Mallorca North & West Tourism Guide - Bio on Father Junipero Serra

Junipero Serra & Petra

Petra north of Mancor happens to be the birthplace of Junipero Serra. Who's he I hear you say. Well, in his time in the mid 1700s he was a renowned traveller and missionary. He's well known on the West coast of America, around California as he played a key role in the Spanish settlement. In Petra itself they celebrate him as a hero, centred mainly around the missionary Junipero Serra. There's a smallish museum, free but donations requested and he was born at C/Barracar 6, so you can take a look at that as well! Oh, and you can bob upto Ermita de Bonany which is about 2 kilometres sout-west of Petra where Serra gave his last sermon before making tracks to the States.

They make a pretty big deal of Junipero Serra in California as well, with a museum in San Diego where he set up a mission. There's a Junipero Serra High school in San Mateo, gulp! The Mission system set up by Serra and his fellow Franciscans still operates today, within the Catholic Church. The missions in California smooth over the bringing of disease and colonialist ideas of saving the souls of Native Americans. Serra still remains the hero as well in the little museum in Petra.

The real picture is perhaps a little darker, as Serra and the first Spanish settlers played a fundamental part in the momentum of colonialisation of Native Americans, dismissing their way of life as nothing and bringing the strict devout living of the missions to their communities, alongside death and destruction. The hero representations, however, hold an interest in themselves, and the museum in Petra is well worth a look. He seems to have done a lot of walking Father Serra!

Alaro Castle

Alaro Castle dates back to the time of the Moors, and Jaume I later spruced it up. The views at the top are indeed spectacular, with panoramas of the surrounding plains and the Valley of Orient in the west. You can spot Palma as well to the south up here. Simply magical.

Descend down into the Orient valley and you'll discover olive and almond groves galore. Orient itself is a beautiful little hamlet with it's own little church, 17th century Sant Jordi.

Majorca Art & Sineu

Sineu, right in the heart of Majorca, is a must see on any cultural itinerary of Mallorca. It's so conveniently close to Palma and the Bay of Palma as well.

The town's development dates back to the Middle Ages and dear old Jaume II built a royal palace here. The Santa Maria de Sineu church on Placa Santa Catalina Tomas dates from 1549 and architecturally is most interesting with it's pyramid shaped spire. Note the large black statue of the winged lion, a symbol of Sineu representing the town's patron saint - Mark.

Also well worth a look is the Centre d'Art S'Estacio, an art gallery showing work by local artists, all of which is for sale. There's some adjacent handy public toilets here as well!