Yesterday we decided to cycle from our base here in Cala Millor to Arta, a town in the northeast of Mallorca which stands approximately 10 km inland from the east coast of the island.
In this blog, a bit of history and a collection of photos taken yesterday. Enjoy!
Looking at the routes, we had a couple of road options but had also been told of a cycle path called the 'Via Verde' or 'Green Way'. This path wasn't showing on Google maps, but we knew how to find it and decided this would be an interesting route to take.
The Green Way spans a total of 29 km and connects the towns of Manacor and Arta. Originally, the path was an old railway line which served agriculture and livestock - the islands' main source of income before tourism arrived.
In the early 2000's, the line was planned to be re-opened but in 2005 construction was halted. It was not until 2013 that it was finally decided that the route would be converted into the Green Way. Considering how much of the work had been done, you do have to wonder if it was only money which stopped the completion of the line. Particularly as the cost to convert the railway line into the Green Way was around 4.3 million euros. source
However, this was the stance from the chamber of commerce in 2013:
Majorca's Chamber of Commerce is not a body prone to wishing to undermine investment or development, but it was this body which issued a report in which it said that the volume of traffic that the Manacor-Artà line would have generated would have been only a third of that which the government considered was required in order to make the line viable. source
Late last year though, the Majorca daily bulletin reported that there was a chance that the line could be re-opened. They quoted the Assiociation of Friends of the Railway in the Balearics (Aafib) in saying:
It's is merely a railway line waiting to be finished, so therefore everything should be done to finish the project and reopen the line.”
Luckily for us, the Spanish are generally slow in getting their act together in resolving projects with a large budget. The Green Way is a safe and awesome way to travel through this part of the island and we are glad the train is not running... yet.
Following a short ride leaving Cala Millor, we joined the Via Verde in Son Servera. Soon we reached what would have been the train station. The platform is complete, the station buildings are ready - just missing the track!
The station is now home to a cycle hire company
Choo choo.... not
The Son Sureda tunnel bores through the Puig de Son Sard, a hill whose shrub-land takes on a yellow hue in the spring. This tunnel is the longest on the Via Verde at 80 metres - not really that impressive in the grand scheme of tunnels, but something to switch it up a little!
Ohhhh.... a tunnel!
Oh... it's not very long
...and that's what she said
The path itself is reasonably well kept, mainly gravel but not too rocky. We passed less than 10 people on the 10 km route, half of which didn't respond to 'hola!' - Where is the love these days!?
There it is! Happy Cyclists!
After an hour or so on the bikes, we arrived into the town of Arta. Again, the railway buildings were present but were serving as a tourism office and a bike rental shop. We locked the bikes to a tree, as it looked stronger than the bicycle racks, and went for a look around.
Food, wine, ice cream...and a really uncomfortable looking bike!
Description of fancy building
Fancy building
Santuari de Sant Salvador is the walled fortress & church which overlooks Arta, and is considered the Jewell in Arta’s crown.
180 steps later
The church within the walls was rebuilt in the 1830's after being intentionally burnt down following its use as a hospital - The easiest way to stop a contagious disease spreading. I wasn't that impressed with the 'new' church, but the walls and the views were worth the visit.
Map Location: !steemitworldmap 39.6960401 lat3.3534359 long Santuari de Sant Salvador - Arta D3SCR
Steem approved Gift Shop :)
On the way home we took the road and this also proved quiet and much quicker in places with long downhill stretches to test top gear out :)
I should really include a photo of our bikes for completeness, and I was expecting to be writing about more 'Calas' - hopefully I'll get round to those soon.