6 April 24, 2022The Sunday TimesTravel Balearics
The Fogle family (L-R) Iona, Marina,
Ben and Ludo; some suites at La
Residencia have private pools, belowtheir behaviour for clues that they have
spotted carrion to eat, so they can steal it.
Afternoons were spent languishing by
the vast pool at the hotel, before losing
ourselves in the narrow cobbled streets of
Deia when the day cooled, searching out
picturesque little restaurants for dinner.
The climbing (mixed with coasteering)
came on the last day. Eduard left us to put
on our wetsuits, as he went off to fix the
ropes. By the time we’d got into our
harnesses, I was shaking. With the sea
roaring below, we began our climb and
before long we were 30m up, with a sheer
wall, then an overhang, to traverse.
I looked for a way out but Eduard
gently coaxed us on, patiently explaining
which foot and handholds to use. Before I
knew it, we’d crossed that seemingly
impossible traverse, negotiated the
overhang and reached the iron footholds.
Exhilarated, we abseiled down the last
drop, into a cove of calm, vivid-blue water
into which we joyfully hurled ourselves.
The collective smiles could not have been
any broader; with the exception of my
Everest-hardened husband, this had been
a challenge for all of us.
After two years of being careful,
not taking risks and staying at home,
Mallorca had reminded us how
intoxicating travel can be and how sweet
the taste of adventure.
Marina FogleThe Fogles were guests of Scott Dunn,
which offers five nights’ B&B at Belmond La
Residencia from £9,400 for a family of four,
including flights and transfers
(scottdunn.com)been further from the “see and be seen”
style of restaurant I’d expected from
Mallorca. Small and unassuming, if it
weren’t for the mouthwatering smell
of freshly cooked fish it could be easily
missed.
Another day, we went birdwatching in
the Soller Valley, walking through olive
groves and pine forests to an isolated
valley, surrounded by cliffs. Armed
with binoculars lent to us by the hotel,
we had all manner of species pointed out
to us by Eduard: warblers, swifts, kites,
booted eagles.
The kids were particularly enraptured
by the black vultures, soaring above us
in the electric-blue sky with their 3m
wingspans. Their nests can weigh as
much as a car, Eduard explained, while
they’re also inveterate kleptomaniacs —
hanging out with ravens and observing10 milesLa Residencia,
DeiaSoller ValleyMALLORCAPalmaTramuntana
mountainsBut that didn’t stop us from getting out
to explore. Our guide, Chris, promised to
take us on her favourite hike, climbing
to the cemetery above Deia — the most
spectacular of places to be laid to rest. As
we walked, she bewitched us with stories:
how Deia was purposely built hidden
from view from the sea to evade pirates
from north Africa. High up on the
mountains, you can still see the
watchtowers that alerted residents to
potential invaders, giving them time to
arm themselves for their defence.
We followed Chris through olive
groves, some believed to be more than a
thousand years old. Over generations, the
people of Deia painstakingly terraced this
steep land, fashioning an elaborate jigsaw
puzzle of large rocks to create sections flat
enough on which to grow olives, lemons
and oranges.
We wandered along sheltered paths
fragranced with sweet jasmine and orange
blossom, the stones under our feet worn
away by centuries of footfall. Chris had a
story for every stretch, telling us how a
palm tree planted outside a farmhouse
was an indication that the family had
returned from South America with a
fortune — an 18th-century status symbol
equivalent to a Range Rover or a Louis
Vuitton bag.
We finally dropped down to the coast,
following a winding, pine-fringed trail
known as the Artists’ Path to coves of
water so clear you could see to the
bottom whatever the depth. Ca’s Patro
March, a restaurant hewn into the side
of the rock at Cala Deia, couldn’t have→Continued from page 5The kids were enraptured
by the black vulturesMARINA FOGLE; MATTIA AQUILA/BELMOND