Salto del Freu, through which the life of the Orient valley seeps

PalmA landscape from an eclogue, as Llorenç Villalonga described it in The Ferrets (1967), but cultural, after all, "because behind these things is, in their rawest form, the man who created them." We're talking about Oriente, this hamlet in the municipality of Bunyola, declared a joint historical site (BIC), which stretches across a hill strategically located in the middle of an elongated valley, between the Honor and Bosque passes, with two exits towards the Raiguer region, via Solleric and Freu. It's dominated by some of the great mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana, a World Heritage Site. We set off on foot from the TIB bus stop (L-331 Alaró-Orient/check schedules and availability on the website). tib.org), opposite the houses of Cals Reis, heading towards Bunyola on the Ma-2100 road. Pay attention, because the first part of this route is on asphalt; whether there are few or many people, always try to walk single file and on the left side of the road.

The route

[00 min] We leave Oriente heading towards Bunyola by road. We leave behind the historic village and the strategic hill on which the 19th-century church of Sant Jordi is located, rebuilt on the site of an ancient oratory documented as early as the mid-14th century. In this first section of the route, we must cross the valley to the entrance of the Freu path, between Can Nico and Son Perot (km 8.6).

From the black expanse of asphalt, our eyes are nourished by the light of a landscape of infinite colors, vast fields, and a lush mountain forest crowned by the peaks of the Alfàbia mountain range, the Jou pass, the María pass, Lofra, La Franca, La Rateta (the Cals Reis lookout point), and El Castellot. Meanwhile, following the path and gazing at it, we skirt the Oriente stream. Its course begins at the Bosque pass, within Coma-sema, and then flows through the narrow Freu pass into the Coanegra valley. A few meters past the entrance to Can Nico [20 min], we find signs on the left for the Dry Stone Route, indicating the old Santa María road through the Coanegra valley. We leave the asphalt and head towards the waterfalls and the Freu waterfall. To the right of the road, which crosses a wide and extensive field, we find the Tres Piques spring, first, and then the Freu spring. Their presence highlights the need for a water supply along a route once heavily traveled by muleteers and shepherds.

We leave the houses of Freu on our left [35 min]. These ruined walls hold long-forgotten secrets. A rather significant event shook the lives of the inhabitants of those houses. It happened in the summer of 1804, at the end of August, when three dangerous convicts—Martí Reca, Antoni Lluís Rubio, and Mateu Castanyeda—of a criminal and virulent nature, escaped from the Palma prison. For three days, surveillance was reinforced in several municipalities of Mallorca, especially in the Serra de Tramuntana. However, on the afternoon of the 25th, they appeared before the houses and, after threatening the inhabitants, made off with a substantial and considerable loot. The event is perfectly described and documented in Tomàs Vibot's libretto, '¡Crimes, infamies and immoralities in Bunyola and the East (16th-19th centuries)Published in 2005 by the Sitja Cultural Collective with the support of the Bunyola Town Council.

Next, we knock down a fence and cross the stream. Immediately afterward, we come to a significant fork in the path [40 min]. To the right, the path descends to the valley floor, where we find the remains of a water-powered flour mill from the Muslim era. It's worth taking a moment to see it and also to reach the Freu waterfall. We descend comfortably along a cart track that ends just at the streambed [50 min]. Once this short variation of the route is complete, we rejoin the main path [1 hr 00 min] and continue our walk, now in the direction of Santa Maria. We follow a well-constructed cart track that follows a few short uphill switchbacks, quickly placing us on a kind of pass. We find a wall that the path crosses through a gate without a barrier [1 hr 05 min]. A few meters further on, we leave the Coanegra path to our right and continue ascending straight ahead along the Comuneta valley, at the foot of Castellot, to our left.

We arrived at the Estaló Pass [1 hr 30 min], a silent witness to the valley's once splendid agricultural and livestock activity. To the right, the bridle path leads to Alaró via the Rafal estate; to our left, the pass opened by hand in 1905. This artificial gap served to improve communication between the two sides of the mountain. If you look closely, upon exiting the pass, the date of its opening is still visible on the rock to the right. "The Estaló Pass and the entire surrounding region, up to the boundary with the Alaró district, comprise the so-called Sant Jordi or Orient Common, later called the Cals Reis Common when it was incorporated into this estate as private property. The Common belonged to the (present-day) Orient Oratory, which elected a worker every few years to administer it on its behalf." (Documentary collection, file 04. Gaspar Valero, 12/02/2018)

Cals Reis Watchtower

From the Estalón pass, we begin our descent eastward. We follow the same cart track that cuts through the rock, staying on it until we reach an iron gate with a stile [1 hr 40 min], on our left, which separates the mountain forest from the cultivated fields of the eastern Cals Reis estate. If we choose this option, we will reach the village of Buñuelo in a quarter of an hour. We suggest extending the route, following the path that climbs steeply from here towards the Cals Reis watchtower. [1 hr 50 min] Upon reaching the highest point of this route, at 607 m, we leave the path to the right that ascends to the watchtower and advance only a few steps, because immediately afterwards we leave the main path to the left to follow a trail that crosses an old charcoal burner's hut and connects with the path to the Estrecho pass. [1 hr 55 min] We follow the signs for the Dry Stone Route towards the village of Buñuelo, turning left. We pass by La Fontenta [2 hr 10 min].

We reach the road (Ma-2100), which we join on the left at kilometer marker 11, very close to Can Garau [2 hr 15 min]. A final push on the asphalt rewards us with beautiful panoramic views of the Orient Valley. Our route ends at the TIB bus stop, in front of Cals Reis [2 hr 30 min].

@Fita_a_Fita