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Join us “in” Mallorca with Marco Polo Guides and a fabulous giveaway

25th June 2017

We are chatting all things MALLORCA with the lovely people at Marco Polo Guides. This marks the launch of our joint PINTEREST BOARDDISCOVER MALLORCA” which we would love to share with you, and invite you to share your photos of the island! There are some ace pins already! Just follow the Board and you will be invited to share your photos!!

To mark this collaboration, we are offering a goody bag for an actual or armchair trip Mallorca, some must-haves for the Isla Bonita. Our gorgeous beach bag contains a copy of the novel The Vacationers by Emma Straub set on the island (of course, where else?) and a copy of the Marco Polo Guide “Perfect Days in…. Mallorca” and an island map. Scroll down to the end to find out how to enter! Closes 8th July!

Perfect Days in … Mallorca (Marco Polo Guides)

This is a neat guide full of very useful information. Mallorca’s geographical situation has long made it vulnerable to foreign colonisers and it is the wealth of cultures that meld together on the island, the legacy we see and enjoy today. There is insight into Modernisme, and the guide highlights a wealth of monasteries and their histories to explore. This is an island with beaches galore, wildlife and innumerable opportunities for walking and exploration. And the food…. (a few Michelin stars along the way!)! The guidebook sets the scene from the first few hours of arriving to a more detailed itinerary over several days. Dotted with “Insider Tips“, this guide is ring-bound (why don’t other guidebooks produce books in this format, handy and durable) and provides a map and day itineraries. Perfect for slipping into a handbag or backpack. (TripFiction review on Amazon)

THE ARTY APPEAL OF Deià and Valldemossa from writers’ perspectives…

Artists, musicians, writers and poets flock to Mallorca to seek solitude, sunshine and creative inspiration. Leading the way in 1838 was the composer-pianist Frédéric Chopin (1810–49) and his French lover, Madame Aurore Dupin, Baroness Dudevant, better known as the novelist George Sand (1804–76), and British poet-novelist-translator Robert Graves.

Chopin, Sand and Valldemossa – Chopin wrote to a friend: “I am in Palma in the shade of palm trees, cedars, aloes, orange trees, lemon trees, and pomegranates. A turquoise sky, a sea of lapis-lazuli and emerald mountains…the days are sunny… in the evenings one hears the sound of singing and guitar for hours. Enormous balconies dating back to the Arab, on which the vine leaves fall. The city, like the rest of the country is reminiscent of Africa. Briefly: a delicious life.

Mallorca with Marco Polo Guides

Mallorca’s coastline (credit Gina Colella)

Sadly for Chopin and Sand, the weather would turn bitterly cold and rainy, the heating proved inadequate for Chopin’s ill-health, doctors were incompetent, accommodation was hard to find, and Chopin couldn’t locate a suitable piano. The ultimately disastrous rather than delicious trip was resentfully documented by Sand in her book A Winter in Majorca (1855). Nonetheless, the monastery in picturesque Valldemossa where the couple conducted their affair in the winter of 1838–39 would become a haven for artists and bohemians. These days it attracts tourists clutching Sand’s book and eagerly snooping around the handsomely furnished cells that the couple shared in the former Carthusian monastery.

Mallorca vista (Gina Colella)

Robert Graves and Deià – A little further to the northeast lies the mountain village of Deià, a delightful collection of stone houses that spill down a hillside, that would lure another creative talent, the English poet and novelist Robert Graves, who settled here with his wife Beryl in 1929. Graves wrote in his book Mallorca Observed: “After a few months in Deià, I fetched my books and furniture from England, and then stayed six more years without so much as visiting the mainland. I wanted to live where town was still town; and country, country; and where the horse plough was not yet an anachronism.”

The family house, which Graves built in 1932, is now an engaging museum. Like Sand, Graves wasn’t always kind about Mallorca in his writings, yet these days visitors to the pretty villages seem to prefer to overlook that fact, holding onto their romantic notions of a wonderfully inspired artistic life along with their dog-eared paperbacks.

Meeting point for artists and writers, Mallorca’s wonderful light and inspiring atmosphere has cast its spell over many other celebrated writers and artists. The list includes Joan Miró (1893–1983) whose work you can see in a museum on the western outskirts of Palma, and the famed novelist Agatha Christie (1890–1976) who used her stay on Mallorca in 1932 to write “Problem at Pollensa Bay and other stories”.

ENTER TO WIN!

Just leave a comment below by midnight, the 8th July about Mallorca to be in with a chance winning, just tell us what you would like to see, have you been, do you have fond memories? Just chat Mallorca and the first name out of the hat on 9th July will win this fabulous package!

And of course if you are looking for books set on the wonderful island, look not further! Click on this link to find our collated titles!

Follow Marco Polo on Twitter, Facebook and please do come and follow the joint Marco Polo and TripFiction Pinterest Board “Discover Mallorca

Do come and join team TripFiction on Social Media:

Twitter (@TripFiction), Facebook (@TripFiction.Literarywanderlust), YouTube (TripFiction #Literarywanderlust), Instagram (@TripFiction) and Pinterest (@TripFiction)

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Comments

  1. User: Nives Holajn

    Posted on: 06/07/2017 at 5:48 am

    I would live to visit sometimes ! ☉❤

    Comment

  2. User: Nives Holajn

    Posted on: 06/07/2017 at 5:43 am

    Mallorca is so beautiful, thank you for this trip ♡ love you guys!

    Comment

  3. User: Susan Kaizuka

    Posted on: 05/07/2017 at 7:32 pm

    We have traveled there to visit the pastoral fishing villages. The small villages were filled with friendly people and tourist activities – mostly walking! I would love to return there again one day. We actually took a small cruise ship, the Azamara to both of the Islands, my favorite part of the Western Mediterranean cruise!

    Comment

  4. User: Kay Vreeland

    Posted on: 05/07/2017 at 1:06 am

    An island between Spain and Algeria — full of romantic dreams with what must be a lot of mixed-culture food and places and people–that’s what I want to go for! And … this book, The Vacationers, is on my book group’s list for the 2nd half of the year!

    Comment

  5. User: Tracey Bowyer

    Posted on: 04/07/2017 at 6:27 am

    The bag and books look fab, LOVE Mallorca. We’re going on the 30th July. It’s perfect with something for everyone and only a couple of hours flight time. Our fave place ☀️

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 09/07/2017 at 10:00 am

      @Tracey Bowyer – your name came out of the hat this morning. Congratulations! Please contact us with your address.

      Comment

  6. User: melanie stirling

    Posted on: 03/07/2017 at 2:43 pm

    We took our boys when they were very little and we found a wonderful empty beach off the beaten track and it was so lovely and clean.

    Comment

  7. User: Sally Allen

    Posted on: 30/06/2017 at 7:01 am

    Really enjoy walking in Mallorca. Something for everyone

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: Lana H

      Posted on: 30/06/2017 at 2:21 pm

      Mallorca sounds like a wonderful place to add to my list of future trips!

      Comment

  8. User: Irene Wright

    Posted on: 26/06/2017 at 11:04 am

    Have been before but hope to go again in January/February 2018. Got to better weather there than the UK

    Comment

  9. User: Irena

    Posted on: 26/06/2017 at 7:49 am

    I have never been to Mallorca. I would go to train ride through the mountains, swim and have fun.

    Comment

  10. User: Linda

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 6:55 pm

    Have to get back there as Steve had heat stroke last time and we missed a bit!

    Comment

  11. User: Sara Hill

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 6:40 pm

    Many years ago in the 1980s I visited Magaluf when it was not really a very nice place! I do have a good memory of visiting a restaurant in Palma and eating sucking pig which was delicious!I have not been back since but i believe it is much better now.

    Comment

  12. User: Amy

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 6:16 pm

    I would love to go to mallorca to see the beautiful beaches and coast.

    Comment

  13. User: Claire Harris

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 6:08 pm

    I have not yet visited Mallorca, but if I did, my first stop would be at Las Cuevas del Drach, where the tour includes a classical music concert and a boat ride on the lake! Good value for money, I would say! 🙂

    Comment

  14. User: Jennifer Huelsebusch

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 5:57 pm

    I’ve never been but would love to go even if its through a book! This book has been on my TBR list for awhile!

    Comment

  15. User: Barbara Khan

    Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 5:30 pm

    What a cute bag!! I am a travel advisor and I am currently planning a trip for some clients to Mallorca. I hope to visit on my next trip to Spain.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: Julie Ryan

      Posted on: 25/06/2017 at 6:06 pm

      Would love to visit Majorca as never been- on my list1

      Comment