TRAMUNTANA ITINERARY

ALCÚDIA

Ermita de la Victòria The hermitage is reached from the road from Alcúdia to the Puerto, taking the turning to Mal Pas. The way to go is signposted about five kilometres down the road. The structure of this hermitage dates back to the 14th century, although it was reformed later in the 18th century. It has a hospice with accommodation available and there is a restaurant almost next door.

Oratory of Santa Anna The first Catalan settlers built this chapel, helping themselves to stone from the ruins of Pollentia. The chapel is opposite Alcudia cemetery, on the road to Artà. Like most hermitages and oratories built at the time of the repopulation of the Island, it is Gothic in style, just as the round arch of the entrance door of the main façade and the three arches inside that support the beamed roof demonstrate.

POLLENÇA

Oratory of 'Calvari' This oratory is built on top of a hill which one can either drive up or climb up a flight of 365 steps on foot. Its façade is Baroque dating from 1795 although Mannerist and Neo-classical elements have been added. Tradition has it that the figure of the Virgin at the foot of the Cross inside, an object of worship, was found by some fishermen in the nearby Cala de Sant Vicenç. It is a carving from the 15th century. Tel 971 530 067. In Pollençá, the Chapels of Rosser Vell and Sant Jordi both of the 15th century can be visited.

Sanctuary of Puig de Maria The Sanctuary is on a hill at 333 m of altitude. In 1348 permission was granted for the construction of a chapel, at the same time as the Black Death was sweeping through the town. It soon became one of the most important sanctuaries in Majorca and housed a school for the daughters of the nobility. The defence tower was built in the 14th century, while the church and the refectory are from the 15th. The sanctuary also boasts a legend of its own: in the middle of the 14th century three hermitesses saw a shining light that turned out to be a vision of the Virgin. To get there: take the road from Pollença towards the Puerto and turn off into the lane exactly opposite the monument dedicated to the poet Costa i Llobera. The sanctuary provides accommodation in the 12 cells of the hospice, and there is also a bar. Tel 971 184 132.

Castell del Rei. Pollença

EL CASTELL DEL REI The most magical and legendary castle in the whole of Majorca. It was the final redoubt of Moorish resistance against the Christian troops that invaded the island in 1229 and stood out against the siege to which the army of Pere IV "The Ceremonious" submitted it to. The castle, situated on a 492 m high hill in the Ternelles estate, about 10 kms from Pollença, was for many centuries a watchtower rather than a defensive fortification. It was finally abandoned in the 18th century. At the beginning of the 1990's its present owners started renovation work, especially on the main walls.

ESCORCA

Sant Pere d'Escorca represents the primitive Gothic

Hermitage de Sant Pere A chapel affiliated to the parish of Luc, Sant Pere d'Escorca was built in the middle of the 13th century, and so is an example of early Gothic architecture. It was an important place of worship for several centuries, up until the creation of the beginnings of the Sanctuary of Lluc, in 1456. Tel. 971 517 025. Currently it is privately owned and is opened up for worship every June 29 th.

El Sanctuario de Lluc Lluc has been a centre of pilgrimage since time immemorial, as its very name (lucus = sacred word) suggests. Very near the Sanctuary, there are funeral caves of the talayotic period. According to the legend, the figure of the Virgin of Lluc, small and dark, was found by a shepherd and a monk among some rocks.

Lluc is the most powerful sanctuary on the island, the one with the most intense symbolic charge, and the wellspring of 'mallorquinitat'

It was taken to the Hermitage of Sant Pere, but all by itself it returned to where it had been found. The same miracle took place several times, until a chapel was built near the place where the figure had been found. The present complex of buildings has gradually developed from this first chapel (1268) and has become a great centre of pilgrimage, a religious symbol and a cultural reference. The present church was finished in 1691. There is a large hospice with accommodation available in over 100 cells and there also are several bars and restaurants in the grounds of the Monastery. Tel 971 871 525.

VALLDEMOSSA

Hermitage of the Holy Trinity On can get to the hermitage up a lane situated almost exactly opposite the restaurant Can Costa on the road from Valldemossa to Deià. The construction of this hermitage was begun in the middle of the 17th century and is one of the best loved by the Majorcans. Tradition holds that the hermits give visitors a bag of Majorcan macerated olives and capers in exchange for alms. An interesting feature inside is the main retable with a figure of the Inmaculada Concepción, flanked by those of San Pablo and San Antonio.

ESPORLES

Ermita de Maristel·la To reach this beautiful, small hermitage one has to take the lane that goes from Esporles to Es Verger as far as the Casas de Son Ferrà. Here one needs to turn into a lane that goes up to the right. The hermitage was built in 1888 and dedicated to the Virgin del Carmen, which is where its name comes from (maris stella = starfish), Nuestra Señora del Carmen being the patron saint of fishermen and sailors.