By Andrew Ede
Palma.—One can look back a hundred years and think what wonderful foresight there had been in establishing an integrated public transport system to connect Palma with the town of Sóller and the Port of Sóller. The train had been necessary. Sóller was, because of its location, isolated. Transport to and from Palma was primarily by means of the stagecoach, and the journey was far from easy; there was (and still is of course) a damn great mountain in the way. Negotiating the mountain pass of the Coll de Sóller by stagecoach was not everyone’s idea of transport fun.
The train was to solve this transport nightmare. It was also to act as a boost to what had been established for quite some number of years - Sóller’s oranges economy. But the train was only part of the transport equation. There was also the tram.