17/05/2015 00:00
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Soller’s Moors and Christians
Majorca’s fairs and fiestas can range from rural genteel to the spectacular and strange. Over the past week we looked at two which fall firmly into the latter category.
     On Sunday we gave an introduction to the Capdepera mediaeval market, which continues today, and looked back at the mediaeval development of the town’s castle - one of the the largest fortifications on the island.
     We noted that, for all the oddness that this market can throw up, it wasn’t in the same league of full-on madness of Soller’s “Es Firó” and its day of the re-created battles between Moors and Christians, which took place last Monday.
    Last Sunday our resident historian, Andy Rawson, provided an excellent overview of the historical background and of how things panned out on the day in 1561 when Ottoman forces attempted to take Soller. Andy concluded by saying - because this is of course how the event always finishes - that the militias in Soller defeat the raiders and free the captives before everyone joins in a huge celebration. “The event has to be seen to be believed.”  
    On Tuesday, Shirley Roberts and Rachel Fox’s Spotlight on Soller column naturally looked at the battle as well, observing that it can perhaps be difficult for “outsiders” to truly enter the spirit of the occasion. “You have to be born to it to truly feel the emotions our neighbours do.”
     In the same column but on a different topic, there was discussion of the absence of sun beds, parasols and lifeguards on the town’s beaches. This was all due to paperwork not having been completed properly. Where have we heard this before?

Hot weather and blue flags
 MajorcParasols were an absolute necessity last week.
    On Tuesday we raised the alert over high temperatures that were being forecast.
    The Spanish met office, Aemet, warned that these temperatures would be “exceptionally high” for the time of year, rising above 35 degrees.
 The forecasters weren’t wrong. By Friday we were able to report that the highest temperature was recorded in Capdepera - 36.5C. The first two weeks of May had been the hottest since records began.  And if parasols were in short supply on some beaches, there was to also be an absence of blue flags. Three beaches in Majorca had lost their blue flag for this summer, but in the Balearics as a whole there are 57 blue flag beaches, which is the fifth highest number among the coastal regions of Spain.

Winter flights in summer
The met office’s forecast of a significant drop in temperatures by the end of the week also proved to be accurate and so conditions felt a little more appropriate for considering the old chestnut of winter flights.
     Yes, even in spring or summer, it is a burning topic.
On Thursday we reported that more winter flights had been announced - the campaign that The Bulletin has been running appeared to be bearing some fruit.
Ryanair said that it would be a new off-season route (two flights a week) between Palma and Birmingham. There was, though, and as ever it would seem, no good news for our friends north of the border.
    Yesterday we covered a meeting of the air routes committee at which the Balearic director-general for airports, Antonio Deudero, was able to confirm that airlines would be guaranteeing flights for an eight-month period.
    This was as a consequence of greater demand, including that in the winter season.
    But while he was able to refer - somewhat vaguely - to a 178% rise in winter flights between Majorca and Belgium, there was absolutely no mention of the UK.

The never-ending saga
The saga of Palma’s Palacio de Congresos convention centre and hotel has been one of at times high farce, and the past week was no different.
    There were almost daily updates on a situation which had looked as though it had all been settled when the Barcelo group was awarded the concession to manage the complex.
     This, however, was before it was realised that a new valuation would have to be carried out, which will be an upward one, and that a further tender will have to be conducted.
    Quite staggeringly, on Saturday there was talk (from the Més party in Palma) of the need for a study to consider the convention centre’s viability (the building is almost finished).
    And were this to show that there isn’t feasibility, the Palacio should be dismantled. This almost certainly won’t happen, but who can tell what the future will be? Elections take place a week today.

Motors running
l Car lovers  from across the island are now gathering every Wednesday evening at the Boat House in front of the Auditorium in  Palma  to show off their motors, be they new or old, and talk all things motoring in a perfect setting.
It is open house, free for any one who would like to go along and enjoy a pleasant and different evening by the sea.

Helping heroes
The first group of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans arrived on the island for a free week of rest and recuperation  and a change of scene to boost the spirits and their efforts to recover from physical and mental wounds.