© Shirley Roberts
A Soller Sunday walk
Winter Sundays are made for walking and Sollerics love to walk. The mountain paths and picnic areas are busy at weekends with local people enjoying the beautiful countryside on their doorstep. We set off on Sunday for one of the town’s favourite places, Ses Tres Creus ('the three crosses'). The site was created in a cave on the lower slopes of the mountains that dominate Soller. According to legend, it was a safe place, created to hide all the important artefacts from the churches when the town was under siege from pirates. The local people carried their treasures on this well trodden path, hid them deep in the cave and then returned to town via the grassy slopes . No hint of where the gold was held and no chance of a random pirate finding their way there. The three crosses is where the townspeople said 'bring it on' to the marauders secure in the knowledge that they had a great hiding place.
To take the locals' walk you need to start from the town square and exit in the corner by the Santander Bank. This is a very special building in the corner next to the church, built in Gaudi style – you really can't miss it. Follow the signs to the cemetery which will take you right up the narrow streets higher and higher until you come to the town cemetery. Soller cemetery is a most beautiful park laid out on three levels with wonderful trees, flowers and shrubs at every turn. The cemetery has three gateways indicating when each level was built. The lower level has a coat of arms of Soller in 1828, the middle one meets a cross with a coat of arms in 1900 and the third has the more modern coat of arms of 1916. The family graves, vaults and mausoleums contain a unique history of the Soller valley and the people who have influenced this town. The view over the centre and down to the sea makes this a most beautiful resting place before we continue the walk.
To reach the destination of Ses Tres Creus we leave the cemetery behind and follow the road to a choice of paths. Take the cart track on the right which crosses the stream over a bridge and then immediately follow a bridle path lined by two walls. Continue along the cobbled pathway containing a small fountain and you are on the right path. Avoid the asphalt stretch in front of you and come out on to the Ses Tres Creus road, with its viewing point. Behind the memorial and on the first bend of the road a broad path starts leading 30 metres later to the cave of Ses Tres Creus - these days empty of treasures but full of memories of the history of Soller.
The gentle amble down the mountain back to town as the sun sets out to sea offers a fabulous view and the reward for the climb. This is a walk that not many visitors stumble upon. It is not on the well signposted Route 221 which is all over Soller. No signs to the three crosses but plenty to the cemetery and that's all you need. Once there the rest is onward and upward and you will be very glad you stepped off the conventional tourist route. Enjoy the walks around our town and if you see me with Reg the schnautzer doing the same, do say hello!
