It was a muggy morning in Sant Llorenç des Cardassar – in the meteorological rather than the Love Island sense. Although the villa where the programme is filmed is only 6km away, the small town of caramel stone houses in the interior of Mallorca, an hour’s drive from Palma, has remained glitz-free.
At the pavement cafes, everyone was fully dressed. No tiny bikinis here, and not a stiletto in sight. I parted a bead curtain and entered the Rotes Noves stationer. As I was paying for my newspaper, I wondered aloud whether office supplies salesman Jack, who has baffled the other Love Islanders with his passion for pens, had been in to have a look at the selection on offer.
“We don’t see much of them here,” said María, who runs the shop. “The crew are staying mostly at hotels on the coast, in Cala Millor and Cala Ratjada.” I said it was a shame the contestants are stuck in the villa and don’t get more of an idea of what goes on in the area. “Yesterday we had the street market,” she said, “so they could have tried our local produce. Then tonight there’s the tremponada in the square. We set up tables and serve platters of trempó – our salad of chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions.” With a band, dancing and lots of Mallorcan wine, it sounded a lot more appealing than the spaghetti bolognese and romantic musical chairs at the villa.
One of the most shocking things about Love Island for me is that they are not allowed anything to read. This is a shame as they could be getting stuck into some of the many books set on Mallorca while lounging around the pool. Would it be something by Robert Graves, who put the village of Deià on the map? Or they might find inspiration for their dinners in Bread and Oil, by the great writer’s son, Tomás Graves, which explores the island’s history and culture through its cuisine. For something lighter there’s Agatha Christie’s 1936 short story Problem at Pollensa Bay, where a romance is disrupted by the arrival of a more attractive character with brighter lipstick and a more daring swimsuit, who is not quite what she seems. Sound familiar? But The Lemon Grove, a sensual contemporary novel of summer desire by Helen Walsh, might best suit the villa’s vibe of simmering sexual tension. Mallorca is a paradise if you can stand it, as Gertrude Stein said back in 1929.
I had fetched up in Sant Llorenç because I was following one of the routes on the Walking on Words app, which traces literary routes all over Mallorca. In each place, information posts mark key locations associated with writers and their works. One of the routes, Landscapes of the Llevant: Towers, Caves and Mountains, runs from Colònia de Sant Pere on the coast to the north down to Manacor, the second-biggest town on the island, taking in Sant Llorenç.
I learned that the town is the birthplace of Salvador Galmés (1876-1951), whose novel Flor de Card (Thistle Flower) is set in the surrounding countryside. I stopped to read a quote from the book on a post in front of the church in Plaça Nova. Now my Catalan is pretty ropey, but I think the gist was that even though the thistle flower isn’t the prettiest, has no aroma and has prickly thorns, if you bother to look at it properly, you’ll find sweetness hidden inside. I think our Love Islanders could learn a lot from Salvador Galmés. Maybe if they took his advice they would make different choices when grafting, cracking on and pieing their partners off.
I was staying in Artà, a pretty hilltop town a 10-minute bus ride north of Sant Llorenç, through a hilly landscape of pines, holm oaks and olive trees. The bus drops you at the bottom of Artà, by the old train station, which now houses the tourist office and is the starting point of the Vía Verde, or greenway, a disused railway line that links Artà with Manacor. Cycling the 29km route on a hired bike (artabikes.com) takes about an hour and a half.
I didn’t really fancy that in the sultry July heat, but it would be lovely in autumn. I walked up into town along the pedestrianised main drag, the Carrer Antoni Blanes, where dogs slumbered under cafe tables and well-heeled tourists were buying espadrilles, hats and baskets – the dwarf fan palm is indigenous to Mallorca and there is a great craft tradition in the town using its leaves.
The delis were doing a brisk trade too, with people buying sobrassada and camaiot sausage, made from the local small black pigs, for picnics on the beach or in the hills. Artà is on the edge of the Llevant Peninsula natural park, where hiking and cycling routes lead to some of the wildest beaches on the island.
I walked down lanes of sandstone houses with turquoise, navy and grey shutters. Ripening figs spilled tantalisingly over the tops of high walls that shielded secret gardens, and oranges lay squashed on the ground. I climbed up the steps – I stopped counting at 200 – to Santuari de Sant Salvador, the church within a fortress that dominates the town. From the battlements, I looked down at the russet roofs and across to the sea between the mountains.
On a clear day, they say you can see all the way to Menorca, but in this muggy weather there was just a blue blur.
Know what I mean, babe?
At a glance
When to go
The seas around Mallorca are warm enough for swimming into December. Sant Llorenç des Cardassar celebrates its patron saint’s day on 10 August, with dancing, fireworks and fun and games for all ages. The Chopin Classical Music Festival has concerts every Sunday in August in the monastery in Valdemossa, where the composer spent the winter of 1838-39. On 22 September, the Nit de l’Art in Palma is an open-air party of gallery openings, street theatre and music. On the last weekend in September, the Festa des Vermar celebrates the grape harvest in and around Binissalem with processions, wine tastings, live music, food stalls, kids’ activities and a boisterous grape-throwing battle.
Stay
The Jardi d’Artà hotel (doubles from €115, room only) in the centre of Artà has 12 rooms, pretty gardens on different levels and a good restaurant. Finca S’Estelrica (doubles from €140 B&B) is a chic agroturismo just outside Artà. Lemon Tree House in Artà has two stylish rooms for rent on Airbnb (double room €57 B&B).
Getting there
Several airlines fly to Palma from UK airports, including easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and British Airways.
Prices
Beer costs about €3 for a 330ml bottle, a budget meal in a local restaurant from about €12pp.
