Last spring I moved with my partner from Madrid to the beautiful island of Mallorca. We settled unexpectedly in the small village of Deiá, the first place my majorcan love showed me when we we visited the island together, a long time ago. I immediately felt in love with its pink old stones, the idyllic mediterranean landscape of olives, lemons and oranges trees and its vibrant bohemian ambient. Above all I truly felt impacted by the imposing presence of the rocky mountain standing behind the village, silently facing the mediterranean sea.
Deiá is part of the natural environment of the Sierra of Tramontana, called after the mediterranean cold wind from the North. In fact this rocky rough mountain range runs as a thick backbone from south to north among the island and represents an surprising variation from the flat landscape pattern of the rest of the Mallorca.
The panoramic view of the sea is partially hidden from the village, but you can smell its humidity when the first air of the morning comes in the bedroom windows. You can’t visually spot the sea, unless you walk up the hill reaching the old centre or, as we soon discovered exploring the nature around the village, you climb up to the mountains on its back. From this privileged point of view you can spot all the profile of the northern part of the island, the sea and beyond.
It’s the first time in my life I live literally ten minutes walking from real woods and usually during weekends we just prepare something simple to eat, we take our cameras and we just climb the path from the village to the top of the mountain. This route is part of the so called GR 221 which goes all through the Sierra, connecting every village to another. Most of the trail is based on the network of ancient footpaths restored to make them accessible for hikers of all ages.
The first time we walked from Deiá to Valldemossa, another hidden pearl embedded in these stones, it took about 4 hours to complete the section. Its an easy path, without no particularly climb points. Half the way the road reaches the so called “roof” “Es Teix”, the peaks of the mountain transform itself into an amazing walk between stones and clouds.
This time, tough, we decide to walk just half the way until the the top to have a picnic facing the sea in just a couple of hours without reaching Valldemossa. This way we have the time to come back home before lights goes away, around 5pm. We start directly walking from our home in Es Clot, to the main road which splits the village, the MA-10, and turn at the km 62,9 to take GR 22, direction Valldemossa. It’s 11.30 AM and we can’t wait to arrive for lunchtime.
The first part of the route we climb the street and we still have on our backs the bell tower of Deiá’s old church, as we finally start to glimpse the blue of the sea behind the olive trees. We pass the complex of an elegant hotel, now closed because end of season. After passing a small built-up of farm houses, finally we find the first sign of the route to Valldemossa and we enter in the luxurious mediterranean scrub walking about one hour. After passing through a small portion of land filled with solitary centenarian abandoned olive trees, we enter the woods, made of oaks and pine trees. The air is fresh, all the branches and trunks are covered with a thin soft cover of green moss. Light gently find its way through the dense crown of trees and we finally spot some shyly mushrooms growing around.