Event Previews & Reviews from Mallorca

A trip to Deià on the north coast of Majorca is a must for anyone wishing to experience the diversity that this beautiful island has to offer.

The Diamond Jubilee celebrations may be over in the UK, but here on Mallorca, we enjoyed a quintessential English garden party at La Residencia Hotel in Deia to mark the British monarch’s 60th year on the throne.

With strings of glistening lights adorning every town and village, Christmas has definitely arrived in Mallorca. And what better way to get a festive fix than a trip to a Christmas market?

From 27th May to 5th June 2016 the leafy avenue of Passeig del Born will host Palma's annual book fair.

The Esporles Sweet Fair began in 2005 and is held on the first Sunday of October to guarantee fine weather. The event is becoming increasingly popular and diverse with every passing year and offers a unique opportunity to meet the people who make a fine range of traditional, homemade and, often, organic foods including wines, cakes, pastries, jams and sweets. And, of course, to sample their wares! Here are some of my favourite stands from Sunday's fair, with an insight into the characters and traditions behind the produce.

The children of Mallorca have twelve weeks holiday in the summer. Summer schools are therefore essential to allow parents to work in the tourist industry and to stop the little ones getting bored of holiday life. The families of the hidden valley have choices - groups based in school buildings throughout Soller, the community centre Ca’n Dulce, or the favoured one of my family – the Tennis & Swimming Summer School. 

If you were in Palma on Friday night, you might have wondered what was going at the Parque del Mar, in front of the Cathedral. A massive pair of inflatable legs stretched out from the centre of a dazzling stage complete with bright red heels. 

The people of Mallorca, like their mainland brothers, love a fiesta. Almost every weekend there seems to be a saint or a historical event that requires face paint and explosions, or at the very least a market. The Fiesta Sant Joan in Mallorca celebrates the life of John the Baptist and in Majorca Sant Joan is a very big deal. Every other street, shop and restaurant seems to be named after him, he's the Patron Saint of four towns and he even has a town named after him.

More than 400 people took part in Port Adriano’s Sunset Yoga hosted by renowned yogi Xuan Lan and swimmer Gemma Mengual at the weekend!

The ‘Ruta del Tapeo’ started in Puerto Pollensa in March this year to encourage locals and tourists alike to sample the culinary delights of bars, cafes and restaurants around this North Majorcan town. The Ruta is held every Thursday evening from 8pm til midnight and is a bargain at only €1.50 for a small glass of beer or wine with a tapa. The Ruta is a great opportunity to try new places and to make friends with others on the trail.

This week Rialto Living kicked off its first art exhibition of 2017 with a showing of Adrian Elgie’s ‘Mis Nuevas Vistas - A Bright New Vista’ and I was kindly invited to visit the opening night. Adrian is an English contemporary landscape artist and, having seen some examples of his paintings and read his background of moving to Mallorca from Cambridgeshire (my home county) to rekindle a romance with his former art college sweetheart on the island, I was keen to find out more.

Alaró, like many other towns in Mallorca, was a picture of fairytale festiveness as its residents hosted the 7th edition of their annual Christmas market on December 8th and 9th 2018.

There's been a flurry of classical music on the Island this month, so Shirley took time out to enjoy the Summer Sun Concert in Port de Soller last Friday.

Spring officially takes hold. With support from the city of Palma de Mallorca and the collective Balearic Islands Government, the international festival of contemporary dance, 'Palma amb la dansa' as it's called in Catalan...or Palma loves dance in English, has arrived to Mallorca for the eighth year in a row.