A couple of weeks ago there was this daft report about Mallorca’s resorts and how dead they are in winter. As if we weren’t aware of this, which we most certainly are. The specific focus was on Alcudia and Playa de Muro, the daftness having been accentuated by the fact that the dead of winter was about to be replaced by the green shoots of ... well, winter, but winter with a spring feel.
The cyclists were on their way, as anyone familiar with the area would also have known. And the cyclists have now arrived. Cue cursing and jibes about not spending anything. If this were true - the non-spending, that is - then why do places suddenly open, raising the resorts from the dead?
The season is progressively getting longer, by which the government and the tourism industry mean that there is less winter than there used to be. This may not be the story everywhere, but in Playa de Muro it is. The whole season for tourists lasts nine months - mid-February to mid-November.
Admittedly, the nine months start and end with limited opening, but you can’t characterise the place as dead. One business was quoted as saying it couldn’t wait for Easter. It must have been kidding.
Winter life there is. However, there is one drawback, and that is one of the good reasons for there being a dead, or close to dead winter - roadworks.
The winter is the time for maintenance. Hotels need work, so does infrastructure. At present in Alcudia, they are digging up The Mile, laying new sewage pipes on the Carretera Arta, and in the process of resurfacing roads in some 80% of the entire municipality; not all at once, thanks God. It didn’t help when a sewer blew open by the Magic Roundabout just recently.
All necessary work, though where some of it is concerned, there are the inevitable gripes (and legitimately so) about why it didn’t start earlier. The cyclists, the perceptible increase in general traffic therefore contribute to a distinct impression of chaos. Could it have been avoided? Of course it could, if the season weren’t so long. But you can’t have it both ways, assuming you want better roads, better sewers and a longer season.