The Train To Soller - Kate's Here!! Pt. II

We finally took the historical train to Soller while Kate was here.  The train was first opened in 1912 and runs from downtown Palma, through the mountains, and back down to the city of Soller on the East side of the island.

The train travels 27.3 km (17 miles) in about an hour and goes through 13 tunnels on the trip.

The train is made mostly of wood and is supposed to be the exact way that it looked way back in the day and is even supposed to be maintained in the same way as it was 100 years ago, whatever that means.

Once you make it to the other side of the mountains, the train stops and gives you a chance to take a few pictures of the town of Soller down in the valley below.

The most impressive building in Soller is the St. Bartomeu Church which originally dates from 1236.  The most unique feature of the church is that it has a beautiful facade, but the rest of the church is fairly plain (unusual in Mallorca anyway).

The original hand-operated switch to change tracks.  I find this fascinating, Kelly thinks I'm a nerd.

These are the trams (different from the trains) which run from Soller to Port de Soller which is about 4km away.  Most of the old town in Mallorca were built about that far from the water to protect from pirate attacks (on a side note...  Whats a pirates favorite letter?  You think it be arrrrr, but its really the sea!).

While we were walking through Soller, a cat perched on a windowsill took one look at Kelly and let out a loud pet-me meeeoooooow.  After the (slightly longer than) appropriate cat petting time, we were wondering if Kelly was some sort of cat whisperer.  However, we were maybe 20 feet away when another person walked by the cat, it meowed, and they pet him.  Turns out this cat is just running a kind of pet-me racket.  Brilliant.

Kate and I in front of the two most Soller-y things in town, the church and fresh fruit trees.

Fin

Ride Report - Palma-Soller-Valldemosa

I left Palma under sunny January skies with the temperature in the 50s, heading toward the 60s.  I was off to ride the old road to Soller, a small town on the other side of the Tramuntana Mountains.  The ride north, out of the city, is a nice false flat road that continuously climbs (just a little) as it heads toward the mountains.

Mountains ahead

The tunnel that now takes road traffic from Palma to Soller was completed in the late 90's and cuts 7 miles and many, many turns off the old road over the top.  Bicycles, however, are not allowed in the tunnel so cyclists get to (or have to) take the old road over the top.

 The climb itself is a beautiful with a consistent gradient and tons of switchbacks.  There is almost zero traffic since most people pay the toll and take the tunnel, and the way the climb is built give plenty of opportunity to look back from whence you came.

 Excellent signage

 Look at that road...  With a better camera, you would be able to

see Palma and the Med through the 'V' on the left.

The road on the backside of the climb has plenty of switchbacks as well, but it is in a tighter valley with less straights and steeper drops.  This leads to something you see frequently on the mountain roads here in Mallorca during the 'rainy season', moss.  Many of the roads are so tight, and have so much tree cover that moss grows on the roads, mostly on the edges, but occasionally in the middle too.  This makes descending switchbacks a slower, more cautious affair than it would usually be.

 moss

 Looking down at Soller over an orange grove.

After dropping into Soller, the road starts to climb again almost immediately heading south along the coast toward Deia.  The entire road runs immediately along the coast so that you have the Med on one side, and the island on the other.  There are many small 'towns' along the road that would be hard to find on map.

 Town, Village, Hamlet...?

Narrow roads

After plenty of time getting to know the coast, the road heads inland again at Valldemossa for a long fast downhill run back to Palma.  A beautiful and climb-y ride that makes for a great day.