From Valldemossa to Bunyola through Pastoritx, roads with history

PalmOn this route, we explore the beginning of the future variant of the Dry Stone Route that will connect Valldemossa and Alaró Castle, after a long journey through Pastoritx, Raixa, and the commune of Bunyola to the Oriente Valley. The GR-221.5 is partially signposted, especially on the Bunyola-Orient section. All of this sets us on an intense itinerary, thanks to the beauty of the surroundings and the cultural significance of the landscape. Paths steeped in history where we can still hear the echo of the footsteps of muleteers and their shepherds, and the restless chatter of the galufas (a type of muleteer) on the way to the olive groves of Valldemossa and Bunyola. The excursion we propose is not circular, so the use of public transport is absolutely necessary: line 203 to go to Valldemossa and lines 204 and 303 to return from Bunyola (all service information on the website). tib.org).

The route

[00 min] From the bus stop, we head inland along Via Blanquerna. We descend to a point just below the parish church, where the Baix del Fossar cross (restored in 1889) is located, at the intersection of Calle Constitución, Calle de la Beata, and Calle de la Amargura. After passing the cross, heading towards Palma, a few steps further on, we turn left onto Calle de la Dragonera [05 min], the beginning of the old road from Bunyola through Son Verí, Pastoritx, and Raixa.

After a rapid descent, we pass the Avall stream and climb back to the road (Ma-1110), which we exit at approximately km 16 and 17 [10 min]. A few meters to the right, we take the Tornera path, an old bridleway that will accompany us on this section through the lands of Mirabó. We pass two turnings on the right and take the third, flat and wedged between a dry wall with a carob tree trunk that, lying down, forms the shape of an arch. [20 min] We come out onto the path that connects La Coma and Son Verí, which we follow to the right until we reach the barriers of said property. To the left of the gate, some signs for the Valldemossa Town Hall direct us along an alternative route to the public path—which passed in front of the houses—and which will lead us to the fountain of the Gruta de Son Verí [35 min], also known as the Gruta de Porcell. A beautiful 16th-century building, unfortunately in ruins for twenty years.

From the spring, facing south, we follow the path that leads us behind the houses of Son Verí. We should watch out for a slight detour to the left that leads us to a metal gate. From here, we go down the steps of a terrace and pass through a second gate. We enter a section of the route known as the Costa de Rei. At the end [50 min], another iron gate opens the way through a thick dry wall. This is the boundary between Son Verí and Pastoritx. The path widens, we cross a cement track and, facing east, we continue the walk along a dirt track that, in a gentle descent, will take us to the Figueralet spring [1 h 10 min], very close to the houses of Pastoritx. The same milestones we've encountered up to this point now indicate that we should turn right, briefly, as they will soon lead us to the left, leading to a well-trodden and well-marked path [1 h 15 min].

The path takes us down towards the Na Morta meadow, parallel to the Pastoritx stream, which we soon see on our right. [1 h 25 min] We cross the stream again and then come to a fork. We continue along the path on the right. We quickly come out onto the Pastoritx path [1 h 30 min], turn left, and descend. The path narrows and soon reveals the classic appearance of mountain paths. We leave the Raixa spring on the right, and around it, a washhouse and a irrigation ditch. We leave the area of Valldemossa and enter that of Bunyola. Shortly before passing the houses of Raixeta [1 h 55 min], the path crosses the stream again, which until now we had on our left.

Rajita

A staircase leads us to the middle of the open courtyard, where we find two fallen and broken hackberry trees; a combination that demonstrates the deterioration caused by the passage of time, the action of natural agents, and the state of total abandonment. Only the coat of arms of the third Count of Montenegro, Ramon Despuig Cotoner Martínez de Marcilla y Sureda (1692-1772), above the outer doorway of the manor house, seems to survive. Although the toponym seems to indicate that Raixeta is a branch of Raixa, according to Helena Kirchner, a scholar of rural areas in Islamic Bunyola, "we must assume that the original location of Raixa was where Raixeta is now, at the end of the Hell's peak, where the Coster spring is located" (Kirchner, H: 240). Indeed, the third Count of Montenegro carried out significant work on the houses, leaving his coat of arms. In the cadastre of 1773, it is listed after Raixa, with the name of Casa Nova or Raixa d'Amunt.

We leave behind what appears to have been the first site of Raixa and head towards the current one, closer to the old road from Palma to Sóller and the neighboring Biniatzar estate. The path is wide and easy, sheltered on the slopes of the Llamp Rock and the Falconera. After a long, gentle descent, we reach Raixa [2 hours 30 minutes]. We can turn towards the public estate's parking lot along the path on the right or go straight ahead towards the courtyard of this emblematic estate, the purple dream of Cardinal Despuig.

The history of the estate is long and full of numerous challenges, such as the attacks suffered during the Germania (1521-1523) or the continuous tug-of-war between the nobles of Canamunt and Canavall at the beginning of the 17th century, but also of events that gave it enormous notoriety, (1531-1574), the holy Valldemossina, and the purchase of these lands by the first Count of Montenegro, Ramon Despuig y Rocabertí, in 1660. The great reform promoted by Antoni Despuig y Dameto (1745-1813), Cardinal Despuig, at the end of the 18th century. Raixa was acquired in 2002 by the State and the Consell de Mallorca and is currently the headquarters of the Interpretation Centre of the Tramuntana Mountains, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We leave the estate through the public parking lot and join the old road from Palma to Sóller in the direction of Bunyola. Under the patronage and protection of 'the three Maries' (Gubia, Mount Son Nasi, and Mount Son Poc, according to popular Bunyola tradition), we pass the houses of Biniatzar and Alquería Blanca. At the end of the path, signposted as GR-221 on this section, we come out onto the Sóller road (MA-11), at Can Penasso [3 h 10 min], where we find the bus stop (lines 204 and 303/bus TIB).

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