Esporles - Deia (23kms)
23kms but a full day's walking, particularly if you want to spend a couple of hours in Valldemossa, and I would suggest you probably do. It's a little busy and cosmopolitan (hotels, boutiques, tourist shops, coach loads of daytrippers up from the coast, ....) but very picturesque nonetheless. If you have deep pockets it could be an idea to overnight here (different feeling to the place once the daytrippers have returned to their resorts?). There is no refugi or value hotel here. The Royal Charterhouse looked interesting but it was a hive of activity that I really couldn't face. I did take a quick look at the Chopin Museum, which also allows you a tantalizing preview of the monastery 'intra muros'. Chopin, lover George Sand (aka Amandine Dupin de Franceuil) and her two children spent part of the winter of 1838-9 in the Royal Charterhouse. Chopin had tuberculosis and he was prescribed warmer, dryer climes for the winter. A 'cell' in a damp monastery up in the mountains in the middle of winter would seem an odd choice of destination. The 'cell', it turns out, is more like a suite of rooms and a terraced garden with view down to the sea. Chopin's piano, which he had sent from Paris, is still there, as is one of Sand's pipes - looking remarkably like a sebsi! Mostly it is just replicas on display; music sheets, paintings, letters, Chopin's death mask and a plaster cast of one of his hands. Apparently he completed various Preludes, one Polonaise his Second Ballade and The Third Scherzo here. Sand completed her novel Spiridion. I know very little about George Sand and what little I do is through the writings of Julian Barnes. As I understand it, in her day she was one of the most read writers not just in France but in Europe. Chopin's popularity remains, as evidenced by the number of Poles visiting. Not one single French person! I picked up a copy of A Winter In Mallorca as a Sand sampler.
Back to Valldemossa: the local speciality is the 'coca de patata', not a potato as you might think but a bun with icing sugar on the top. Having a sweet tooth I liked it. It would be great for dunking in 'cafe con leche' or hot chocolate.
The trail, inspite of what the guide book says, is very clearly indicated. Brand new signposts with the red and white GR flash. To Valldemossa it is mostly through forests of pine with the occasional view through the trees down to the coast and over Valldemossa as you approach. Unfortunately the weather was overcast and views uninspiring. After Valdemossa there is another long climb, again through forest until you reach the plateau. The plateau is barren and wind swept but oddly, or maybe madly, an Austrian Archduke had a scenic carriageway constructed up here, which is now part of the route. How the carriages ever got up there is a mystery to me. The crazy Archduke also had a snow-pit built (20m x 5m x 8m deep, I calculated) but it was built too low to make ice.
The trail down from the plateau into Deia is another one that provides the ONLY safe descent down the cliffs. It is crucial to find the path - thankfully it is well marked. Be aware, it is a long and slippery way down into Deia. It had rained in the afternoon which made conditions particularly tricky underfoot but I should imagine that this is so at all times (smooth rocks, loose stones, roots, leaves, line needles).
Am now in Deia for a couple days. More about Deia later. The refugi Can Boi is a good one and provides both dinner and breakfast at reasonable rates.
In Esporles I stayed in the Sa Fita youth hostel. The refugi Son Trias is/was closed. Sa Fita has a plunge pool, should you arrive before the 16:00 check-in. It also has a good kitchen.