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<b>Olive groves, hidden gorges, panoramic views and the most beautiful mountain villages of the island: a charming long-distance hiking trail leads away from mass tourism across Mallorca's wild Tramuntana mountains. We want to hike&nbsp;the Tramuntana mountains complete - a hard way, dry and beautiful.</b>

<figure><img alt="This cow is a happy spanish cow" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-622-mallorca-soeller-17-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>This cow is a happy spanish cow</figcaption></figure>

<b>In Spring, before the sun really burns over Mallorca is the best time to discover the island, which is known for beaches, discos and alcohol abuse. The best way to do that is with hiking boots firmly laced. Follow me all the way to the other side of a well known and complete unknown isle. (Please read chapter one<a href="https://travelfeed.io/@koenau/mallorca-by-boots-hiking-the-tramuntana-chain" target="_blank">&nbsp;here</a>, chapter two&nbsp;<a href="https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@koenau/mallorca-a-long-way-on-the-dry-wall-trail">here</a>, three</b><a href="https://peakd.com/hive-163772/@koenau/hiking-mallorca-into-the-fog-of-the-bridle-path"> here</a><b>)</b>

After a quiet and long night in Sóller, a pretty town completely surrounded by mountains, the sun slowly creeps over the peaks in the morning. It's actually only 34 kilometers from here to Palma, Mallorca's capital and the party capital of Europe. But you can't get any further away from the continent's hectic daily life than here. Our starting point is in the middle of the historic town center, not far from the Port de Sóller harbor, which gives Sóller direct access to the Mediterranean Sea.

<figure><img alt="Climbing a hill" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-607-mallorca-soeller-19-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Climbing a hill</figcaption></figure>

<h2>It goes up again</h2>

But we turn our backs on the Mediterranean. Through citrus plantations we walk to the village of Biniaraix, a long, leisurely path that seems almost comfortable in view of the unexpected hardships that the crossing of the entire Sierre de Tramuntana has already brought us. Then, however, it goes up again: In a ravine, which is called exactly like the place at its end, we jump slowly and sweaty  up to the Bauemhof "Cases de l'Ofre". Here the term loneliness gets a face. You don't want to live in this emptyness, never.

<figure><img alt="It’s a small island with a few ways to go" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-348-mallorca-soeller-24-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>It's a small island with a few ways to go</figcaption></figure>

But we do not stay too. Instead, we follow the numerous stone-epflastered paths that have connected the villages and homesteads here since time immemorial. Every step is a torturte because of the kind of the way. They were all supposedly laid out by the Arabs, some 1.000 years ago. For that, their condition is downright excellent - you don't want to think about what our modern roads will look like in the year 3000.

<figure><img alt="Foggy coastline of Mallorca" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-370-mallorca-soeller-25-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>Foggy coastline of Mallorca</figcaption></figure>

<h2>Forgotten fortresses</h2>

Similar thoughts come to mind when you look at the fortresses that the inhabitants of that time built everywhere to watch the sea, over which pirates kept coming and taking what they could use from the villages. Built of rough stones, the towers, some of which can even be entered, still look like new. 

<figure><img alt="It always goes up, up and up" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-752-mallorca-soeller-40-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>It always goes up, up and up</figcaption></figure>

On the karstic slopes of the northwestern mountain range, the Moors again laid out their elaborate terraces and made the soil fertile through irrigation. Due to the greater settlement and the booming Mallorca bathing tourism, water is even more precious today than it was then. Even now in spring there are only a few streams that carry water, the higher we get the more barren the landscape becomes.

<figure><img alt="The watchtower on the sea" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-093-mallorca-soeller-43-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>The watchtower on the sea</figcaption></figure>

<h2>Slowly but steadily</h2>

Our next stage runs through high valleys to the foot of the mountain Puig de l'Ofre. Along the ridge, we now climb slowly but steadily to the 1,093-meter peak, the king of the island, which is admittedly almost 350 meters smaller than Mallorca's highest mountain, the Puig Major, which stretches 1,437 meters into the sky. But once at the top, we have a very good  view of the little giant and the valleys around. 

<figure><img alt="A view along the coastline" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-874-mallorca-soeller-44-jpg" width="3774" height="2113" /><figcaption>A view along the coastline</figcaption></figure>

1,437 meters, this makes real alpinists smile. Recreational hikers, however, quickly realize that nothing goes here without good shoes, sure-footedness, sunscreen, rain protection, endurance and sufficient water. What begins picturesquely deep down in the valley, grows with increasing height every single day to a steep climbing tour on narrow paths. 

<figure><img alt="Rich island, very nice churches" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-433-mallorca-soeller-31-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Rich island, very nice churches</figcaption></figure>

One goes on scree field, on impassable terrain and through overgrown meadows. Fortunately, Mallorca is known to be an island, so that the gate tour is rewarded with a new gradiosen view of the sea after almost every bend in the path.

<figure><img alt="The water treasure of the island" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-684-mallorca-soeller-32-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>The water treasure of the island</figcaption></figure>

<h2>View to the forbidden peak</h2>

Or on a peak. No one is allowed to enter the summit of the Puig Major, not since 1958. It is a restricted military area, in the early days not Spanish, but American. In 1953, Spain ceded several army and naval bases to the Americans in return for extensive economic aid. The U.S. military stationed the 880th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron on the Puig Major, and it operated a gigantic listening facility there. 

<figure><img alt="Four hours to go" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-504-mallorca-soeller-26-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Four hours to go</figcaption></figure>

To build the facility, the summit was removed by five meters because a plateau was needed as a flat surface for the buildings.&nbsp; Mallorca's highest mountain has been a little shorter since then. Sounds like fiction, but it's true. It was not until 1964 that the Americans left, but the military stayed. 

<figure><img alt="The mediterrean sea" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-263-mallorca-soeller-21-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>The mediterrean sea</figcaption></figure>

To this day, the Spanish army uses the mountain as a site for one-dimensional radar Lanza 3D , which monitors the western Mediterranean and parts of North Africa, as our guide tells us over a picnic of fresh Mallorca tomatoes, cucumber, cheese and Serano ham.

<figure><img alt="They listen to you" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-242-mallorca-soeller-23-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>They listen to you</figcaption></figure>

<h2>Islands water heart</h2>

Then work is already waiting again. Walking on the moon of Mallorca. No grass, no trees, no animals here in the heights of the isle. Over the Coll de Cards, which is still 963 meters high, we return to the Mallorcan plain. Below, the picturesque Cüber reservoir awaits, which is enormously important for the island's water supply. What looks like all the way down is still high: at 750 meters above sea level, the water is dammed here, a huge expanse of water that duels with the sky for the most beautiful blue.

<figure><img alt="The Cüber reservoir, up in the picture the Nato outpost" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-102-mallorca-soeller-18-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>The Cüber reservoir, up in the picture the Nato outpost</figcaption></figure>

The waves glitter, the water plays with the entire repertoire of the ink box - from Caribbean turquoise to darkest marin. It's dream come true when the evening comes and your legs are tired and the food is good and a galss of fine wine is waiting.

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A few more pictures for you:

<figure><img alt="From the tower they’re looking for the pirates" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-545-mallorca-soeller-1-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>From the tower they're looking for the pirates</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="An very old way, hard to go" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-925-mallorca-soeller-3-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>An very old way, hard to go</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="Build by the Arabs" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-218-mallorca-soeller-16-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Build by the Arabs</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="A very old church" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-652-mallorca-soeller-6-jpg" width="4000" height="3000" /><figcaption>A very old church</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="Palms and buildings in the outback" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-886-mallorca-soeller-8-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>Palms and buildings in the outback</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="Mallorca has stunning sceneries" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-927-mallorca-soeller-12-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Mallorca has stunning sceneries</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="Water is rare in the island" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-454-mallorca-soeller-20-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Water is rare in the island</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="One way or another" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-651-mallorca-soeller-14-jpg" width="4320" height="3240" /><figcaption>One way or another</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="View into the island" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-057-mallorca-soeller-24-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>View into the island</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="The Nato peak, forbidden area" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-740-mallorca-soeller-36-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>The Nato peak, forbidden area</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="Gulls on a non-Nato-peak" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-373-mallorca-soeller-37-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>Gulls on a non-Nato-peak</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img alt="On eof the castles at the coast" src="https://img.travelfeed.io/koenau%2F2022-05-20-09-05-268-mallorca-soeller-43-jpg" width="4320" height="2432" /><figcaption>On eof the castles at the coast</figcaption></figure>



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