Puerto d’Alcudia to Arta…touring Santuari de Sant Salvador, Castell de Capdepera and Cuevas d’Arta

June 1st,2024 

We have deemed today as a sightseeing day so with breakfast out of the way it is time to get going…the goal is to drive to Arta and visit the Santuari de Sant Salvador, then head to the Castell de Capdepera and finish the day with a tour of the Cuevas d’Arta before returning to Puerto d’Alcudia…..looks far on the map but it is about 70 minutes assuming one doesn’t take too many wrong turns…

Santuari de Sant Salvador

Much of this 4000 square meters fortified complex has been restored so that you can now see the remnants of the medieval fortress that it once was. Stone turrets line the top of the meter-thick walls. The views from here sweep over the rooftops of the medina-like old town and beyond to the bald, bumpy peaks of the Serra de Llevant. The walls were built in the 14th century to protect the town from pirates or invaders. There are walkways, a simple cafe along the walls, and a neoclassical church, which was built in 1832.

 

 

Castell de Capdepera

It is a short 20 minute drive to the Castell which lies atop a mountain however we managed to double the drive time >>> following our trusty GPS we first missed a sign in Capdepera for  the Castell parking then we made a command decision to follow a lane which become tighter as we pressed forward eventually reaching the entrance to the Castell, great except it was for pedestrians.

We elected to to turnaround  (no mean feat) and retreated down the hill, made a circuit of the town and voila, we got it right with free parking to boot.

It is a fortified structure built during the 14th century under the orders of King Jaume II and  in the 16th century hosted 125 houses within its walls. In the end the compound fell into disuse and was uninhabited until the 18th century when it became a military complex, eventually the castle was forgotten in the 19th century and it wasn´t until 1983 that it passed into the hands of the local authorities managed by a board of trustees. Very pleasant to visit it enjoys marvelous views over the fields, the coastline and the Minorca Channel, which separates Mallorca from Minorca:

Cuevas d’Arta

After which we continued through the rolling countryside for about 20  minutes to visit the caves. Easy parking, well-maintained bathrooms and a café with outdoor seating skirt the main attraction.  The caves known since pre historic times and have served to shelter people and animals, encourage legends, create fodder for poets and writers, Jules Verne is said to have been inspired when writing his Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Tours leave every half an hour and we lucked out as immediately after buying our tickets 32 EUR (Cad 47) we joined a group and were guided into the entrance hall. You are required to join a tour and our guide Giorgi fluent in Spanish, English, French and German provided an interesting commentary as we traversed the various chambers of this cave system. Knowledgeable and mildly amusing he was also happy to answer any and all questions.

Some factoids about the caves: The temperature ranges between 17*c and 22*c remaining fairly stable year round, the walkways extend about 700 meters and cover a surface area of approximately 6,000 square meters. The height of these caverns ranges from 15 meters to 45 meters, making the largest cavern roughly the height of the Cathedral in Palma. It is estimated that stalagmites grow at the rate of 2cm every 100 years which means many of the stalagmites in the pictures below are in the order of 5000  years old.

In the Hall of Hell we were treated to a 4-minute “son et lumiere” show featuring music from Stravinsky >>> a bit weird but captivating in its own way. The whole visit was around 50 minutes which unless you are a student of caverns is a good amount of time. Everything seemed extremely well preserved even including remnants of where old candles were used in times gone by on the walls. The tour ended with a rather dramatic exit to a breathtaking sea view then descending via steep staircase to ground level…

A pretty successful day  of visits as we gradually headed to the car and back to Puerto d’Alcudia with some nice views of the shoreline near the caves:

We ended the day with a walk back from Bonavida into the port. This time picking on another restaurant, Sa Taverna, for a second round of paella this time jointly consumed…pretty good but we felt the first one was superior, not that anything was left for the resident pigeons…note the intense concentration when peeling some prawns and also the heaters >> the staff closed the ceiling and brought them in during the meal as people were “freezing”…

Then back to the hacienda…

Another great day and evening, as you can see by our comments that to date Mallorca has been a very pleasant experience for us.