Low-Cost Majorca Is Paradise Found

This tale from Majorca is not for the tourist passing by on a two-week Mediterranean cruise. It is oriented toward the Southern Californian who just might desire a change of environment. It’s about buying groceries, renting, riding buses, doing your own laundry sometimes.

We, too, are Southern Californians. Between us we have spent a total of 65 years in Orange County in San Clemente, Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo. Someday we shall return to our home in Mission Viejo. That is, we think we shall.

After four trips to Majorca, one of them lasting 40 days, we decided this time on a longer stay, a whole year. This way we could get it out of our system, or. . . . Many have made the observation that to really know a place, one should experience all the seasons. Such was our intent.

A Million Pilgrims

We arrived in September, a month in which more than a million North Europeans came to the island on their pilgrimage to seek fun under the sun. Streets and beaches overflowed. Buses provided standing room only. Even as late as Oct. 1, about 6,000 visitors passed through Palma Airport in a single hour, between 4 and 5 o’clock that afternoon.

But now it’s different. And better. Think about a trip of some duration in autumn, winter or spring.

Begin with real estate. Whether you choose to rent or buy, bargains abound. For less than $300 a month we rent a two-bedroom, furnished first-floor apartment at the Mediterranean’s edge. Our living-room window frames a picture-book view of red and pink hibiscus and the blue Mediterranean.

The six-story building is named Edificio Vista Real because it faces toward the small palace that King Don Juan Carlos occupies on his summer vacations.

Private Beach

Furnishings include telephone, dishwasher, washing machine (no dryer), a special storage room, clothes-drying area with clothes lines, TV and underground parking. It comes with a private locked-gate entrance to the beach, with accompanying shower.

Recently a German-Majorcan real estate agent showed us a new two-bedroom apartment on Illetas Beach seven kilometers west of Palma. The beach is on a cove, but smaller than most. The semicircle of white apartment complexes rising behind the beach with their balconies of overhanging plants creates an air of Mediterranean elegance.

Asking price for the apartment, furnished, was $79,000. Something similar along the coast of Orange County would cost hundreds of thousands.

Here, as elsewhere, location plays a primary role in deciding where to live. On the outskirts of Santa Ponsa, still farther west from Palma, one may buy a two-bedroom unit for $23,000.

The apartments are part of an enormous complex on a high bluff dropping sheer to the Mediterranean. It’s a forever view in a Shangri-La setting. A full gamut of prices here depends on what you want and what you wish to pay.

Last week the Majorca Daily Bulletin advertised a mansion near the internationally famous Sheraton Son Vida Hotel and 18-hole golf course there for $1.2 million.

For the ‘Happy Few’

Back to Santa Ponsa. An extensive development soon to become reality is published as “Ambassador Park, Paradise for the ‘Happy Few.’ ” It will include all the amenities to which many Southern Californians have grown accustomed: golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools. Being built with views of the Mediterranean, of course.

English Newspaper

The Majorca Daily Bulletin is the only English-language newspaper published in the Mediterranean. The paper advertises all kinds of real estate for sale, plus rentals on this island. Anyone considering buying or renting here could well profit from a subscription to it. It is at San Felio 17, Majorca, Spain. A one-month subscription is about $15 at the current rate of exchange.

Besides the Majorca Daily Bulletin there are other publications in English, including the International Herald Tribune, USA Today, Time and Newsweek magazines. A radio station broadcasts daily in English from Palma. If you are a linguist, or at least fortunate enough to speak a second language, the newsstands provide access to dailies and reading materials from all of Western Europe.

Not only will real estate cost you less, but savings also apply to food. Although prices of food have been rising since our arrival, we still buy tomatoes, for example, at about 14 cents a pound. Bread, the French-type rolls of all sizes, costs considerably less than at home. Chicken and meats generally sell for slightly less than in Southern California. Good table wine is about 55 cents a bottle, beer from the stores, 25 cents; a liter of Smirnoff vodka is $4.32.

The climate is quite similar to coastal Southern California. August, the hottest month, has an average daily temperature of 75 degrees and January, the coldest, a daily average of 50--that’s quoting the 24-hour period for daily averages.

December, the wettest month, has an average of 10.7 days of rain. (The rain generally comes in the form of showers, mostly at night, so far.) The island’s 20,000 permanent British residents are fond of saying that Majorca is “where the sun spends the winters.” Official statistics indicate 300 days of sunshine.

No Language Barrier

How about language and communication? For all practical purposes, the barrier is nonexistent. If you’re shopping, almost everyone knows enough English to help. And if you speak and understand a little Spanish, all the better.

All Majorcans, it seems, are bilingual. They speak their native language, very similar to the Catalan of Barcelona and the Costa Brava, and Castilian Spanish. Some knowledge of Spanish will almost certainly increase your enjoyment of this environment.

The American consul tells us that Majorca has more than 700 permanent residents from the U.S.A. As noted above, 20,000 Britishers call Majorca home. Many of the German residents here, a reputed 25,000, also speak English.

Activities Abound

Excepting the omnipresent football and baseball games at home, the new environment will encourage and extend your recreational activities. You may wish to join the British-American Club at Calle Soldado de Marroig 8, which sponsors and hosts regular social events. You may join a bridge club or a bowling team. The island has four golf courses and others are either in the planning stage or under construction. Tennis, boating, windsurfing, swimming and fishing opportunities abound.

Music lovers are in luck. At the Palma Auditorium, on the Paseo Maritimo, for very reasonable prices you may attend performances by artists and organizations of international renown. Just the other night violinist Yehudi Menuhin performed here.

Initially, you will find yourself compelled to explore the island. After all, it’s only 50 by 60 miles at its widest points. So many places and experiences beckon: the numerous coves, the caves of Drach, the enchanting Toonerville Trolley journey over the mountains to Soller, the spectacularly scenic and craggy climb up and over to Formentor.

Europe in Minutes

Then, if you become bored after a year or two, mainland Europe is just a few minutes away. Iberia Airlines will fly you to Barcelona, round trip, for a little over $68. For $116 round trip you can fly to London. The trans-Mediterranean fleet of steamers provides daily service from Palma to mainland Europe. Not only do these large and comfortable ships ply the Mediterranean to the Spanish ports of Barcelona, Alicante and Valencia but they also go to Sete, France, and to Genoa, Italy. From those ports it is easy to extend your itinerary to any part of Europe.

Check in Los Angeles for visa requirements. And what will you do about your house? We leased ours, stored our furniture.

Many others have preceded you, many will follow. The other day we discovered a curious and unusual marker in a nook just off the Paseo de Illetas. The inscription was in attractive blue lettering on a white ceramic background, set in a fairly large boulder. It reads:

“The Association of Neighbors of C’as Calata and Illetas in Homage. And in Appreciation to: Errol Flynn & Patrice Wymore for having chosen this area as (their) habitual residence.”

It is still true that Majorca is where “the sunshine spends the winter.” At times, however, it did hide itself. There were some chilly days in January and February, but we got by without overcoats. There were a few days of rain practically every month but we did not use raincoats.

The dollar has slipped in value versus the peseta, about 15% since September, but Majorca is still an economic bargain, particularly in real estate.

Common Market

Spain has joined the European Common Market and some economists predict a rise in prices. Spain now has the value added tax, which has also increased prices nominally. A loaf of bread that cost 35 pesetas in September now sells at 36.

Anything negative? Yes. We don’t like living right on the water. Too damp. But we have American friends who also live in apartments at the water’s edge but do not have our problem because they have central heating.

The mail service is another negative. It is abominably slow.

Any pleasant surprises? Yes. The restaurants where we have eaten surpassed expectations. Especially the lamb and pork.

We wish you could take the drive out toward Alcudia or Manacor in late January or February. Reminiscent of William Wordsworth’s “host of daffodils,” you would see thousands and thousands of almond trees with their white and pink blossoms “fluttering, dancing in the breeze,” a carpet of green underneath and purple mountains encircling them in the distance. It is a lovely, lovely island for all seasons.