Trains and Tourism

“…there’s a long-standing Spanish joke about a mythical fifth Balearic island called Majorca (the English spelling) inhabited by an estimated eight million tourists a year”.  The Rough Guide to Spain, 2002.    

Terroir’s first trip to the largest of the Balearic islands took place not long after that guide was published and we probably did go to Majorca rather than Mallorca.  It was a pre-Easter visit, warm enough to swim (just) and fantastic hiking weather, but we have an enduring memory of a throng of AirBerlin planes waiting on the stands at Palma airport.  Once established in our apartment at the western end of the island, we found that the early season meant a scarcity of open restaurants and, if Spanish/Mallorcan/Catalan was lacking, we needed basic German to order a meal. 

We hoped our second visit – this September – would provide a little bit more of Mallorca.  You may have gathered that Team Terroir does have a penchant for trains and thanks to the auspices of the fabulous Ffestiniog Travel company (‘Rail Holidays of the World’ https://www.ffestiniogtravel.com/) we were going to explore the north eastern end of the island, famed for its walking and, in certain quarters, for its railways. 

Railway trip 1: Palma to Manacor

Manacor isn’t mentioned in the 2002 Rough Guide to Spain so we had hopes of the ‘real’ (what a cliché!) Mallorca.   

Trip advisor’s web page on ‘Things to Do in Manacor’ (their capital initials, not Terroir’s) mainly advertises trips to somewhere else.  But, the town is, of course, home to the Rafa Nadal Academy and Museum (and two of our group had a frabjous day there) …

The town centre has some delightful nooks, crannies and restaurants, centred around the amazing convent church.

This little drama (above left) involved a policeman (legs just visible) and a ladder to rescue a small child who had inadvertently got locked in the convent garden (above right) when it closed for the long lunch/siesta break!

For people who enjoy towns over tennis academies, the other real joy of Manacor is wandering the back streets of Rafa Nadal’s home town.  Arrow straight, grid pattern lanes are peppered with pot plants, easy-on-the-eye ironwork and jacarandas wherever there is a space. The repeated, squat, circuar towers had us fooled for a minute but Don Quixote quickly came to our rescue.

The train trip to Manacor was definitely worth it if you like tennis and towns. But the other great benefit of train travel is bagging a window seat and watching the landscape trundle past.

Railway trip 2: Palma to Inca and Sa Pobla

This one may be harder to justify as high quality train-tourism, but we will do our best.  Again it’s a modern train running a modern service but the history of the line and the communities it served is much older.  And the view is pretty good too. 

Palma was once connected to much of the island of Mallorca by train, but by 1977 the line from Palma to Inca was all that was left, with the exception of the link to Soller which was in separate ownership, and which finally closed in 1994.  In 2001 the link between Inca and Sa Pobla was re-opened and the whole system electrified.  More was planned, but the future now appears uncertain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serveis_Ferroviaris_de_Mallorca and https://fascinatingspain.com/place-to-visit/what-to-see-in-balearic/what-to-see-in-majorca/tren-de-soller-the-railway-in-mallorca/

Our expedition on Railway Route 2 stopped at Inca in time for coffee. A sign outside the station indicated the way to a local museum with a pictogram of a boot.  It took several other, rather more artistic, hints on our walk into town to realise that Inca was a place of leather workers and shoe makers.  It does a decent cup of coffee too.

By the time the railway link from Inca to Sa Pobla was reinstated, the new ring road had probably eliminated any practical possibility of rebuilding a rail/road crossing, and the lines were abruptly terminated on the wrong side of, in this case the road, rather than the railroad tracks.  

Most of our group followed the beige-paved road ‘downtown’, took a quick look around and headed back for the next train to Palma.  Not Terroir of course and here is what we found – a whole new take on a car free route into town.  It is a bit alarming when we realised that the police station car park is built across the track, but in the interests of reaching the bitter end, we pushed on through. 

Inevitably much of the old route is encased in high concrete walls but the town response to this is anything but boring. Where there is room, tree planting has been added and seems to be flourishing: jacaranda of course but also European hackberry and a buckthorn which we think is Chinese date/Common jujube. 

And finally we emerge at the old station yard, now a community Police Station in the Plaꞔa des Tren, with its car park firmly up against the buffers.

What can cap that?  Only lunch.  The town centre was a gracious and spacious place providing not just food but a whole new transport experience.  Who knew that Sa Pobla is now a centre for another form of tourism transport?  Most people come here, not by train, but by bike. 

Railway trip 3: Palma to Soller and Port de Soller

I’m not quite sure why we are including this rail trip.  It is definitely already on the tourist trail, and you don’t have to be interested in trains to enjoy it. I suspect it is firmly in Majorca not Mallorca. 

Soller was once an isolated community in the Sierra de Tramuntana and separated from Palma by the Sierra de Alfabia.  But in Terroir’s view, nothing excites railway engineers and their backers more than a project to punch a railway through or up a mountain.  The line was eventually opened to Soller in 1912, with the tramway to Port de Soller following in 1913, and is said to have revolutionised the life of local inhabitants in terms of trade, travel and speed of postage.  Inevitably, road engineers began to follow, however, and the line closed completely in 1997. 

Of course nothing excites rail enthusiasts and their backers more than an abandoned ‘heritage railway’ , and a group of local business people bought the whole thing to create a tourist attraction.   And of course nothing excites tourists more than a mountain railway and tramway with spectacular scenery and original engines and rolling stock. All while sitting down.

The Soller train and tramway is fun, spectacular and hugely popular.  So welcome to the view and the crowds, the mountains and the seaside. 

The Soller railway station in Palma is right next the main station but couldn’t be more different.  It’s a wooden period piece with a little garden and tiny refreshment booth, run by a crew with a metaphorical rod of iron.  There are two reasons for this: the first is to control the crowds of tickets holders all desperate to get what might be perceived as the ‘best seats’.  The second is that, on leaving the platform, every train has to pass through a massive set of gates and set off down the middle of the public highway.  Of course there are traffic lights but there are also pedestrians who might either have no idea what is about to come at them or are train photographers determined to get the best shot.   

The train ride is amazingly scenic but you also spend a lot of time admiring the amazing dry Mallorcan stone walls which, in this environment, ensure the mountains do not slip onto the railway. Very difficult to photograph due to lack of light in the cuttings.

To be honest, weather matters, not just to see the view, but because the best fun is travelling on the passenger coaches’ ‘end platforms’.  They are the sort of thing which feature in most Westerns and one of us kept expecting to see a sheriff chasing a pistol-toting villain leaping from carriage to carriage.  Even when in the inevitable tunnel the end platforms deliver an interesting experience of the gradient, which is lacking from the comfort of your inside seat. 

And finally – the tram from Soller town down to the port.  This is pure tourism with all the struggle for seats, trying to work out the time table, wondering which harbour-side café will give you the best lunch and if there is time to walk to the lighthouse (believe me, there isn’t, just look at it at from a distance).  It is spectcular though!