Mallorca Day 10 - Sa Capelleta

Chores this morning, some cleaning and washing the bedding. I had managed the washing machine the other day but this morning I figured out the dryer. I have never seen one that collects the water from the drying, in a tank, that you have to empty out, before. George would have been fascinated.
Angela had made some recommendations about places to visit in a recent e-mail so I decided to check out the nearest one. First I wanted to try and get my pay-as-you-go phone set up so I drove into Soller and parked where Angela had suggested (out on the main road near the first round about) and walked in to the centre.

This allowed me to get some pictures looking down into Soller. Snow is still up on the peaks.

It's a pretty town with imposing surroundings.

Although it was 1:45 and it wasn't supposed to close 'til 2 - it was closed. I will have to try again tomorrow morning.

I walked up to the train station which was open this time.

I watched the train from Palma come in and checked out where to buy tickets.

In the train station there are rooms set aside as art galleries.

One room had this on the wall. I am assuming it is the artists signature as none of the paintings were signed or identified.

"Chiffres et constellationsamoreux d'unne femme" Not really my cup of tea.

The next room had paintings by Joan Miro who I gather had family who lived in Soller. I have seen some of Miro's work that I liked but this collection wasn't to my taste either.

On the other side of the hall, a lovely old waiting room with a collection of Picasso's ceramics.

In the Museum in Ceret they had a collection of Picasso's ceramic bowls all depicting the bull ring. Here they were more varied.

He used the clay as well as the paint, adding dimension, to the pieces. It got a sense of how much fun it must have been to discover another element to play with.

Still the bullfighting, this time on a plate.

He wasn't particularly imaginative with his titles though; "woman" or "face". This one was 'four dancers".

I walked back up to the car. Didn't accomplish what I had come for but wasn't disappointed in the trip.

Back in the car I found the road to Fornalutx and drove up the narrow, twisty road until I saw a sign for Santa Maria de l'Olivars on the right. Down a gravel track and into a parking lot. Out of the car and I followed the track down to metal entrance gates that were unlocked.

A rough wooden cross is the first indicator.

Then, though the gates, an angel sculpture on a stone cairn (it may have been a well)

Sa Capelleta. The little chapel looks very old, like it was built by locals with local materials and has a fantasy quality to it. Most churches feel heavy, this feels light. I can find nothing about its history on the internet although there is mention of it getting refurbished and some nuns coming to inhabit the monastery next door again.

You can't get inside but you can peak through two holes in the metal door. It looks like a grotto inside.

Surrounded by a small garden of shade trees and stone benches inside

a rough stone wall with views across the valley and up to the mountains.

I sketched until my bottom got too cold and numb on the stone wall. I will have to go back and finish it.

The parking lot is actually for the church Santa Maria de l'Olivars with its attached monastery.

A small, simple, domed church which was open and no-one there.

Back on to the road and turned right to Fornalutx on an even narrower, even twistier road. I parked on the edge of the village.

Neat and tidy, cobblestoned streets

and a square with 2 big plains trees and a couple of bars. The village also had a supermarket, some tourist shops and some restaurants but I was getting chilly so headed home.

This, by the way, is the Mallorcan flag. The red a yellow bars of the Catalan flag with the palace in Palma. Mallorca was ruled by the Kings of Aragon and part of Catalonia for quite some time. Sitting out in the Mediterranean it was, of course, attacked and occupied by all the usual marauders.