Alcudia and the bridge of sighs

The avenue itself is classified as an urban road, meaning that there is a speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour. This is necessary. While the traffic is never exactly heavy, it is a road slap bang in Alcudia’s main tourism centre. Therefore, and as a driver, one has to look out for pedestrians who appear from nowhere, scooters, bikes, types of ‘fun’ vehicles, runners, Nordic walkers. You name it, Alcudia’s ‘strip’ has it.

During the summer, a small boy, aged four or five, suddenly ran out from between parked cars right in front of me. There was no way that I could have seen him. Fortunately, I was doing only 25. Had I been at the limit, I dread to think what might have happened. While I sat there stunned for a moment, a lady taxi driver, who had been coming in the opposite direction and had seen the boy, stopped, got out and asked (shouted) where are the parents.

This incident wasn’t on the bridge, but I’ve recently experienced two that have been. From the photo with this report, the bridge may not look particularly steep. But it is. As you approach it and even as you are going up it, you can’t necessarily see what’s on the other side, unless it is a high vehicle, e.g. a coach. You can’t therefore see some berk on a scooter who is overtaking a car and who only becomes visible as he (and myself in this instance) get to the top. How I missed him, God only knows.

The second incident occurred earlier this week. Up the bridge I went, and there - as I reached the top - was a woman on a mobility scooter. In the wrong lane and coming straight for me. As luck had it, there was no vehicle in the other lane, the one that she - in theory - should have been on. I only managed a glance at her. And she seemed blissfully unaware that she could have caused a serious accident. What else could I do but sigh. Another near miss. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there are pavements to both sides of the bridge.

The bridge is a hazard. Or put it this way, it’s perfectly safe so long as it is used properly. Maybe the project for a boulevard along Pedro Mas y Reus and the introduction of a one-way system will get rid of the hazard. Although frankly, I wouldn’t bet on it.

We don’t need the tourism of excesses law

There is, to say the least, some confusion as to what the Balearic government may or may not be intending with a reform of the tourism of excesses law. This confusion surrounds where it might be applied, my interpretation initially having been that a scrapping of the zones for its application in Magalluf and Playa de Palma would mean a broader application for the whole of both these resort areas.

But then I’ve come across a headline saying the law will no longer affect just Magalluf and Playa de Palma. Maybe so, but as I say, it isn’t altogether clear. We know that the government plans some other changes to the law, but the reformed bill won’t be presented until some time next year. When it was first introduced as a decree in January 2020, the government said that town halls other than Calvia and Palma could request possible application. As far as I’m aware, the only one where there was some consideration was Capdepera. In the end, they decided that excesses in Cala Ratjada were comparatively short-lived and didn’t merit being covered by the decree.

Is there a case for the likes of Alcudia and Pollensa to come under the law? In Alcudia, there are incidents involving tourists and inevitably so. There are the Spanish students. But in general, can it be said that the law would be necessary? I would say no.

Last weekend, there was yet another episode at Magic. Three arrests followed a mass brawl. In the past, I have devoted the whole of this page to problems at Magic. But who causes them? Tourists? They may get involved from time to time, but overwhelmingly these are problems created by local youth - from Alcudia and other municipalities. In Puerto Pollensa, when there are issues in the early hours, the profile is the same. These issues are hardly anything to do with tourists, and similar can be said for Can Picafort and Playa de Muro.

It boils down to policing and possibly also to activity licences. The means exist, but there are never enough of them.

The Hotel Formentor will reopen in June next year

After all the controversies and the delay, the Hotel Formentor has finally been pencilled in to reopen in June 2024. Closed since the end of 2020, the hotel, which was acquired from the Mallorcan hotel group Barceló by Emin Capital for 165 million euros, will represent the first presence in the Balearics of the Canadian Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

The plan had been to reopen earlier this year. The project has taken longer than expected, partly because - or so it has seemed - the whole of the old hotel had to be demolished. This wasn’t in the initial project and therefore became one of the main controversies; there wasn’t a licence for demolition.

So much was the attention given to arguments regarding the hotel and the car park once owned by the hotel that the opposition at Pollensa town hall took to referring to the former mayor, Tomeu Cifre, as the mayor of Formentor. Opposition parties sought halts to the work and so did the environmentalists GOB. The latter may well still be trying.

While I have understood the challenges, for me the main thing has been the hotel workers and the new jobs that will be created. The workforce is due to treble.