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.

Carnival happens in the Port of Soller from Friday 2nd March onwards. Take a trip to the marina end of the Port in the morning and the children from the only school in the Port will parade down to the sea in their fine costumes. Masked princesses, skeletons, pirates, fairies and goblins will stroll among the holiday makers and locals. 

If you are in Mallorca this weekend, you might notice how the island is gearing up for one of its biggest fiestas of the year. Each June, the locals get together to celebrate in honour of Sant Joan (John the Baptist).

Last weekend saw more than 200,000 people flood the streets of Son Ferriol to attend one of the biggest agricultural fairs in Mallorca.

Easter week or 'Semana Santa' as it is known is a very important time in Soller. The town divides up into fraternities – groups of people attached to a local church who have an affinity to a particular group of penitents. The penitents dress in the robes of their particular fraternity and this includes wearing pointed hats, reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan, with eye holes cut out and the rest of the face covered.

Mallorca has long been a big draw for cyclists from all over the world, colourful teams of road bikers are a common sight all over the island but this weekend bikers of a different breed took over Old Town Pollenca in North Mallorca. No cycle shorts in sight here as lightweight bikes were switched for downhill rigs and Lycra was replaced with full body armour; the downhill mountain bikers were in town!

June is upon us now and here in Mallorca that means we have some BIG opening parties ahead of us and the beginning of some of the major events of the Summer.

It's mushroom season in Mallorca right now, with plenty of foraging to be had in the forests around the island. Mancor de la Vall is the village which has laid claim to the fair celebrating this humble fungus. This lovely little town lies in the foothills of the Tramuntana mountains and this autumn fair is one of its annual highlights.

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.

People all over Mallorca enjoyed a three day weekend to celebrate Friday’s public holiday “Dia de les Balears” the ‘Day of the Balearics’. As the capital of the largest of the Balearic Islands, Palma hosted the bulk of the events which attracted huge crowds over the three days.

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