El Carnaje, a natural area protected against speculation

This route runs along the eastern slope of the Bay of Palma, along the first line of a coastline occupied mostly by Palma's coastal neighborhoods. We walk along a seafront developed for residential purposes starting in the 1920s and exploited for tourism to the point of exhaustion starting in the 1960s. In between, we find historical heritage and natural areas protected from urban speculation, such as the Carnatge. In this context, we find the Torre de Pau, built in 1667 to replace an old 14th-century watchtower. In the mid-19th century, it was part of the military optical telegraph line linking Mallorca and Menorca. Significant and extensive renovations were carried out in 1892. Since 1975, it has been owned by Palma City Council. We have public transport to Coll d'en Rabassa, the start of the route, with EMT lines 18, 27, 28, and 35 and from Can Pastilla, the end of the route, with lines 31, 32, 35, A2, 23 and 25 (emtpalma.cat).

[00 min] The starting point of our walk is the Torre de Pau, on Josep Mascaró Passarius Street in Coll d'en Rabassa. Before heading off to work, we have the option of making a quick visit to this ancient fortress. It's a path located above the beach that we follow to the left, facing east. We're on the newly named Penyó beach, near the tip of the tower [05 min].

A narrow passage, built on old sandstone quarries, brings us right in front of the Cala Gamba Yacht Club [10 min]. This organization originated in an association formed by the doctor Antoni Roca Garcías in 1934 at the Can Pocarroba café. The name, documented since the 16th century, seems to allude to the abundance of this crustacean in the area in the past. We continue along the Cala Gamba promenade, skirting the recreational dock past historic summer houses. We pass the San Juan de Dios Hospital and the facilities of a modern fish farm, located since 2002 on Reflector Point [20 min].

Known in the 18th century as Punta de la Creueta, at the beginning of the 20th century, the residents of Coll d'en Rabassa knew it as Punta del Canet, due to the resemblance of a rock to the image of a sitting dog. On this space, Punta del Reflector, there was a detachment reporting to the Pau tower battery. Its mission was to control the searchlight used to detect the approach of supposedly enemy ships and lock onto the battery's guns. It occupied the eastern point of Cala Gamba. The first one dates from 1909 and was replaced by a new, more powerful one in 1917. It was located on a sandstone hill, buried decades later under a mountain of earth accumulated by GESA, where an underwater collector was built in 1965 to cool the power plant condensers. (Source: Pere Galiana Veiret)

[25 min] We enter the Carnatge promenade itself, a protected natural area since 2023. We arrive at Cala Pudent, a name that must be associated with the decomposition of the algae that, pushed by the waves, are pushed by the waves. After passing this simple and quiet roadstead, we arrive at the Carnaje houses [30 min], now disused and abandoned, where their ruined walls still tell us of their past as a place of animal dismemberment.

The Casas del Carnaje (Carnage Houses) were built to house the fourth recorded carnage, in its gradual process of moving away from the city. The first was in Torres Llavaneres (currently Portitxol), followed by other locations such as Figueres Baixes, Cala Gamba, and Son Manuel. Its name comes from this activity: old animals were slaughtered or the dead collected to extract various products and at the same time remove their remains from their environment. All this occurred at a time when animals were obligated to perform various jobs and were, arguably, exploited by people when mechanization was still precarious. It operated between 1890 and 1959. In this carnage, everything was used: the hides; the suet, horse fat being the best for nourishing leather; the bones, from which flour or glues were made; and the meat, which was then well cooked and cut into pieces and dried in the sun, and then sold as animal feed, especially for the greyhounds that raced at the greyhound track.

The Galera Islet

We continue walking forward and reach the top of a hill, with good views over the islet of La Galera. On the right, we find the Bartomeu Gomila viewpoint [40 min], and on the opposite side, the gun positions of the Son Mosson anti-aircraft battery. Within the quarries surrounding this area, numerous fossils have been found, some as important as the footprint of a Myotragus balearicus. Not in vain, the entire area is of great geological and paleontological interest. We reach the end of the Carnatge promenade [45 min], through the urbanized area of Cala Estància.

We continue along the seaside promenade, accompanied by a string of hotels and restaurants, apartment blocks, and villas. Thus, we skirt the beach of Caló de Son Caios [50 min], also called Clot d'en Bernadet, opposite the islet of La Galera, a few meters from the coast. The island contains an important archaeological site from the Talayotic and, especially, Punic periods, as well as remains from the Roman conquest, which have been excavated and valued by the Friends of Na Galera Association.

We hurry the last steps of our walk, enjoying the view of the Bay of Palma that opens up from this shore. To the east, the Arenal de Palma and Llucmajor; To the west, we have the city, part of the Calvià coast, and the Serra mountains, framing the image. Thus, we arrive at Can Pastilla, a tourist and residential area in the Bay of Palma, where our route ends [1h00 min]. The name comes from a tavern that stood there, where the Torre Redonda estate used to be. According to the Encyclopedia of Mallorca, a certain Pastelli was the owner of the establishment. Although, most likely, the name derives from the sale of contraband tobacco pills, a very common practice throughout that region. The neighborhood began in the 1920s and was originally called San Antonio de la Playa, a name that has finally stuck to the yacht club.