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MALLORCA IN PRIVATE SPLENDOR

The Balearic Islands were already mentioned by Herodotus who called them the “Gymnasias”, due to nakedness of their inhabitants. Great slingers, they were incorporated into Rome’s troupes after the conquest of the island in123 AC by General Quintus Cecilio Metelo, nicknamed “Balearicus”. From there comes the name of these beautiful islands. The biggest of all was called Majorca (from Maior= big island) and Palma (palm tree) was founded as the capital of this new Roman settlement. In the early Middle Ages, after the fall of Rome, Mallorca was under Byzantine influence. Finally the Islam conquered the island in the 10th Century and gave great splendour to its capital, now called “Medina-Mayurka”. James the 1st of Aragon and Catalonia re- conquered the island at the beginning of the 13th century because of its strategic position in the Mediterranean. The Crown of Aragon, would later conquer Sicily and Naples. Under the Christian, the “Town of Mallorca” – as it was re-baptised following the Islamic name- was greatly destroyed. Where the main Friday Mosque stood, a handsome Gothic Cathedral was built reflecting on the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Monasteries, churches and manor houses were constructed during this period of Gothic splendour. With the conquest of America and the importance of the Atlantic, Mallorca would lose its importance and Palma its brilliance. It would regain its elegance again during the beginning of the 18th century in Baroque style, under the first Spanish Bourbon kings, who called the town again: Palma. All this history and influences give the islands an important artistic heritage. Mallorca is one of the most beautiful islands of the Mediterranean and a place where you find the most outstanding private homes not only of Spaniards but of people from over the world. We will visit impressive fincas o “possesions”, country homes with outstanding homes and gardens; and the most important cities manor houses. Mallorca was discovered as a “destination” by Georges Sand in the mid- 19th Century, during her short stay on the Island with Frederick Chopin and some years after by the Archduke Luigi Salvattore of Habsurg who bought illustrious guests to the Mallorca, including his cousin the Empress Sisi. In the 20th Century artists such as the Delaunay couple, Paul Delvaux, Joan Miró, Mati Klarwein, authors such as Robert Graves (I Claudius) and actress such a Ava Gardner and Michael Douglas visited or lived on the Island. Also, may art museums and foundations opened up, making Palma an important Art destination. Actually artists such as Fabrizio Plesssi, Miquel Barceló o Jose Maria Sicilia spend time in their lovely homes & studios in Mallorca. The old town of Palma, that had been abandoned during the 70´s and 80´s, has been greatly restored both by private and public hands, re-gaining its beauty. It is now a place of lovely manor houses and private homes; important cultural live, top shops and restaurants, together with sophisticated hotels.

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1. SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 30: OSTENDE-PALMA DE

MALLORCA 16:10 h. Departure of flight from Ostende to Palma with Tui Airlines (TBC). 18:55 h. Arrival to Palma airport. Transfer in minivan to the hotel on the maritime Ave., overlooking the Bay of Palma and walking distance from the Old Quarter. Information folders on Palma will be awaiting you at the hotel. Check-in at hotel for 5 nights:

Hotel Costa Azul *****

Avenida Gabriel Roca 7. 07014 Palma de Mallorca tel. + 34 971 731 971 www.hotelcostaazul.es

20:30 h. Aperitif & Dinner at Es Baluard museum´s handsome restaurant with great views on the

bay of Palma and a good cuisine. (at your own expense as it is not included in the price).

Return on foot to the hotel.

2. MONDAY OCTOBER 1: PALMA- VALLDEMOSSA – SOLLER-

ALFABIA. 9:00 h. Meet your guide and lecturer in the lobby. Comfortable shoes recomended.

Depart by minibus. Drive to Valldemossa. On the way lecture on Raymond Lully or Ramon Llull,

George Sand and the Archduke Luigi Salvatore of Habsburg.

10:00 h. Visit the Carthusian Monastery and its gardens, where Chopin and George Sand lived

during the winter of 1838. Chopin concert at the Palace of el Rey Sancho Then we will have a walk

through the charming village famous for its plants and flower pots decorating the winding streets.

12:00 h. Departure by coach. Visit the Miramar monastery created by Raymond Lull. Welcome by

owner: Dr. Jose Maria Sevilla

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Views over Valldemossa and the cloister of the Monastery of Miramar.

13:30 h. Departure for lunch at el Hotel Valldemosa Restaurant with scenic views on the Tramontana mountains. 15:30 h. Visit Son Marroig, the late Archduke Luigi Salvatore Habsburg’s main home on the island with owners. 16:30 h. Then we will enjoy a scenic drive to the village of Deia, home of the late poet and author Robert Graves. Walk in the village up to the Cemetery and Graves tomb. Beautiful views. 18:00 h. Refreshments will take place in La Residencia Hotel gardens. 19:00 h. Return to Palma through the valley of Soller, terraced with orange and lemon trees. 20:00 h. Arrive at the hotel. Dinner on your own. (In the information folder you will find a selection of the islands top restaurants).

3. TUESDAY OCTOBER 2: PALMA.

9:30 h. Walk to the Gothic quarter of Palma. Visit Es Baluard, Palma´s museum of Modern and Contemporary Art located in a fortress that was

brilliantly restored and re-adapted by the architects Luis & Jaime García –Ruiz. www.esbaluard.org

Welcome by director: Nekane Aramburu.

11:15 h. Visit the Casal Sollerich temporary exhibition centre. www.solleric.org.

13:00 h. Continue on foot. Visit La Lonja, beautiful Gothic merchants building and the site-specific

exhibitions.

13:30 h. Lunch at the restaurant Forn de Sant Joan.

15:00 h. Then we will visit the Bartolomé March Foundation, located in the Majorcan palace of late

collector Bartolome March.

The collection brought together reflects on one hand the defined personal taste of the collector and on the other the major trends which have marked the history of 20th Century sculpture. Works by renowned artists such as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Max Bill, Pietro Consagra and Agustín Cárdenas are completed by the Spaniards of international prestige: Apeles Fenosa, Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Francisco Otero Besteiro, Xavier Corberó, Eusebi Sempere and Eduardo Chillida, among others.

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Walk to the Cathedral. Visit to Palma´s impressive Gothic Cathedral where we will see the intervention by Gaudí done at the beginning of the 20th Century and St Peters Chapel in ceramics by Miquel Barceló, finished in 2006.

After a walk in the old quarter where we will view the Arab baths and St Francesc Church.

17:30 h. View the patio of Can Vivot, one of the typical Mallorcan patios and enjoy a glass of wine

at the home of the Belgian honorary Consul Chantal Jourdain.

Independent return to the hotel by taxis or on foot.

20:30 h. Departure on taxis or foot. Dinner at Tokyo to Lima at Hotel Can Alamar.

4. WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 3: PALMA- SANTA MARIA-

ALCUDIA- PALMA.

9:30 h. Departure by coach. Drive north of the island.

Visit the Majorca fabric looms of Bujosa at the village of Santa Maria. They are hand woven in

cotton and are typical of the island. www.bujosatextil.com

11:00 h. Continue our lovely drive to Alcudia.

12:00 h. Arrival to the Yannick & Ben Jakober Foundation. Welcome by Ben Jakober and director:

Gabriel Barceló. Visit the foundation´s sculpture park and collection. www.fundacionjakober.org .

The outstanding feature of Sa Bassa Blanca is undoubtedly the building designed by Hassan Fathy (Cairo,

1900-1989). He was already 78 years old and had never built anything in Western Europe when he drew up

the plans of the Hispano Moresque building, which he called a “ribat”, retaining only the outside walls of an

existing farmhouse of the property. White crenellated walls, traditional vaults and domes punctuate the

otherwise flat terraces of the edifice sur- rounding a central courtyard with gardens and fountains. Most

windows are covered by wooden lattices called “mushrabeyehs” and the doors and floor tiling are antique

elements brought from Andalucía, Northern Spain and Morocco. The existing “Aljibe” or underground water

reservoir was transformed into an exhibition space in 1994 and in 2007 the new underground area “Sokrates”

was brought into service. Neither competes with the architecture of the great Hassan Fathy.

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One of the most unique collections of its kind in Europe consisting of more than 150 Portraits of Children,

Nins, dating from the XVI to the XIX centuries designated as national heritage. Some of these are permanently

exhibited to the public in a converted underground reservoir.

The main building conceived by the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy in 1978 houses the Karlweis Wing,

where the largest collection in the world of paintings, sculptures and drawings by Domenico Gnoli (Rome

1933-New York 1970) are on show, with another room dedicated to Rebecca Horn. There are also works by

Alan Rath, Miralda, Meret Oppenheim, Takis and Ben Jakober / Yannick Vu.

n the new SoKrates space it is possible to admire extraordinary pieces such as the Swarovski curtain 7m wide

and 4 m high made of 10.000 Crystals, the Pleistocene fossilised skeleton of a Woolly Rhinoceros, as well as

works by Miquel Barceló, Gerhard Merz, Dolores Vita, and Ben Jakober / Yannick Vu. There are seven glass

showcases containing ancient masks and votive pieces from Nepal, Tibet, Peru, the Himalayas and Africa

creating a dialogue between the contemporary and ancient art.

A recent addition is a Sculpture Park, where children and adults may get acquainted with art by way of

monumental granite sculptures inspired by animals figuring in Antiquity, all in a bucolic setting.

14:00 h. Departure for lunch at the El Cocodrilo restaurant, overlooking the bay.

16:00 h. Return to Palma to the hotel.

19:30 h. Departure the hotel by taxis. Visit the studio of Susy Gomez, located in the old Firestone

warehouse (Ramon I Cajal nº 12) followed by a visit to Horrach Moya Gallery (Plaça Drassanes, 10

mn walk) . www.horrachmoya.com.

21:30 h. Dinner will take place in the restaurant below, Sadrassana, one of the fashionable places in

town.

Return to the hotel on foot or by taxis.

Susy Gómez. Muntean / Rosenblum

5. THURSDAY OCTOBER 4: PALMA-ANDRATX-PALMA

10:00 h. Check-out of the hotel. Departure by coach. Drive to Bellver Castle, with incredible views on Palma. It is one of the fine examples of civil Gothic. 11:30 h. Visit the Joan & Pilar Miró Foundation. Welcome by Joan Punyet Miró, grandson of the

artists’ and author of his “catalogue raisonné”. We will visit the foundation´s 4 incredible spaces.

Coffee at the foundation. www.miro.palmademallorca.es.

The Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Mallorca comprises three unique buildings that offer one of the most striking

architectural ensembles on the island: Son Boter, a late 18th-century Majorcan house that the artist

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purchased as a second painting and sculpture studio; the Sert Studio, designed by his friend the architect Josep

Lluís Sert and built in 1956; and the Moneo Building, the Fundació’s headquarters, designed by Rafael Moneo

and opened in 1992. The first two buildings have been included in the Bienes de Interés Cultural architectural

heritage list.

13:00 h. Drive to the town of Andratx where we will enjoy a paella lunch at Barlovento restaurant

and enjoy the village.

16:00 h. Visit to Studio Weil, the studio of Barbara Weil, Chicago artist that has established herself in

Mallorca. http://studioweil.com/

Studio Weil and Cap Rocat

The Studio Weil, a building projected by the architect Daniel Libeskind, has housed since 2003 the studio and

permanent gallery of Barbara Weil, renowned North American artist who has been living in Port d'Andratx for

over thirty years.

The new space, that exhibits permanently a selection of the sculptures and paintings by Barbara Weil, has

become a building of reference for architects and architecture students the world over, above all since Daniel

Libeskind won the contest to rebuild Ground Zero in Manhattan.

17:30 h. Drive back to Palma. 19:30 h. Departure by minibus for our farewell dinner at Cap Rocat Hotel, located in a fortress of the cliff with great views on the bay of Palma, owned and designed by top decorator Toni Obrador. 22:00 h. Return to the hotel by minibus.

6. FRIDAY OCTOBER 5: PALMA

9:45 h. Check out. Leave luggage at hotel. Departure by taxis.

10:00h. Visit the Chillida sculpture “Lugar de Encuentro” and then visit la Caixa Foundation located

in a beautiful Art Nouveau building by Barcelona architect Lluis Domenech I Montaner. Visit the

lovely temporary exhibition titled: Anglada Camarasa Caixa colection and Pedro Madueño, portraits.

obrasocial.lacaixa.es/nuestroscentros/caixaforumpalma_es.html

12:30 h. Visit the Juan March Museum of Contemporary Art. www.march.es/arte/palma/

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The Museu Fundación Juan March in Palma de Mallorca has a permanent collection of seventy works by the most important Spanish vanguard artists of the twentieth century (Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Juan Gris and Salvador Dalí among them). The collection also includes representative examples of the innovative artistic movements of the mid-twentieth century with works by the most recent generations of Spain's artists. A total of fifty-two artists are represented. The Museum's galleries for temporary exhibitions display works by both national and international contemporary artists. Inaugurated in 1990, the Museum is centrally located in Palma, in an eighteenth-century building of regionalist style with touches of modernist inspiration.

13:30 h. Lunch at El Capuchino Grand Cafe.

15:00 h. Departure by coach (luggage will be already in the coach) towards the airport.

16:55 h. Departure of Tui direct flight to Ostende (flight TBC) 19:35 h. Arrival to Ostende.

End of the trip. This itinerary is subject to last moment changes that will not affect the quality of the program.