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.

Every year in Pollensa the town hosts a week of festivities (La Patrona), from around the 20th July and culminating with an epic battle on the 2nd of August. All throughout the week there are concerts, exhibitions, displays, parades and late night parties and the whole festival is accentuated with canon fire, shotguns, bell ringing, trumpets, drums and fireworks.

The month of June gets the summer beach parties in Mallorca off to a fine start. The weather is glorious and we all look for excuses to get down on the sand and remember why we moved here. The beach and perfect horse shoe bay of Port de Soller never fail to delight and the children start to look forward to their holidays and swapping school shoes for no shoes. The diving platform is installed in the water this week and then the locals know that summer has officially started.

The Dijous Bo autumn fair is held in Inca on the fourth Thursday after the feast of St Luke (18th October) in November, and is the largest fair of its kind in Mallorca. As with most of Majorca's autumn fairs, it originated as an agricultural fair celebrating the harvest, and has since grown to include a range of sporting and cultural entertainments.

The 54th Festival of Pollenca is under way and a part of it is an exhibition by Mallorcan born artist Astrid Colomar. 

It's another bust week of opening parties, live music and even a chance to canoe round an island, as ever there's lots going on here in Mallorca.

The Soller road from Palma cuts through fertile lands of almond and olive groves. The odd goat and flocks of sheep graze in the surrounding fields. A straight road that gives no clue of the vast estates that lie on either side of the road and the interesting stories they have to tell. A few years ago Jill Sander, the German fashion designer, was prepared to spend 8 million euros on one of these estates and her interest sparked government intervention.

This Sunday we were lucky enough to catch another spectacular fiesta in Palma de Mallorca. Like the festival in Soller three weeks ago and the up coming Nit de Foc in Palma, this is a Majorcan tradition that is more interested in fun and participation than health and safety - the Catalan Castells.

Last weekend saw the 9th edition of Mallorca’s Almond Fair, known to the locals as Fira de la Flor d'Ametler. The event celebrating Mallorca’s famous almonds attracted thousands of people who travelled to the peaceful village of Son Servera in the east of the island.

Santa Ponça is getting reading to commemorate the successful landing and conquering of the Moors by King Jaume I in 1229 with eleven days of festivities.

In recent years, Mallorca has embraced the street food trend that has hit Western Europe, with food festivals popping up at various events around the island. This new found love went to the next level, as the first weekend in June saw Barcelona’s legendary VAN VAN make its debut trip across the Spanish waters to Palma’s Parc de la Mar, next to the city's iconic cathedral.

The 50th International Plastic Art’s Competition on display in Pollenca Museum.