The Countryside of Mallorca

After a visit to Mallorca, amaze your friends with pictures of the high mountain ranges, the lush central plain, or breathtaking coastal scenery - Mallorca is a paradise for photographers as well as walkers! Come to Mallorca in the spring and see the wonderful display of flowers, including rock roses, orchids and freesias.

Come at any time and admire the range of trees, many of which are still important commercially: olive trees, some from Biblical times, are everywhere - green olives are harvested from September to October and the black ones in November. The island is famous for its almond trees - in early spring, their blossom looks like a sprinkling of snow. Oranges and lemons grow abundantly in the fertile northern valleys, together with carobs, the fruits of which dangle like broad beans and are used for animal fodder, as the base for Palo (a liqueur with an acquired taste) and as a chocolate substitute. Cherries, peaches, apricots, peaches and figs are also grown commercially. The Holm Oak (Quercus ilex - Holly Oak) is an evergreen relative of the English Oak. This was important for charcoal production and you can still see huge plantations of these trees on many of the walks in this book.

Despite the low rainfall, much of the island is surprisingly green, thanks to the subterranean aquifers from which water is pumped. Windmills were traditionally used for this purpose - there used to be almost 1000 of them on the Balearics, and many hundreds on Mallorca, but most pumps are electrical nowadays. The windmills of Mallorca are now regarded as minor national monuments.