Tag: lighthouse

Outdoors

Shine a Light: Lighthouses on Mallorca

Lighthouses on Mallorca

It started with a system of fortified surveillances located at strategic places along the coast. Talaies, watchtowers in sight of each other, so that the news of approaching invaders would be passed from one to the next. With increasing commercial shipping the vessels needed safe orientation. Especially since pirates liked to use false fires to lure them into shallows or onto rocks in order to rob them. Today, 14 lighthouses on Mallorca point the way to the next port or around the island. Built…

Art

War and peace: Castillo de San Carlos

Castillo de San Carlos

When my friend Rapha was raving about the Museo Militar in Porto Pi I was puzzled. A memory site for guns and weapons? Definitely not my thing. But after centuries of fighting and bloodshed the location of the museum is a peaceful, almost magic place, today. And the view from Castillo de San Carlos over the bay of Palma just spectacular. Towards Palma’s cathedral and as far as Puig Major. Or out to the sea. The peculiar star-shaped fortress has a long and eventful history. Some of which is told…