Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Aside from the beach, the main attraction here is a major art stop, the
Fundació Pilar i
Joan Miró
(
http://miro.palma.cat
; Carrer de Saridakis 29; adult/child €6/free; 10am-7pm Tue-
Sat, to 3pm Sun)
, inland from the waterfront. Take bus 3 or 46 from the Palma city centre
(Plaça d'Espanya) to reach it.
Top Spanish architect Rafael Moneo designed the main building in 1992, next to the
studio in which Miró had thrived for decades. With more than 2500 works by the artist
(including 118 paintings), along with memorabilia, it's a major collection. No doubt in-
fluenced by his Mallorquin wife and mother, Miró moved to Palma in 1956 and remained
there until his death in 1983. His friend, the architect Josep Lluís Sert, designed the stu-
dio space for him above Cala Major.
A selection of his works hangs in the Sala Estrella, an angular, jagged part of Moneo's
creation that is the architect's take on the artist's work. The rest of the building's exhibi-
tion space is used for temporary shows. Miró sculptures are scattered about outside. Bey-
ond the studio is Son Boter, an 18th-century farmhouse Miró bought to increase his pri-
vacy. Inside, giant scribblings on the whitewashed walls served as plans for some of his
bronze sculptures.
Gènova & Around
POP 4100
Most travellers come up here, around 1km roughly north of the Fundació Pilar i Joan
Miró in the satellite settlement of Gènova, to visit the closest caves to the capital,
Coves
de Gènova
(Carrer d'es Barranc 45; adult/child under 10yr €9/5; 11am-1.30pm & 4-6pm Tue-
Sun)
. Discovered in 1906, the caves are not as interesting as the Coves del Drac in the
east of the island, but are a pleasant enough distraction with stalactites and stalagmites to
poke around.
You reach a maximum depth of 36m and will be shown all sorts of fanciful, backlit
shapes. The temperature is always around 20°C in the caves and water has been dripping
away for many millennia to create these natural 'sculptures'.
From Palma or Cala Major, take bus 46 to Coves de Gènova. Alight at Camí dels Reis
19; from here it's about a 300m walk. If you have wheels, follow the signs to Na
Burguesa off the main road from the centre of Gènova (a short way north of the Coves
turn-off). About 1.5km of winding, poor road takes you past the walled-in pleasure
domes of the rich to reach a rather ugly monument to the Virgin Mary, from where you
have sweeping views over the city (this is about the only way to look
down
on the Castell
de Bellver) and bay.
