Pirates in sight!
If you wander around Mallorca's coasts, on a bike, on foot or by boat, you will see the robust, round stone towers that characterize the silhouette of the island time and time again. Today, some of them can be found in places where you wouldn't expect to find them - some are surrounded by new housing developments, others have had their show stolen by a lighthouse. Or they are barely recognizable, are heaps of decaying stone or just the foundations of a once proud, important building. However, around 25 of these towers, talaies or torres in Mallorcan, are still worth a visit. They can be easily reached by car or adorn a hiking trail along the coast.
Sea views are guaranteed, as they are naturally situated in exposed locations where the wind roars, the seagulls screech and the surf roars:
On the offshore, uninhabited island of Dragonera in the southwest, near Banyalbufar in the west, on the rocky Formentor peninsula in the north, in Porto Cristo in the flat east, in Cala Figuera on the quiet south coast or on a mini island in the large bay of Palma. Those who climb them can let their gaze wander and feel light and carefree. Mallorca's watchtowers offer a wonderful low-cost experience.
The towers used to have a completely different function. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the island was regularly raided by pirates. In particular, the so-called Barbary corsairs from what are now Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco came to steal money and goods and to kidnap and enslave people. A horrible idea.
The events of that time still shape the mentality of the islanders today. They are reserved, sometimes even mistrustful. And they never lived on the coast until the beginning of tourism. It was too dangerous. That is why important towns such as Alcúdia, Pollença, Andratx and Sóller are located several kilometers from the sea. And in today's tourist resorts, there used to be only huts and sheds where fishermen kept their boats and lived for a while. Only Palma had a large port. For centuries, the city was an important and well-guarded trading center in the western Mediterranean.
Common phrases such as "Ara que no hi ha moros a la costa" (Now that there are no Moors off the coast) also bear witness to this. This refers to a situation in which the coast is clear, i.e. no one is listening or watching.
The following towers can be seen to the east and south-east:
Pla des Matzocs, Artà
Torre d'Aubarca
Cap des Freu, Capdepera
Torre de Son Jaumell
Canyamel, Capdepera
Torre Nova of Cap Vermell
Porto Cristo, Manacor
Torre del Serral dels Falcons
Santanyí
Fortalesa de Portopetro
Cala Figuera, Santanyí
Torre d'en Beu
Cala Santanyí
Torre Nova de sa Roca Fesa
Sa Ràpita, Campos
Torre Son Durí
S'Estanyol, Llucmajor
Torre de S'Estalella
Llucmajor, Torre de Cala Pi
Torre des Cap Blanc
And at the village festivals "Moros y Cristianos", the islanders re-enact the attacks every year, in May in Sóller and in August in Pollença. And the Christians always win. This was not the case in reality. The pirate raids between 1542 and 1558 on Sóller, Valldemossa, Pollença and Andratx are said to have been particularly brutal.
To put an end to the fear, the Mallorcan clergyman and polymath Joan Binimelis (1538-1616) decided to equip the coast with an effective surveillance system. Binimelis is regarded by the Mallorcans as the first scientist. And he was a philanthropist. In the 16th century, he drew up a map of the coast and calculated the distances of the towers to enable the watchmen to have visual contact with each other. Then he had them built: Thick walls, piled up by hand, around ten meters high, drinking water depot underground, spiral staircase inside, a flat roof as a large viewing platform.
And Binimelis developed a torch language. If a suspicious ship appeared on the horizon, or even many, then the guards had to signal "Moors off the coast" as quickly as possible. During the day with smoke, at night with fire. The colleagues on the surrounding towers then passed on the signal. The aim was to send the bad news to the Almudaina Palace in Palma as quickly as possible: This was Mallorca's center of power and control, where the king or his governor lived. He sent out troops to defend the threatened towns.
The surviving events of the watchtower on Cabrera show just how big the pirate problem was. It stands on the now uninhabited archipelago off the coast in the far south. Algiers is only 140 nautical miles away. Today, the small archipelago is a national park and one of the quietest spots in Mallorca.
But in the 16th century alone, the tower was destroyed and rebuilt at least ten times. Anyone standing guard here was at the mercy of the attackers.
The regional government has now decided to save the towers from decay. It will place them all under a preservation order and begin restoration work. If they are on private property, the owners can apply for subsidies, but only if they allow access. This is because Mallorca's watchtowers are public property. They belong to the island, are part of its identity, and many are still functioning today. A few Mallorcans proved this at the beginning of this year. One by one, they sent out a signal from 24 watchtowers: orange smoke at midday, red dots in the darkness of the winter night. It was a test - and a tribute to their ancestors.
Text: Brigitte Kramer Photos: Corinna Cramer
To put an end to the fear
Joan Binimelis (1538-1616) had the coast equipped with an effective surveillance system
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