Soller in the Spotlight…

A new take this week on events as the expression that ‘everything is for sale in Majorca at a price’ came true. The advance guard were prowling our streets in their smart suits, clipboards and multilingual tongues. Their job was to get to know people and find the low down on the most interesting properties in town. They were acting on behalf of buyers from Russia, China, Sweden and the USA. They did not talk to any estate agents but created conversations with locals.

A few ‘my granny’s houses’ were looked at by the team and then one conversation led to another and at least two serious sales have come out of the experiment. Is this the sign of things to come, with seriously rich people deciding what they want and knocking on your door with an offer you can’t refuse? The interesting slant is the fact that neither of the potential sellers had considered selling their property before this meeting.

This season opens the door for the estate agents busy time of year. Holidaymakers go home and have discussions about relocation. Then, before the year is out they are back in Soller looking at property. These are the people with many questions about lifestyle, jobs and schools. They are not usually in the same league as those sending their staff out to suss the location and likely properties. Adapting to change is what the Soller Valley is good at and we are intrigued by those coming to join us in 2020.

A staycation moved me for a few days to another part of our beautiful island. Dinner on the Marina quayside in Cala D’or was at a set price of 20 euros with drinks not included. This was in a stunning restaurant in a beautiful waterside location. The comparison with our front line restaurants in Puerto Soller was hard to make sense of. We have very fine restaurants in the Port but the value for money I experienced on my mini holiday does not exist in my regular world. I suppose it comes down to property maintenance prices, staff salaries and the costing of interesting ingredients. Or maybe it’s just the tradition of our world in the height of the season. No wonder local Sollerics have given up eating out in many of their local restaurants.

This year the sunsets of Puerto Soller have been spectacular. A light show arriving most every evening mingling with the pink tips of the mountains as the sun goes down. The Sun Set Fiesta has become a feature with picnics on the beach and a toast to the sun. Some have enjoyed sunset sails getting nearer to the place where the sun seems to drop into the sea. The beauty of nature in our world just has to be seen to be believed.

A gainst this the people of the Valley helped in World Clean Up Day last Saturday. The Repic beach got the attention of our volunteers as they made their collections. This event is what it says in the title, so people all over the world were contributing to cleaning the planet.

Winter discussions will include the effects of Brexit, sustainability in our Valley and ridding the ocean of the layers of plastic we have dumped. Cigarette butts are the scourge of the area right now with folk not being afraid to call out those that drop their cigarettes on the the floor. Too little, too late is the cry from many but others are rising to the challenge. A young lady from Sweden has got into our consciousness and made us think.

On Friday and Saturday, the music of the Havaneres is our pleasure. The stage has a new location at the Marina end of the Puerto Soller beach. For two nights a Havaneres train will bring people in from Palma to hop onto the special trams waiting to take them to the music. A midnight train will take them back through our mountains in the dark. We are all looking forward to the laments of the exiled fisherman and to the local contributions from Soller musicians. Everyone is very welcome to join us – maybe see you there…