The sun is shining on Soller, and the ‘season’ is underway. Lots of couples, some with small children are here right now. Local schools break up this week and the beach will be busy with Soller’s children enjoying their world. In July many are off the beach again and involved in all the summer schools on offer. This is the busiest time for the parents, childcare and entertainment is a feature of the next three months. Let’s hear it for the Grandparents who do a great job at this time of year.
The young are also the travellers of the next few weeks. So many live here and have families in other countries. The children are often sent to stay with their grandparents in exotic places. I know of those heading for Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and the UK in the next few days, not to return till September. This messes with local friendships and the partings are bittersweet. Many teenagers are torn between wanting to stay in the Soller Valley fun or go and have a hugely different experience
To be young in the Soller Valley in the summer means Fiestas most weekends. The 15- & 16-year-olds really come into their own as they dance through the summer at the village celebrations. Lots of local events in Soller, Fornalutx, Deya, plus buses to take them to other villages in Mallorca. The young are on the move all over the island, party hopping the summer. Thus, it has ever been, and local mums and dads remember it wasn’t so long ago they were doing the same. Occasionally the party buses take the teenagers over the other side to Magalluf and the same is true the other way round. The Calvia kids head here for parties too. The resident young of Mallorca get to know each other well every summer.
Meanwhile back in the Soller Valley the grown-ups are in ‘angst’ mode. The projected occupancy figures in hotels for July and August are not looking so good. Restaurants are very mixed on how they are currently doing. Many are closing early, or concentrating on lunch, owing to no customers. The car parks, opened with great trumpet and fanfare, are often just empty. So far, this season is ticking on and cannot be said to be booming.
Prices are being discussed, particularly in the hotel and restaurant world. Hotels have the opportunity to reduce rates and have special offers when the season looks moody. Restaurants are in a different place with their printed menus. We have started to see daily ‘Prix Fix’ menus in some establishments. No-one can afford not to be realistic and respond accordingly.
The summer sales are underway in some stores. Traditionally they start on 1st July, but most begin around 23rd June with some major stores having preliminary starts before that date. Many holidaymakers love the summer sales which start early here. A summer shopping day is on the list for savvy holidaymakers whose summer at home has hardly started. They take Mediterranean chic at bargain prices home to wait for the UK summer to settle.
On Monday 23rd June it is the San Juan Fiesta. In Spain, the summer solstice is celebrated as the Night of San Juan coinciding with the shortest night of the year and marking the start of summer. In the Port of Soller it is celebrated with picnics, surrounded by candles, on the beach. Many dress in white and take that midnight purification plunge. Local musicians and dancing happen in the tram stop square at the Repic Beach. This is a lovely evening where everyone is out and sharing the gentle fiesta with others doing the same. The beachside picnics and barbeques are legendary, and the authorities seem to turn a blind eye to the bonfires on the beaches for this one night in the calendar. Candles with their direct flame to heaven are used on the beaches too and sent out on little floats to sea taking with them the prayers of the faithful. We all leave the fiesta of Sant Juan with great intentions for tomorrow. The summer 2025 will officially start after this celebration.