<![CDATA[Ara Balears in English - Majorca]]> 10 <![CDATA[(At last?) September]]> September sounds like relief. Even if it is a bit forced. In a way, it is as if after the overflow that summer represents in Mallorca, the water returns to the tide when September arrives. I know, however, that this is a very subjective feeling: for teachers, a tense school year begins, hospitality workers do not yet see any sign of relief on the horizon, those looking for a house to live in have no hope that as the season ends, opportunities to rent an apartment or a house will appear, rather they know that prices will continue to rise and possibilities, to decrease. Perhaps the only thing that will go down a little is the temperature, but even that is not entirely certain right now. Living on this island –especially in summer, but not only then– increasingly resembles a matter of resistance rather than existence, and everyone adapts to it as best they can. Some, those who are able, leave to seek cooler geographies with fewer people per square meter; others (those who have them) self-isolate in their homes, clinging to air conditioning. Others, among whom I count myself, enter a sort of period that we could call summer lethargy, much like little animals (which is what we are) in the process of adaptation. That is to say, we enter, as the definition of lethargy states, a “period of inactivity or reduction of vital functions to adapt to unfavorable environmental conditions, such as extreme temperature.” Everyone adapts and resists as best they can this fake paradise that is at the same time a hell for too many people. Those who are now, precisely, working the most, and in the harshest conditions, either have no home or shelter, no time or possibility to doze off, or arrive on a small boat with a hope that fades along the way. The world is, in general, increasingly harsh, and Mallorca, despite the postcard images, is not alien –although it is privileged– to the true foundations of the violent architecture that builds these worlds, also of false paradises, that some of us (still) have the luck to inhabit. This Friday the 4th, the documentary Enduring Paradise, by Marga Melià, premieres at the CineCiutat cinemas. The documentary recovers conversations between Marga Melià and Majorcan artists and places them in dialogue with the current state of touristification and gentrification on the island. We sell a paradise, whether it be from a postcard or a real estate catalog, it makes no difference. We have specialized in this. So much so, that even our anti-tourism demonstrations—and if it hadn't been for the Police's eagerness this year to inject a dose of raw reality through beatings, as a display of the true repressive response they would like to apply to all those who dare to disturb the image of paradise—become more of a flashy catalog of creative expressions of islander fed-upness for the photos (who knows if they will end up turned into postcards?!), than truly incisive mobilizations that would shake the political responsibilities regarding the disastrous ecological and social consequences of this model.For some time now, the collateral effects of the absolute touristification of our economy and our reality have been politically accepted, and with them, the summer demonstrations and actions. Although it is true that there are increasingly more critical voices and collective articulation in the face of these consequences to which they try to make us adaptable, those who govern have long since turned tourism, not into a means, but into an end in itself. We could say that, also politically, it is becoming increasingly evident that what determines decision-making and economic policies is not that we 'live off tourism', but that it is shamelessly accepted that tourism lives off the territory and the society that sustains it, and that it must be sacrificed (and some tantrums in the form of demonstrations endured) so that it continues to be the 'tractor' of the economy. Not of the society that votes for them and whom they are supposed to represent, but of the public limited and commercial companies, investor 'families', and 'vulture' funds. All of them concepts usurped to disguise the true actors of this movie. Furthermore, they also count on the fact that when September arrives, there arrives (at least in our collective imagination) the beginning of what was previously known as the low season, and with it, the spirits of protest and vindication also lower, and they will have guaranteed, for some, a good profit, one more season.

]]> <![CDATA[In search of the lost king of Majorca: an excavation in Soria wants to find the remains of James IV]]>

Almost 650 years after his death, a team of historians and archaeologists will return to search in Soria for the remains of James IV of Majorca, the prince who inherited the rights to the Majorcan Crown but never managed to recover the kingdom. The campaign, which will last fifteen days, is supported by the Council of Majorca and the Balearic Government.

]]> <![CDATA[The tower of Albarca, at the starting point of the GR 222]]>

In this itinerary we explore the beginning of the Artà-Lluc route, the GR 222. A long-distance trail – one of the four existing in the Balearic Islands – that proposes to link the Llevant mountains and the natural park with the central area of the Tramuntana mountain range, declared a world heritage site by Unesco in the category of cultural landscape. Along the way we find a great variety of environments, some of great uniqueness, such as the almost virgin coast of the Llevant peninsula, the dune areas of the Bay of Alcúdia and the terraced slopes of the Caimari mountains.

]]> <![CDATA[Postcard of Folegandros]]> I am writing this article in the middle of the Aegean Sea: we are on a boat and have just left Folegandros behind, one of the smallest islands in the Cyclades. We went there to look for what we have already lost at home: a bit of peace, a bit of sun, a bit of salt, and a bit of sky, to put it as Pere Quart wrote. Calm and nature. Here, electricity did not arrive until 1973, and cars did not become widespread as a means of transport, along with motorcycles, or the more recent quads, until about 20 years ago. Before, here, people moved on foot or by donkey, and they didn't have many reasons to walk beyond their small plot of land, to go to a funeral, to wait for news or essential products at the port. Right now, just over 700 people live here, throughout the year.We spent three days here. And three were enough for us to see how the blue, here, can be as blue as that of Mallorca, and that the whitewash of the walls is not so different from what still flakes off our oldest buildings, outside the town. Many things have happened here, in the last 50 years, and I am sure that the inhabitants of the island have not wanted to tell us everything. However, it is evident that tourism is the main economic driver: everyone works or has some connection with the twenty or so bars and restaurants there are, especially in Chora and also at the port, or with the grocery stores, the souvenir shops, the boat taxis and the buses that cross the island, slowly, but with a decent enough frequency. The drivers, when they meet at the turns, among bushes and prickly pears, among tamarisks and some pine trees, smile and greet each other. They do it as if they were speaking in a code known only to them. And I can imagine it, and at times it is as if I understood it: it is that of people who have known how to offer the best they have without it costing them the landscape that has facilitated it, that of people who have known (or have not had to) say enough.In the evening, the people who sleep here and there gather in the three or four squares in Chora. They come from watching the sunset on the path of white stones that leads to the little church of the Mother of God. They have taken photos during the golden hour. Before arriving, they were able to appreciate a concert of Greek pop song that three girls no older than five years old have improvised with a microphone with an amplifier. Now, however, the parents are having dinner, and they give scraps of matsata to the cats that patrol between the restaurant tables. Not far from them, next to the ice cream parlor, another group of girls prepares their stall for today's business: necklaces and bracelets that they must have made themselves, and that they will sell, not without first having to haggle over the price with customers. Flat little stones. The prices, scribbled with a blue pen. I look at them with great envy: at their age, my summers were also like that. And I don't know if what I feel now is nostalgia for my childhood or rather the longing for an island that has wanted to grow so much that it is no longer there. Mallorca is no longer like Folegandros.

]]> <![CDATA[The Court's recipe in the face of resident discontent with tourism: cocktail workshops and guided tours]]>

The institutions of the Balearic Islands have acknowledged the impact of tourist saturation on citizens. However, the remedies to alleviate its effects are diverse, while the Islands are on track to reach 20 million visitors this 2026. In the case of the Palma City Council, the Fundació Turisme Palma 365 is committed to "improving the perception" that residents of the city have of tourist activity, with a strategy whose objective is to work on the "pride of belonging" of the people of Palma to their city, in the words of the entity's manager, Pedro Homar.

]]> <![CDATA[The film 'The Last Sunrise' turns Mallorca into "something more" than a romance setting]]>

Argentinian Maia Reficco and Spaniard Fernando Lindez star in The Last Sunrise, a summer romance that, in addition to addressing themes such as loss and illness, incorporates a reflection on excessive tourism in Mallorca. "It's not just a romance," Lindez (Madrid, 2000) explains in an interview. "The film, I think, touches on other topics and also teaches us to take care of the places where we come from, where we originate, the natural reserves in this world, and not to abuse them," he adds.

]]> <![CDATA[Guide to know where and what to eat in Mallorca]]>

Finding restaurants where traditional recipes are still cooked is becoming a small odyssey in Mallorca. Just as has happened with other aspects of the island's heritage, mass tourism, globalization, and changes in consumption habits have been marginalizing a way of cooking and eating that for generations had been part of daily life. Today, in many cases, this gastronomy has an almost testimonial role, both in bars and restaurants and in residents' homes.

]]> <![CDATA[Mallorca has the second most expensive villa on the entire coast of the State with a price of 25 million]]>

The second most expensive home on the entire Spanish coast is in Mallorca. It is a villa located in Costa d’en Blanes, in Calvià, which is on the market for 25 million euros, according to a ranking compiled by the real estate portal pisos.com.Only a mansion in the Cascada de Camoján urbanization, in Marbella's golden mile, valued at 27.5 million, surpasses it.

]]> <![CDATA[Tennis player Nick Kyrgios, provisionally suspended after testing positive for cocaine in Mallorca: "I have made a serious mistake"]]>

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has provisionally suspended Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios after he tested positive for cocaine in an anti-doping control carried out in June during the Mallorca Championships.

]]> <![CDATA[The Principal Theatre of Inca closes the season with 36,232 attendees, the highest figure in the last four years]]>

The Principal d'Inca theatre closes the 2025-2026 season with 36,232 attendees, the highest figure in the last four years and 30% more than the 2022-2023 season. During this period, the venue hosted 117 events and 103 film screenings, a total of 220 activities.

]]> <![CDATA[Exit]]> You didn't know you were so beautiful.

]]> <![CDATA[Four-year-old child dies from drowning in a swimming pool in Pollença]]>

A four-year-old child has been hospitalized in serious condition after suffering a drowning at the pool of the Club Nàutic del Port de Pollença.

]]> <![CDATA[Prudence eclipsed chaos]]>

There were reasons to fear the worst: an exceptional total solar eclipse coincided with one of the days of greatest human pressure of the year and with the Islands, especially Mallorca, becoming the center of world attention. It was like a stress test for islands that live at the limit of their capacity. And yet, the balance of August 12th is, despite the incidents, very positive.

]]> <![CDATA[It is not only a thing of the past]]>

There are many ways to explain how we have grown in the Balearic Islands. Mercè Pinya's report on archaeological heritage besieged, swallowed, or boxed in by construction shows one of the most explicit: we have come to disregard what we simultaneously declared an Asset of Cultural Interest. That is to say, heritage that, by definition, has a mandate for protection, including its surroundings.

]]> <![CDATA[Investigate the death of an old man found on the coast of La Ràpita]]>

The Civil Guard has opened an investigation to clarify the circumstances of the death of an 85-year-old elderly man, whose body has appeared lifeless floating on the coast of La Ràpita, in Campos. It was around 11:45 a.m., according to sources close to the investigation informed Europa Press, that a person on the beach called the emergency services and alerted them to the discovery of a corpse.

]]> <![CDATA[This is the seabed of Mallorca that you can see live from home]]>

IB3 and IB-Red have launched an initiative that combines technology, communication, and dissemination of the natural heritage of the Balearic Islands, for the live broadcast of the seabed of the marine reserve of Ponent de Mallorca, around the islet of Toro, in Calvià. As IB3 explained this Tuesday, the project makes an audiovisual window to the seabed available to citizens, accessible from any device – mobile, tablet, or computer – which allows real-time observation of the biodiversity of a protected natural space.

]]> <![CDATA[Why is Mallorca the best place to see the eclipse?]]>

Mallorca has become a pilgrimage site to experience the eclipse. People from all over the world have bought flights to come to the island to see the astronomical phenomenon and the big question that arises is none other: why Mallorca, if it can be seen from many other places in the world?

]]> <![CDATA[The total solar eclipse of 1905 in Mallorca: scientists and smokeless factories]]>

Expectation? People coming from abroad to witness a very infrequent phenomenon? Nothing new. Another August, but this one 121 years ago, Mallorca became an international focus of attraction for a total solar eclipse, with the presence of six scientific collectives from four countries and three hundred Italian tourists who traveled expressly to the island to witness this exceptional phenomenon. It was August 30, 1905, at noon.

]]> <![CDATA[Check if you will see the August 12 eclipse from your home]]>

On August 12, 2026, the Balearic Islands will be one of the few places from which to contemplate a total solar eclipse. But it won't be enough to find yourself on the right island: the phenomenon will practically coincide with sunset and any building, tree or mountain that blocks the western horizon may prevent you from seeing its most spectacular moment.

]]> <![CDATA['Go home']]> The debate surrounding tourism, now transformed into a citizen's demand mobilized in the streets, goes back a long way. For decades we have known or debated about the tourism-based economic model, very often without having fully understood the implications of it all, what the deep root of the problem is, or what the possible viability of the solutions is. From environmentalism, it has always been told to us that tourism destroys the environment, because obviously where there is a hotel there could be a pine forest, and wild goats instead of a Dutch couple. My grandparents' entire generation, for example, saw how Mallorca transformed from a land of orchards and villages into an environment of hotels and apartment blocks, and some knew how to take advantage of the momentum of all this and became very rich, and began to see old Mallorca as a rat's nest, or of bewildered peasants who did not know how to adapt to the heated times of a gold rush.

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