Serra de Tramuntana and Torrent de Pareis

in Pinmapple2 years ago

I love living in Switzerland. It offers so many travel opportunities and it only takes us about 4 hours by car to travel from one side of the country to another. In this short distance, you can find countless lakes and majestic peaks of the Swiss Alps but there is one thing missing. It's the sea. Swiss lakes are beautiful but I love the sounds of waves breaking softly towards the shore and the smell of salty sea air. This is why I can't wait for our summer vacation each year!

Mallorca will always have a special place in my heart. It's an amazing travel destination in the Balearic sea which will treat you with crystal clear water, impressive mountains, interesting history, beautiful architecture, delicious food, parties lasting until the sunrise, friendly locals and many more things that I can't think of right now.

12.jpg

We planned activities for each day but the heatwave made us change some of them. We tried to work around it and did many indoor activities during the day, and went to the beach around 6PM. It was actually great as many people already left and there were just a few of us still enjoying the water.

One day, we put on a thick layer of sunscreen, filled our water bottles, took our hats and off we went to explore the Serra de Tramuntana on the west coast of the island. Our destination was Torrent de Pareis canyon and we couldn't wait to see it!

2.jpg

Serra de Tramuntana is a mountain range which is almost 90 km long and 15 km wide, and goes from Cap de Formentor, the northern tip of Mallorca, to the south-westernmost point of the island near Andratx. The mountain range has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site for its historical, cultural, and environmental importance

The mountains are joy to explore and you can also find there many picturesque old towns to visit. I have already visited Valldemosa, Deià, Sóller, and Pollença and I must say that you cannot miss any of them while visiting Mallorca. Many of these places were not accessible from other parts of the island until the beginning of the 20th century and they still preserve their medieval charm.

4.jpg

Serra de Tramuntana has many peaks rising over 1000 meters above the sea level. It's highest peak is Puig Major at 1445 m. The mountains are mainly rocky with forested hills, a few smaller lakes, plenty of dramatic ridges, dangerously looking cliffs and some snake-like roads which I have never seen before.

Many towns and villages are situated deep in the mountains, so the roads are narrow and curvy but I was really looking forward to the road leading to Sa Calobra which we were to take that day as it would lead us to Torrent de Pareis as well. It's so narrow that two busses cannot pass each other here. I think it's good that there is not so much public transportation here 🙂

5.jpg

The mountain range is a paradise for hikers, climbers, cyclists as well as nature lovers and it attracts tourists all year round. We saw many cyclists conquering the steepest roads and I had a feeling of deep admiration for them. I found it challenging to even go hiking in that heat.

3.jpg

Mallorca is a paradise for hikers and if you are one of them and want to experience something special then you should consider coming here and walk the Dry Stone Route. It's a route which is 135 km long and runs from Port D’Andratx through Serra de Tramuntana to Pollença.

The route is based on ancient pathways and it's split into 8 stages. Some parts are easier and some parts are recommended to be done with a guide. There are some places where you can stay overnight if you decide to walk the entire route.

We are planning to do this next year in October/November as we talked to the locals and they told us that this is the best time to go hiking in Mallorca. It's not too hot anymore and not too cold yet.

I was surprised to hear that the mountains can have a bit of snow in the winter!

6.jpg

Did you know that there are many wineries in the region? At first, I didn't pay attention as I wouldn't expect any grapes to be growing in these conditions but then we talked to the owner of the hotel where we were staying and he told us that the wine production in the Serra de Tramuntana has a long history! It turns out that it dates back to the 15th century and the grapes were first brought here from Italy.

There are also countless farms with olives and oranges, so don't forget to get some local produce. The land has been made productive by the construction of agricultural terraces and irrigation canals. You can see them in various places.

7.jpg

We were driving to Torrent de Pareis, and suddenly we saw a parking slot with a small bar settled in a cave. We stopped there and got the best fresh orange juice that I have ever had. Even though we knew that the car will be burning hot, we decided to go on a short hike as we happened to be in a forested area. We only did a short hike but this was the point when we decided that we will come back next year in Autumn.

We both love mountains and the Swiss Alps are the place that we love the most but Serra de Tramuntana has something special that we don't find in Switzerland. Maybe, it's the views of the sea, orange trees, rough terrain, or dramatic cliffs. I don't really know but these mountains have something magnetic that makes you want to come back.

8.jpg

We couldn't stay much longer as it was still a long drive to Torrent de Pareis and we had to be back on time for dinner. It was the Mallorcan night at the hotel and we didn't want to miss it.

9.jpg

And this is where the fun starts! Behind the gate is the Ruta de Sa Calobra, the road that will bring us to Torrent de Parreis. This road is one of the most scenic roads in the world. It's almost 13 km long and it looks like a very long snake!

IMG_20220716_182035.jpg

10.jpg

The road was designed by Antonio Parietti, and it was built in 1932 without the help of any machine! The road descends from 682 m to the parking slot which is close to a beach. It's a dead-end road and only way to get out is to drive back up.

IMG_20220716_182216.jpg

The road is challenging and scary at times, but once you are at the parking slot there is just a short walk to get to the beach, dive in the sea and relax.

If you came to visit Torrent de Pareis you will need to walk a bit more.

11.jpg

On the way, there are more rocky mountains to admire...

13.jpg

15.jpg

16.jpg

You will cross tunnels through the rock formations...

14.jpg

17.jpg

18.jpg

And then you will reach the canyon!

19.jpg

There is an endless pebbles beach..

20.jpg

Torrent de Pareis is a dry canyon until mid of September. From autumn to spring, the canyon may be filled with water.

We took the easier way and came here by car but you can also hike down the hill. It takes approximately 3.5 hours and depending on the weather it can be dangerous as the rocks can be slippery. It is not recommended to come here when the canyon is flooded.

It looks like there is nobody here but the beach at Torrent de Pareis is very small and it was so crowded that we decided not to go for a swim. We were in a hurry to get back for dinner anyway, so it wasn't such a big deal.

21.jpg

We walked around for a bit and then went back to the car..

22.jpg

23.jpg

Once we came back up the Ruta de Sa Calobra we had a chance to admire a beautiful sunset. Then it was time to go back...

24.jpg

Thank you for reading!

Cheers,
Martina

Sort:  

Nice ending with the sunset 😎 Such rugged and beautiful mountains. Too bad about the heat wave but sounds like you adapted and had a great time 👍 I love the hike to Torrent de Pareis.

Such a beautiful place that you show, I am interested to see mountains like that, the mountains there seem to contain a lot of rock, and in my area there are mountains like that too

Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Top 3 in Daily Travel Digest #1655.

Your post has been manually curated by the @pinmapple team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!

Become part of our travel community:

Congratulations, your post has been added to Pinmapple! 🎉🥳🍍

Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!

Want to have your post on the map too?

  • Go to Pinmapple
  • Click the get code button
  • Click on the map where your post should be (zoom in if needed)
  • Copy and paste the generated code in your post (Hive only)
  • Congrats, your post is now on the map!

This post has been manually curated by @bhattg from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.

Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating to @indiaunited. We share 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators.

Here are some handy links for delegations: 100HP, 250HP, 500HP, 1000HP.

Read our latest announcement post to get more information.

image.png

Please contribute to the community by upvoting this comment and posts made by @indiaunited.

Oh, I would go there. And I would go fishing on the river

These rocky mountain landscapes are lushly beautiful! Switzerland is one of the countries I long to visit someday.
The rocky tunnels have an incredible natural aesthetic.
Wonderful tour! Full of brilliance and beautiful panoramas. 😃🙏🙌💯⭐💥🤩

Amazing rock formations, beautiful views. Great trip.

Congratulations @delishtreats! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):

You got more than 11500 replies.
Your next target is to reach 12000 replies.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:

The Hive community is in mourning. Farewell @erikasue!
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!

Beautiful photos!

Incredible place 😍 Europe seems to be not very big, but there is so much variety here. Europe has absorbed hundreds of worlds that are not similar to each other :)

What a beautiful place