Country Life International
The sanctuary of the Balearic Islands has enchanted a multitude of creative minds, from Robert Graves to David Bowie, finds Holly Kirkwood
TRADE and conflict shaped the Balearics. From the 8th century BC, a succession of superpowers, from the Phoenecians and the Carthaginians to the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba, brought to the islands their skills, tools and crops. All this built over the relics of a sophisticated prehistoric culture, the Talaiotic people, who raised countless monuments that can still be found throughout Mallorca and Menorca.
Today, visitors can walk through these layers of history and see everything from Coptic monuments to Phoenician settlements and Moorish bathhouses. This outstanding preservation of both the landscape and built heritage has not gone unnoticed: all four islands boast UNESCO World Heritage listings and, this year, Ibiza is celebrating 25 years as a World Heritage Site.
The Balearics are also blessed with exceptional natural beauty: Mallorca’s UNESCO-listed Serra de Tramuntana is one of the most romantic landscapes found anywhere in Europe and Menorca and Ibiza have enough turquoise coves, white-sand beaches, pine forests, mountains, cliffs and caves to reward a lifetime of exploration. This heady combination put the Balearics firmly on the map for the Grand Tourist of the past.
Chopin lived and worked on Mallorca in 1838–39 with his lover, George Sand, then, in 1872, Archduke Luis Salvador visited and found the Serra de Tramuntana so captivating that he bought and restored the Miramar estate in Valldemossa, spearheading an early form of conservation by opening paths and lookout points to the public.
For many, the epicentre of the creative community on Mallorca has always been Deià, where Robert Graves found solace in 1929 after his harrowing time at the Battle of the Somme. There he wrote: ‘I found everything I wanted as a writer: sun, sea, mountains, spring water, shady trees, no politics and a few civilised luxuries.’ Musical icons who spent time in Deià include David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix and a vibrant community of artists still meets in the cafés, including the famous Sa Fonda, or at the Sa Tafona Gallery. Painters flock there for the light, as Cecilie Sheridan, curator at the Belmond La Residencia, explains: ‘You can’t find light like this anywhere else in the world. Here you can see so many shades within the shadows… living in Deià makes you look at everything differently.’
It also makes you eat differently. With a vibrant culinary scene and 12 Michelin-starred restaurants, Mallorca is the product of a reinvention of cooking culture, spearheaded, in an unlikely turn of events, by British c
