The Port Of Christ And The Old Tower On The Cliffs

Port Cristo, Mallorca

When we visited Porto Cristo - 'The Port of Christ' - while in Mallorca we also made our way to a viewpoint high on the cliifs overlooking the town's natural harbour entrance. On this we discovered there was a tower - a very old tower - and there were similarities with this to the Gribbin Head tower in Cornwall I have previously written about.

Porto Cristo Beach

But first, how Porto Cristo got it's name. It was once a small fishing village and legend has it that it was named Port of Christ after a boat, with a crucifix on board, was washed up on the beach, at the time of the Christian invasion. Though nothing is certain with this sort of thing. Another version is that an oxen, carrying an icon of God, stopped at the village and refused to go any further. The locals interpreted this as a sign that Christ wanted to be here.

Entrance to Port Cristo natural harbour

Now for that tower, constructed in 1577. It was initially used for fire beacons to communicate between the tower of Port Colom and the tower of Puig de Massot in Cape Vermell. This is similar to the Gribbin in Cornwall - also a  beacon site which in 1588 helped carry the news to London of an approaching Spanish Armada

The way we now communicate has certainly changed!

And from the tower a lighthouse can be seen - wearing Newcastle United colours (for UK football fans).

And that's it from Mallorca (probably!)

Other Mallorca Posts:
We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca
The 1696 Mallorcan Castle Also Used In The Spanish Civil War
The Power Of Synchronicity In Mallorca
A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

My Mallorcan UFO Photo

I wasn't going to post this photo until I saw Trish & Rob's post UFOs Over Jupiter? It's a photo I took while in Mallorca about 10 days ago. Unfortunately there are no houses or scenery in the picture to get a proper perspective.

We were walking along one night, looked up and saw this light moving across the black sky. I've no idea what it is - as Trish & Rob say about their photo - it could just be a Chinese Lantern or something similar. I'm not making any claims!

I enlarged the photo and this is what I got:

And then enlarged it again:

I also noticed there are green 'stars' one to the top of the photo and the other at the bottom of the photo - as can be seen in the pic below.

So there you go, my Mallorcan UFO - well it's definitely unidentified!

UFO & Alien Posts Here:
10 UFO And Alien Stories

The 1696 Mallorcan Castle Also Used In The Spanish Civil War

Some of the places we visited on the island of Mallorca were very busy, like this scene at Cala Bona. So we headed to the very end of the seafront, where the sun umbrellas disappeared and the land is as it was before the developers came along to cash in on the tourism.

Here there was peace and we left the crowds behind, other than a lone fisherman ...

... and the wild flowers of the headland.

We had heard that on the headland there was an old castle so we followed the rocky tracks amongst the shrub-land and at last had a sighting.

And finally we made it to the Castell de Sa Punta de n'Amer.

The small castle or fortress was open to all visitors so we went to have a look round, first walking over the drawbridge ...

and then inside ...

... and also up to a higher floor via a creepy spiral stone staircase while wondering who else has climbed here since 1696 when the castle was completed.

And finally up more steps to the battlements ...

... with a view out to the Mediterranean sea.

The castle last saw any real action during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939. The headland was an important base for the army and the castle itself served as a news site for the nationalists.

Not far from the castle an annexe was built which served as accommodation for the soldiers. Fortunately today this has been turned into a small cafe/bar/restaurant.

Luckily it was open so we had an ice cold beer and later a coffee while looking out on wonderful scenery - perfect. Other than, of course, we still had a long walk back to where we had come from!

Other Mallorca Posts:
We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca
A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

The Power Of Synchronicity In Mallorca

Hotel where we stayed in Mallorca

On Tuesday I mentioned how health things improved while on our holiday in Mallorca, partly because of a complete blackout of news. But this also seemed to heighten other senses - in a small way.

For example, we thought of visiting a town a distance away from where we were based.  We were discussing this while walking along the promenade by the sea. I said something like, "Shall we go or not?" to Karin. At that very moment we passed a small restaurant and the first thing I heard was, "Don't."

They were actually playing the very old Elvis Presley song Don't. As regular readers may know I'm quite a fan of early Elvis music.

I took Elvis' advice and we didn't go, which was just as well. Later there was an almighty storm: thunder, lightening and torrential rain. Quite unusual for Mallorca at this time of year - but the next day it was back to sunshine.

So it's worth adhering to the signs!

The rain and storm we missed thanks to Elvis and Don't

Also other little things happened. I decided that I wanted another pillow at the hotel where we were staying. As I was thinking about this the maid (I dislike that word) knocked on the door and asked if she could make up our beds.

We sat on the balcony while she did whatever it was she had to do. As she finished she was about to say adiós, when out of the blue she asked if I'd like another pillow!

As these sort of things were popping up I tried to make something similar happen. We went off on an open topped, double decker bus along the coast. I thought how nice it would be, on the way back, to sit at the very front. That way there would be good views and perhaps some photo opportunities.

On the return journey there were a lot of people at the bus stop and Karin said, "I don't think we'll get a front seat." As we went upstairs it appeared she was right. Both of the double front seats were taken. One of them by a man sitting by himself. So we sat down in a mid positioned seat. Then, before the bus started it's journey, the man got up and for some reason transferred himself to another seat. I waited a moment or two, no one else moved, so we were able to have the very seat we wanted!

I won't bore you with lots more examples but there are definitely times, when the mood and circumstances are right, we can accomplish many things - with the help of the universe!

Okay, one more strange thing - sorry! On the outward flight to Mallorca we handed our luggage over and made our way to passports and the other checks. Karin then remembered she had a small pair of scissors in her cabin luggage - a complete no-no nowadays so she had to dispose of the scissors before we got to the x-ray and scanner thingies. She was a bit upset as they originally belonged to her mother and had sentimental value.

"Hope Oma doesn't mind," Karin said. (Karin was born in Germany and always called her mother Oma. It really means grandmother).

When we arrived in Mallorca we stopped at a café for coffee. With the coffee they gave us some biscuits.

Karin said, "You won't believe this, but they taste exactly the same as Oma used to make when I was little." A message, coincidence, synchronicity? Whatever, but it does make you wonder about life.

In The History and Power of Mind Richard Ingalese writes:

"If you can demonstrate a piece of carpet three feet long you can demonstrate a million dollars. If you can cure a headache you can cure in the course of time any disease; if you can demonstrate a seat in the street car you can demonstrate a seat in congress, in  time. If you can be happy a week you can be happy for a lifetime, because what you have done in a small degree can, with persistency, be done in a large degree."

Other Mallorca Posts:
We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca
The 1696 Mallorcan Castle Also Used In The Spanish Civil War
A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca

S'Illot Talayot Settlement

While in Mallorca over the past two weeks we stumbled over an ancient Talayot settlement (above) in the small coastal town of S'Illot. What fascinated me was that these remains were only  a short distance from what is now a popular tourist beach resort (below).

S'Illot Sea front, Mallorca

On an information board there was an artist's impression of how things may possibly have looked some 3000 years ago.

How things may once have looked at S'Illot

The settlement shows an indication that it was originally surrounded by a defensive wall of large slabs of limestone weighing more than a ton each (as below).

Settlement Walls

This site at S'Illot was believed to have been occupied for more than a thousand years. The oldest remains date from the Bronze Age (1100-850 BC).

Life in the Tayalot village or settlement was organised around communal or social areas made up of large buildings and simpler houses in which the people lived.

Each house had areas for sleeping and for preparing food around a hearth. The daily diet would have been goat, pig and ox meat supplemented with cereals and tubers - not quite my thing being a vegetarian!

I think what surprised me was how the remains of this settlement are accessible to visitors to wander through with no apparent restrictions. Though in saying that, when we found them by chance there was no one else around. We had the place to ourselves while, a few minutes away, others were frolicking in the sea. But I guess a sandy beach and clear water is quite an attraction on a warm, sunny day. Must admit we did succumb to a bit of a swim ourselves!

S'Illot Sea front Mallorca

We left the town of S'Illot and found a coastal path with some very nice scenery and big, interesting rocks. Sideways on this reminds me of some ancient face:

From S'Illot Coastal Path Mallorca 

Other Mallorca Posts:
A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows
The Power Of Synchronicity In Mallorca

A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

I have been away in Mallorca for the last sixteen days on holiday. During this period I had a complete news blackout - no computers, television, newspapers, phones and so on. At the time of writing this post (Monday) I have no idea if the USA has sent missiles hurtling in the direction of Syria; how many goals England beat Moldova by, in their World Cup qualifying match (I presume they won); if any so called celebrity has done something outrageous, purely to get themselves in the public eye. I don't know if ... well, so may things I would normally have heard about in the media but - guess what?

The strange thing is that the world has carried on without me knowing any of this. I don't actually need to fill my head with a lot of this garbage.

Here's another strange thing. I don't want to harp on about a health problem I had last year, but I will a little. Following surgery, nearly a year ago, I have had continued aches and pains on and off, though doctors and consultants say I'm okay. Within two days of being in Mallorca these aches and pains disappeared.

You can probably see where I'm going with this. I'm not saying that the aches were the fault of the news media but there is something to be said for that old adage ignorance is bliss. What we don't know about doesn't affect us.

Another strange thing. I took some books to read while away and one of these was The Zahir* by Paulo Coelho, and I'm not sure why I did. I have never thought much of Coelho's books or what all the fuss was about The Alchemist. I thought it very overrated.

Despite this I felt compelled to read The Zahir first and found that the main character in the book said very much what I had been thinking:

"I didn't turn on the TV to watch the late-night news, because the news was exactly the same news I used to listen to as a child: one country threatening another country, someone had betrayed someone else, the economy was going badly, some grand passion had come to an end, Israel and Palestine had failed to reach an agreement, another bomb had exploded, a hurricane had left thousands of people homeless."

And isn't that the truth. As I have written before, nothing is new. We are constantly manipulated to seeing all that is wrong with the world - the negative side. No wonder so many people get illnesses and depressions. What we take in becomes part of us. Or as Coelho writes:

"They (us?) accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people's ideas, and it is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams."

So what do we do? According to the tradition of the Steppes, known as the Tengri, to live fully it is necessary to be in constant movement - a nomad if you like - where everything, therefore, isn't the same.

It's doubtful if many of us can become nomads and constantly view new places but this is what Coelho's character in his book suggests as an alternative:

"Not physically, no, but they can on a spiritual plane. Going further and further, distancing yourself from your personal history, from what you were forced to become."

All in all my break from the news media emphasised to me, what I have often said (but sometimes forget), about how what we think, say, do  and hear creates our tomorrows - our circumstances, health and life in general.

*Zahir:
The idea of the Zahir comes from the Islamic tradition and is thought to have arisen at some point in the eighteenth century.

Zahir, in Arabic, means visible, present, incapable of going unnoticed. It is someone or something which, once we have come into contact with them or it, gradually occupies our every thought, until we can think of nothing else. This can be considered either a state of holiness or of madness.

Faubourg Saint-Peres
Encyclopaedia of the Fantastic.

Other Mallorca Posts:
We Stumble On A 3000 Year Old Settlement At S'Illot Mallorca
he 1696 Mallorcan Castle Also Used In The Spanish Civil War
The Power Of Synchronicity In Mallorca

Books Mentioned In Post:
Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon USA
Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon UK