Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

33

1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

i.The Balearic Islands

The constant surprise of the Balearics is that, despite

a40-yearentanglementwithmasstourism,youcan

still find relatively unaffected corners. Indeed, the

main islands divide their time between pleasing

holidaymakers and retaining a traditional way of life,

although neither approach seems to operate in isolation.

The Catalans once occupied the islands, following in

Greek, Roman and Moorish footsteps, and most

islanders still speak a version of Catalan rather than

Castilian. Majorca is the largest and most developed

island and Palma, with its chunky Gothic cathedral, art

galleries and museums, its cultured capital.The island’s

interior, a mix of plains and peaks, conceals quiet towns

and villages. Minorca can be even more tranquil, from

surreptitious, coved beaches to the green hinterland

with its Bronze Age villages and monuments. Maó

and Ciutadella bookend the island, both with historic

harbours and evocative old centres. Rocky Ibiza has

developed a more contemporary culture, one centred

on the dance music and nightclubs of Eivissa (which,

incidentally, is a UNESCO World Heritage walled city)

and San Antonio. However, the rich and the persistent

will still find calm enclaves amid the figs and almond

groves.Two smaller islands, Formentera and Cabrera,

complete the larger Balearics. Both can only be

accessed by boat and are largely unspoiled as a result –

Cabrera, a former military base, is a national park.

Balearic beats

Ibiza first began attracting

an alternative crowd in

the 1960s when hippies

rolled up in search of laid-

back island life. High-rise

hotels and package deals

soon moved in but Ibiza

never lost its reputation

for hedonism. The island

acquired the mantle of

Europe’s summer clubbing

capital in the 1990s after

the so-called Balearic

Beat evolved in the late

1980s and gave the island

its own brand of uplifting

house music. Those in

search of something more

traditional on Ibiza should

keep an ear out for the

cançó redoblada, a form

of traditional singing with

a kind of phlegmy yodel

at the end of every other

line. On Majorca listen for

thexeremies, a Majorcan

goatskin bagpipe usually

played as part of a five-

piece ensemble.

Tourism accounts for 80

per cent of the Balearic

Islands’ income.

Majorca’s creative

playground

Creative types have

traditionally found

Majorca a fruitful

location. French novelist

George Sand stayed on

the island with lover

Frédéric Chopin in the

mid 1830s, hoping to

find inspiration. British

writer Robert Graves

went one step further,

moving to the island in

1929 and remaining

there for much of his

life. His home in the

small village of Deià

became a holiday stop

for his arty chums, not

least Ava Gardner, Alec

Guinness, Gabriel García

Márquez and Kingsley

Amis.

French-born author

Anaïs Nin, another

onetime resident of

Deià, wrote about a

sexual encounter on a

Majorcan beach in one

of her earlier erotic

novels.