasure craft as it was mid-afternoon. The usual plethora of craft squeezed into the bay but with our inimitable style, we anchored well and settled to eat and imbibe the scene. Two beaches, connected by a well used walking trail around the headland, were covered in umbrellas and deck chairs. The beach water was filled with swimmers, risk taking young people were jumping off the rocky headlands and pleasure craft were emptying their enthusiastic passengers into deep water, some via enormous slippery slides. We spotted some inviting limestone caves at water level and before long we had joined the throng and made our somewhat hazardous across the bay, hoping none of the crazy drivers would run us down. One cave we could swim through had lovely purple and green colours below water level. Another two caves were superbly deep and extensively covered with the purple rocks both above and below the water surge, which was probably created by a lichen but in parts the rocks were smooth to touch. As we have come to expect, the beach had plenty of female topless sun worshippers with occasional full nudity and our boys felt they had to be careful where they put their feet!
A T-bone steak for dinner washed down with Spanish red and to the sound of Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' was all we could possibly have needed to finish the day. Once more nearly all other craft had left the bay and we were left alone with the beauty and enjoying the peace and gentle rock of Trilogy.