This Wednesday marked the fortieth anniversary of autonomy for the Balearics and the 39th anniversary of Balearics Day. A public holiday since 1998, there are plenty of attractions in Palma each year. But this year there was an unexpected additional attraction - the sinkhole that had appeared on the Avenidas on Monday.
Gastronomy from the islands in Sa Feixina Park, a Balearic Islands market on Passeig Sagrera, Minorcan horses in Plaça Porta Santa Catalina; these were among the many attractions that had been organised, but the sinkhole was another one not to be missed.
Public holiday or not, personnel from the Emaya municipal services agency were working on fixing the hole. They have started to fill it in; the attraction will be shortlived. Workers were amused by the numbers of spectators - "we've never seen so many people," quipped one.
One person who went to have a look said that she couldn't understand why the hole had appeared; "it's rained much harder before". Someone else reckoned that "a city that covers its history is doomed to failure", referring to the sixteenth-century bastion that the sinkhole had exposed.
Once the hole has been fully filled in, it will be left for a couple of days for the soil to settle and dry before the road is resurfaced.