There is a saying “no matter what day of the year there is always a fiesta in Spain.” I used it all the time when I was guiding tourist groups in Mallorca. There was always a fiesta worth mentioning no matter where I took the groups. One of my favourite local fiestas is Es Firo in Puerto Soller. It was last week, and just by coincidence I drove up to Puerto Soller on Sunday as my partner had to go and work on a boat in the port. For those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to visit the village during the yearly fiesta, I recommend you put it on your bucket list. The “Firó” is the most important fiesta on the west coast of Mallorca, it recalls the pirate looting that Soller suffered on May 11, 1561.
Each year the village divides into two different teams Moors and Christians. The Moors team have the red flag with the moon and star, and the Christians defend the flag with white bottom and red cross. All over the village you can see the flags hanging on public buildings and even on the mountain side. This year the actual battle was cancelled but we were promised that next year will be bigger and even better than the original.
As we drove back from the port, we saw all the firo flags hanging from people’s balcony’s and I thought is not it amazing that some things do not change at all. In Scandinavia we love fiestas and due to lack of fun traditions as we have in Mallorca, we have made a special day for most of the bakery goods we have on offer. I have already introduced you to the Semla dag some weeks ago and there is a special day for cinnamon buns and Tuesday this past week we had the Choklad boll day. If you have not tried them yet you should and do not worry if you missed the actual day – you can find them in all the Scandinavian bakeries on the island. In Sweden, the day is celebrated with special prices and special versions of the famous chokladboll. I recommend you try it with a coffee, typical Scandinavan “fika”.
Speaking of bakeries – the lovely Norwegian Fibonacci bakery closed its doors for good on the island 2020 and as I walked throughPalma yesterday afternoon, I could see that some other lucky entrepreneurs have snapped up the fantastic locations Fibonacci had in and around Palma – I know that a lot happens during a winter in Mallorca in a normal year, but this year is extreme with the turnover. Some of the most emblematic shops have closed for good and bars and restaurants will sadly have to close instead of open for the season. It is difficult to follow what restaurants are open and not. It seems like the Scandinavians are doing well and that there are more businesses on the way down to Mallorca.
Lovely news this week was that the famous Palma Boat Show will go ahead June 3-6 of and hopefully that will bring a positive economic impact to the island. I love the show and always go to see the new boats on exhibit, mingle with the rich and famous, and meet up with friends that work in the business of course. I believe this year it will be very well visited as there are not so many events on for now.
Hopefully, tourism will pick up as the schools in Scandinavia and other European countries stop. There are very limited flights now and the indications I have been given is that several flight companies have cancelled or reduced their program throughout May. We have some good news for the travellers that starting from this Wednesday the max price to pay is 75€ per PCR test in Mallorca.