Joan Castelló Guasch collected in Rondaies de Formentera (1976) the story of two sisters who “if one was envious, the other was even more so; and ill-spoken, which is not for saying.” The drama began when, after the mother's death, instead of making the eldest heir, as was customary, and leaving 'her rightful share' to the youngest, she divided everything – property and houses – equally between the two. Every now and then they had fights and arguments, each time more inflamed. “Well, you'll see that one day when the dispute was more heated than ever, the youngest let loose in a bad way. And she ended up saying to the eldest: ‘May you have a bad end, and your property too.’ ‘What you wish for, may you have!’, she replied”. In the end, a large and strong wave swept everything away. It submerged the property from top to bottom, burying houses and sisters and everything under the water.

The following proposed itinerary is a long walk through the south of the municipality of Maó, along old, narrow paths, between dry stone and history. Stretches of sinuous freshness, beauty, and authenticity. We start from the hermitage of Gràcia, patron saint of the city which has been, since the 18th century and by British imposition, the capital of Menorca. The intention is none other than to go around the Maó hamlet of Llucmaçanes, a small urban nucleus of 179 inhabitants, headed by the modern church of Sant Gaietà, from the end of the 19th century, and a series of small, orderly houses. “The first news of the existence of a settlement in Llucmaçanes dates back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when there was talk of a concentration of small properties where vines were cultivated and wine was made. The name of the nucleus is older and would originate in Roman times, in an elocution that presents us with a place with an abundance of fruit trees, mainly apple trees. In 1860, the urban census shows us the existence of 43 houses and a hundred inhabitants. The first urban plan is from 1889 and four streets and the Plaça de Sant Gaietà are projected there.” (Maó, “Guide to the Municipalities of Menorca”, Josep Portella Coll. Hora Nova, 2007).

Les Alqueries is a beautiful hamlet in the municipality of Santa Eugènia, located on the northeast side of the village and crossed by an old transhumance route, the Camí de Muntanya. From the Middle Ages until the early 20th century, the mountain paths allowed the passage of the herds from the large estates that spent the summer in the mountains (estivada) and the winter in the lands of the Pla and Migjorn (hivernada) of Mallorca.

If we adhere to the definition given by the dictionary, a viewpoint is a lofty place from which one can look and see a large expanse of terrain. This is the case for the main objective of our route: an itinerary around Esporles and the hermitage of Maristel·la through old bridle paths, charcoal burner huts, and a long and extensive road and hydraulic infrastructure for the exploitation of mountain forests, which should lead us to the 'secret' viewpoints of Son Ferrà. Popularly attributed to the neighboring estate of Son Poquet, these two historical spaces are located a few meters from the wall that marks the division between both properties. The confusion arises because it is from these points that the aforementioned estate houses are best glimpsed. The walk will also take us through the hermitage of Maristel·la and the viewpoint of Cor de Jesús, a heritage of a recent and well-documented history of the 'contemplative' life of Esporles. If we want to use public transport to approach the start of our walk, the L-202 (Estellencs-Palma) is the best option. On the website tib.org, you will find all the necessary information about schedules and availability of the line.

Located in the Fontanelles massif, Puig de la Pega, 403 m high, is the point where the villages of Sant Rafel de sa Creu, Sant Jordi de ses Salines, and Sant Josep de sa Talaia meet; at its summit there is a geodetic vertex where previously there had been a boundary marker placed at the end of the 18th century that marked the division between the quartons of Portmany, Algarb, and Alhaueth; for which reason it is also known as Puig del Merlet. This peak and the spring of the same name were admired and described by Archduke Louis Salvador of Austria on an excursion that took him from Vila to Santa Agnès de Corona.

Our objective is the Torre de la Gavina, one of the five towers built in Formentera during the 18th century for the surveillance and defense of its fragile coastline. The other constructions are the Torre de la Guardiola, on the island of Espalmador, the Torre de Punta Prima, next to Es Pujols, the Torre del Pi del Català, on Migjorn beach, and the Torre del Garroveret, near Cap de Barbaria. The route we have traced circumvents the Estany del Peix, a large natural pond open to the sea by La Boca, which was the island's first major fishing and salt port. Indeed, the venda de Porto-salè takes its name from the Portus salarius, a salt exploitation from Roman times. An extraordinary place where natural and heritage values have built a powerful and extensive cultural landscape. We will also visit the public estate of Can Marroig, one of the emblematic corners of the Ses Salines de Eivissa i Formentera Natural Park. For inquiries about the island's public transport, we can consult the website busformetera.com, where we will find all the information about routes and timetables.

Our objective is the Artrutx watchtower (17th century) from the beaches of Son Saura. To begin with, a clarification, because we must not confuse the starting point of this route with the Son Saura sandbank, north of the municipality of Mercadal, to the right of the Fornells watchtower, also owned by the Comte de Torre-Saura Foundation – José María de Olives i Ponsich. In addition to the walk, we propose a dip in Cala en Turqueta before starting the return journey.

At the foot of the highest mountains in Mallorca, the route we present today is a long walk that aims to travel along some of the oldest and most beautiful public paths in the valley of the orange trees. Spaces where the imprint of the most historic movement of the area, which crosses olive groves and cultivated lands, orchards and urban areas, can still be felt. An itinerary where the main interest, but not the only one, focuses on the old bridle paths and the existence of an extensive and well-preserved network of public paths, a complex that forms a historical, cultural and ethnological heritage of the first magnitude. We want to describe, through walking and observation, a cultural landscape that necessarily must be written in capital letters. The Sóller valley, nestled between Puig del Teix to the west, the Alfàbia and Son Torrella mountain ranges to the south, and Puig Major and Montcaire mountain to the east, is one of the many hearts that beat strongly in the Tramuntana mountain range - World Heritage.

“It was a grey and rainy day; in the middle of a scrubland of strawberry trees and myrtles, my men had lost their way and we trod for a long time, before finding the path that leads from the Cave to Valldemossa” (What I know about Miramar, Archduke Ludwig Salvator, 1911). It was the month of September 1867 and the ‘prince, scientist and traveller’, as the scholar Helga Schwendinger defined him, had opted for the sea route to visit this town in the Tramuntana mountain range. He disembarked at the coast of Son Ferrandell, at the coastal spot known as Hort de la Cova d’en Claret. A place that the people of Valldemossa remember, above all, because three centuries earlier, on October 1, 1552, when precisely the Clarets owned what was later known as Son Ferrandell, which at that time also included Son Olesa and Vistamar, a fleet of 400 pirates disembarked there with the intention of sacking the town and capturing people to sell them as slaves or obtain a ransom.

From his childhood are the memories of the youth years of P. Rafel Ginard i Bauçà (Sant Joan, 1899-Artà, 1976), a gem of Majorcan literature from the first half of the 20th century, first published in November 2003. Through the work, we get in touch with the daily life of Majorcan rural life in an exquisite way, with an authentic and passionate language. It is not possible to pass through the Sant Joan domains in Pla de Mallorca without evoking the spirit of a soul attached to the rocks of tradition. About 'the Sant Joan landscape', Father Ginard says, “it is the triumph of humility. It is not a showy and magnificent land, but it is fertile. Other places will be a garden, my town is a granary. Land without daring; the hills barely dare to raise their heads, afraid of breaking the rhythm, monotonous and solemn, with arrogant postures. Very smooth hills that, from below, raising your hand, you already reach the summit.”

The hill of Banya is a spur of 598 meters in height of the Teix massif. At the Tramuntana end, we find the Rocafort rock, our objective, a natural viewpoint from which we can contemplate all the charms of the Sóller valley. At its foot, there is a small viewpoint located at one of the stops of the Sóller train, which offers good views over the Sóller valley. All in all, an intense trek through the interior slopes of the Teix massif, via the Metro path and the Pi pass, which allows us to reflect on the description transmitted to us by the Catalan journalist and writer Josep Pla nearly sixty years ago. “The Sóller valley has all the charms that can be desired in this life: tranquility, silence, a mild climate, a warm and sweet air like a feather pillow.” (Les illes. Josep Pla i Casadevall. 1970, Edicions Destino).

On the border between the regions of Pla and Raiguer in Mallorca, we find the small town of Biniali, in the municipality of Sencelles. Its surroundings are dressed in a deep sea of vines from which flows 'the blood of the earth' (an expression borrowed from the great poetess Antonina Canyelles), a sea of vineyards where the craftsmanship of wineries with long history and enormous prestige is breathed. It is no coincidence that we are in one of the most important wine-growing areas of Mallorca, with great tradition and quality. The Designation of Origin (DO) Binissalem, recognized in 1990, brings together a dozen small and medium-sized wineries, of family tradition, spread across the municipalities of Santa Maria del Camí, Consell, Binissalem, Santa Eugènia, and Sencelles, with a total area of 154.75 km2. The wines produced in these lands of Pla and Raiguer enjoy great Spanish and international recognition.

On this long and demanding route, we aim for the Puig del Sementer Gran (1,013 m), in the municipality of Escorca, bordering Bunyola and Sóller. A summit that often goes unnoticed, discreet, but which becomes a monumental balcony over the Lofra valley and a natural viewpoint towards the central sector of the Tramuntana mountain range. A pleasure for the senses and a real torment for the legs; nevertheless, the effort is worth it. We start from the Cúber barrier, located near milestone 34 of the Ma-10 road (Pollença-Andratx). Very close by, at the height of the recreational area of the Font del Noguer, the bus of line 354 of Mallorca's interurban public transport stops. On the website tib.org you will find all the information on timetables and availability of all lines.

L’Estufador is a coastal area located on the southern slope of La Mola, between El Ram and Punta Roja. The strict toponym, documented as early as 1712, refers to a cove at the foot of the cliff where there is a fishermen's pier, close to the outlet of the Torrent de la Talaia and Punta de les Pesqueretes. There is also the path of L’Estufador, which connects these landing places with the nucleus of El Pilar de La Mola, crossing the territories of the Talaiassa estate. Popular tradition associates the name L’Estufador with peculiar cavities in the rock that, when receiving waves on stormy days, expelled water vertically, creating a spring. These rock formations were removed by fishermen during the first half of the seventies, to prevent them from favoring the accumulation of posidonia. (source: eeif.es)

In this route, we explore one of the most genuine environments of Ibiza, between the terms of Santa Eulalia del Río and San Juan de Labritja. It is a set of mountain ranges and ravines located north of the Morna plain, the continuation towards the northeast of the Amunts. One of these small mountain ranges is Mala Costa or Sierra de Morna, although on the route we also cross the Sierras de San Vicente and San Carlos.

“Galilea was known in the early 16th century as the mola of Cortei, a quite revealing toponym”. Tomàs Vibot and Just Hernàndez make this clear in the book Son Cortei, Conques i Galilea, published in 2009 by the Puigpunyent Town Hall: the establishment process of this nucleus is “a slow process motivated by inheritance policies” that led around 1586 to the segregation of an old farmstead of Bartomeu Cortei and the creation of small plots for the new settlers of the area.

The route we present is a walk through part of the historic road network between Pollença and Lluc. An itinerary that starts from the Son Grua pine tree, a tree with its own name and a landmark in the territory, to climb up to the robust and monumental Muntanya fountain, following the old Lluc road (Ruta de Pedra en Sec/GR 221); while the descent follows the old road, the construction of which began in 1916. In between, between the old medieval road and the new road infrastructure of the early 20th century, numerous reconstructions of the old road to make it more passable, both for animals and for carts.

On this route we explore a part of the natural heritage that surrounds the sanctuary of Lluc. We are in the municipality of Escorca, one of the most extensive and at the same time least populated in Mallorca. It is home to the highest and also the most important and visited mountains on the island: Puig Major de Son Torrella (1436 m), Maçanella (1365 m), Puig Tomir (1104 m), Tossals Verds (1099 m), Puig de l’Ofra (1091 m) and Puig Roig (1003 m), among many others. The repopulation church of Sant Pere d’Escorca and the sanctuary of Lluc are the most important landmarks of the cultural landscape of the term. However, as a whole, from Andratx to Pollença, the Serra de Tramuntana must be understood as a mountain system of great geomorphological interest, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in the category of cultural landscape. It is a complex limestone relief, dominated by karst modeling, with strong contrasts between mountain and coast, and with an erosive dynamic marked by irregular water and Mediterranean processes.

On this route, we explore a part of the natural heritage surrounding the Lluc sanctuary. We are in the municipality of Escorca, one of the most extensive and at the same time least populated in Mallorca. The island's highest and also most important and visited mountains are concentrated here: Puig Major de Son Torrella (1436 m), Maçanella (1365 m), Puig Tomir (1104 m), Tossals Verds (1099 m), Puig de l'Ofra (1091 m), and Puig Roig (1003 m), among many others. The repopulation church of Sant Pere d'Escorca and the Lluc sanctuary are the most important landmarks of the cultural landscape of the term. But, as a whole, from Andratx to Pollença, the Serra de Tramuntana should be understood as a mountain system of great geomorphological interest, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the category of cultural landscape. It is a complex calcareous relief, dominated by karst modeling, with strong contrasts between mountain and coast, and with an erosive dynamic marked by irregular water and Mediterranean processes.

The following itinerary proposes the ascent to the moleta of Son Cabaspre, following a section of the GR 221 between Esporles and Valldemossa via the mola of Son Pacs. We cross lands and historical possessions such as Son Dameto and Son Cabaspre, which reveal the extensive and deep human footprint on the territory. A walk for the pace and the gaze to feel the aromas and smell the territory. The moleta of Son Cabaspre allows us to survey the hills and slopes surrounding Esporles and, also, to contemplate the mountains that make up the western sector of the Tramuntana mountain range-World Heritage. Consider that we have public transport to get us to the starting and ending point of our itinerary. The line 202 that connects Estellencs and Palma stops at the central promenade of Esporles. You can go to the website tib.org for any consultation of timetables and availability of the routes.