Field trip fit for a president, resort fit for royalty
The Mediterranean charm of Spain's Balearic Islands
In this story: July 10, 1997
Web posted at: 11:29 a.m. EDT (1529 GMT)PALMA DE MAJORCA, Spain (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton stopped off here recently before heading to the NATO summit in Madrid. He's the latest in a long list of tourists to take in the beauty of Spain's Balearic Islands, a Spanish province about 145 miles (232 kilometers) off the country's eastern coast in the Mediterranean.
The Clintons, accompanied by special tour guides King Juan
Carlos and Queen Sofia, visited the 14th-century Bellver Castle, a former prison in the city of Palma on the largest of the Balearics, Majorca ("Mallorca" in Spanish). But the first family likely missed some of the 1,400-square-mile (3,640-square-kilometer) island's hidden treasures.
Water is a popular attraction here, with no fewer than four water parks and almost 200 beaches. The beaches range from the crowded Arenal/Playa de Palma area to hidden bays at Cala Mondrago. For a bit of Americana in Majorca, Marineland offers dolphin shows.
Diving is a common pastime in the sapphire Mediterranean, but you don't have to be a scuba diver to catch the underwater sights -- a tourist submarine provides the curious with aquatic adventures.
Other boat trips circle Majorca, tour bays, or visit other islands in the Balearic group, including Minorca, the second largest island, and Ibiza.
A once-a-week boat trip runs just off Majorca's southern coast to the island Cabrera, which played a tragic part in the Peninsular War of the early 19th century, when Spain and Portugal rebelled against Napoleon's rule. Almost 9,000 French prisoners of war were held on the parched desert island under dismal conditions for five years. Barely a third survived.
Relaxing rural holidays
Water vacations on Majorca are an obvious choice -- now the Balearics are promoting holidays of a different sort. Dubbed "agrotourism," the program encourages vacationers to visit the interior of the islands and sample country living at rural hotels and manor houses.
The islands' farming communities, once a thriving sector, have been in crisis in recent years, but the new move to bring tourist money to the farms is paying off. The Association of Balearic Agrotourism has listed more than 50 farmhouses as agrotourism centers and rural hotels.
Two rail lines offer scenic routes into the interior of Majorca. Trains make the run from the capital Palma to Soller and Inca daily. The Soller trip -- in old wooden carriages through the Tramuntana mountains -- is considered a must for tourists. One of the five daily trips stops for 30 minutes to allow tourists to take in the scenery.
Majorca's history is rich and varied -- the island has been ruled by Romans, Byzantines, Catalans, and Spaniards, and regularly sacked by pirates and vandals. For a time, the island was the independent Kingdom of Majorca.
An archduke's haven
Tourism had bloomed on the island by 1960, but the trend may have had its beginnings in the mid-19th century, when Austrian
Luis Salvador, Archduke of Habsburg, Lotringa and Borbon, dropped the conventions of royalty and decided to lead a traveler's life and sail.
Majorca was apparently his favorite destination. A writer, painter, and illustrator, the archduke produced nine books on the Balearic Islands in a 20-year period. He owned several manors on the island -- including Son Marroig, now a museum and concert hall, and S'Estaca, which now belongs to actor Michael Douglas.
Today, Majorca is dotted with hotels and restaurants, bars and discos. But beyond the glittering nightlife, the island maintains much of the simple charm that drew the archduke -- and, more recently, an American president.
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