Full article PDF

MONOGRAPH
The Enchanted Cove
A CONCRETE LANDSCAPE
COVES AND TOURISM IN THE BALEARIC ISLANDS
CLIMENT PICORNELL
The wave of tourism-driven urban development that hit the Balearic Islands from the mid-twentieth
century on has greatly transformed the islands’ seashore. The nooks and crannies where Blai Bonet’s
«coral and wheat1» used to grow have been touristised. This widespread process in the Balearic
Islands –and the Mediterranean coast in general– has also directly affected the landscape of coves.
Many coves –called calas, caletes, calons locally–
■ THE COVE AS A TOURIST RESORT
ravines and gullies opening onto the sea were left
to God’s will for centuries on end. First used to
Of the 1,428 kilometres of the Balearic Island
safeguard little boats, which were moored in the
coastline as a whole (623 in Mallorca, 299 in
shelter of their bays and slipways, they have been
Menorca, 238 in Ibiza, 85 in Formentera, 40 in
sullied at the hands of art and grace –or possibly
Cabrera and 142 in the other islands), around 10% are
disgrace– tourism and urbanisation. Nowadays they
sandy, stony or pebble beaches. These are the most
are crowded by buildings and people who bathe in
accessible spots for sea bathers and swimmers, one of
the sea and line their sandy and pebbled beaches.
the key components of those seeking «sun, sand and
This trend, which began on a widespread basis
sea», the main tourist attraction. Over fifty years of
during the nineteen-fifties,
mass tourism have shown us that
means we can now classify the
other attractions, such as culture
Balearic Islands’ coves within
and landscape, are immaterial.
«MANY COVES WENT
a range that goes from virgin or
Coves have been colonised
FROM BEING BETWEEN
unspoilt coves to fully built-up
by tourists since the inception of
BLAI BONET’S “CORAL
coves. From the echoing songs
tourism, despite geomorphologic
of ancient Greek poets, we
problems linked to their
AND WHEAT” TO BEING
come to the songs of pop-music
commonly limestone formation,
SANDWICHED BETWEEN SUNgroups in the mid-nineteenth
with their wide and deep
CREAM SPREAD TANNED
century, all proclaiming that
penetration, their sea sediments,
BODIES AND HOARDS
«Mallorca is beautiful» or
their steep edges with more
«Mallorca Paradise of Love».
or less vertical walls forming
TRAMPLING THE SEA-LILIES.
One could see how poverty,
gullies. In southern Menorca
“COLLATERAL DAMAGE”,
worthy if you will, has been
we find beaches (Macarella,
THEY CALL IT NOWADAYS»
replaced by apparent wealth,
Macarelleta, Santa Galdana)
generated by leisure-seeking
on a rugged coastline, where
Europeans, in search of the sun
beaches are accessible only at
and sand on our islands at a reasonable price. Many
the mouths of ravines and gullies, which are dry
coves went from being flanked by Blai Bonet’s «coral
most of the year round. Thus, the physical access to
and wheat» to being sandwiched between sun-cream
coves dictates their touristic or residential use. This
spread tanned bodies and hoards trampling the seais favoured if they are more open (like Cala Bona
lilies. «Collateral damage», they call it nowadays.
or Cala Millor, on the edge of the so-called beachdune system), or if they are relatively low like Cala
Montdragó, Badiola with its five sub-coves, which are
very secluded, as the paradigmatic case of Cala Pi in
1
Entre el coral i l’espiga (Between Coral and Wheat) Blai Bonet, 1952.
Llucmajor.
On the left, Anna Sanchis. «The Enchanted Cove» series, 2012. Clay, plaster and acrylic on a wooden board, 21 x 28 cm.
2013 MÈTODE Annual Review 113
MONOGRAPH
114
Annual Review MÈTODE 2013
Since the fifties, coves have progressively undergone a period of
touristisation, with the proliferation of buildings and sunbathers
crowding its sands. The images show the coves of Mallorca.
© Miguel Lorenzo
Tourism has led to a transformation process
through coastal urbanization where tourism is
concentrated. This process has led to the creation
of touristic spots on the coast with sought-after
environmental resources: landscape, sea, beaches
(white sand beaches are best rated by tourists), on
which socioeconomic structures are built to welcome
them (hotels, apartments and other residences) plus
all the additional traps of tourism (restaurants, bars,
clubs, shops). This has created so-called model
seaside resorts, which have grown over the years.
The resulting tourist areas, however, are not all
the same. Some have a non-touristic origin, such as
the nineteenth-century agrarian colonies (Manacor
port, the colonies at Sant Jordi, Sant Pere, Son
Serra de Marina...). Then, of the resorts created for
purely tourist purposes or summer residential areas
(afterwards they have all been jumbled together in
a disorderly manner), a portion come from pre-civil
war developments (Cala d’Or, Cas Català, Palmanova
...) while others arose in the fifties and later, in the
seventies, they witnessed a new boom. Besides these,
there are the ancient and historic settlements, such
as Palma city, Mahon, Ciudadela or Cala Ratjada, or
those used since ancient times as ports, such as Sóller
and the port of Andratx. After 1920 places sprung up
near Palma, like Ciudad Jardín del Coll d’en Rabassa,
or at Cala d’Or, Palmanova (invented names, like
many others), Portals Nous, Santa Ponça or S’Illot in
Cala Moreia. Some of these places are really coves or
just named so for the propaganda of attraction.
After the fifties, more residential developments
appeared; the embryos of future areas of mass
tourism, urban areas built next to the beach. This
process of touristic growth took place in new places
as well as in other places which were originally
ancient fishing ports or settlements, as in the cases of
Portocristo, Portocolom, Port de Pollensa or Andratx
port. The great wave of development in the seventies
gave rise to more complex nuclei, to name some of
the coves and bays we have «Playa Tropicana» in Cala
Domingos, «Playa Romántica» in Cala de S’Estany
d’en Mas, «Club Mini Follies» in Cala Llamp de
Andratx, or «Club Sa Font» in Sa Font de Sa Cala and
Cala Provençals in Capdepera.
Tourist settlements took over the coves from the
outset, with hotels and tourist residences springing
up (Cala Ratjada, Cala Santanyí), and in some cases
second-home urban developments (like in Cala d›Or
in Llevant or Palma Nova in Ponent as well as the
aforementioned Cala Major, near Palma). Later the
original spots took a leap and generated a set of
secondary hotels, and ended up becoming tourist
© Miguel Lorenzo
The Enchanted Cove
MONOGRAPH
The Enchanted Cove
resort complexes: this is the case of Cala Santa Ponça
or the string of resorts in the Llevant baptised with the
wonderful name «Calas de Mallorca».
the coastline, deliriously and recklessly seeking to
be as close to the beaches and coves as possible, to
touch the sun and sand, and ended up giving rise to a
phenomenon that has maliciously been referred to as
«Balearisation» and, in slightly more academic terms
■ TOURISTIC USAGE AND ABUSAGE OF COVES
as «coastalisation». Given the aforementioned POOT,
It must be said that until the advent of more modern
policy papers were drawn up trying to establish the
and restrictive building regulations, touristic and
state of affairs on each of the islands, based on what
residential infrastructures
they called «touristic areas». In
colonised the coves and stretches
these areas, coves emerge as an
of coastline in a higgledyobject of touristic development.
«FROM THE SEA, IN SUMMER
piggledy manner without much
Examples are Sant Vicenç, Cala
urban planning. More recently
Rajada, «Calas de Mallorca»,
THERE ARE TRAFFIC JAMS,
we have seen laws passed to
Cala d’Or or Santa Ponça, where
CAUSED BY SEA VESSELS
protect natural areas or urban
King James I of Aragon landed
LOOKING FOR THESE REMOTE
and spatial planning legislation
his ship to conquer the Balearic
AND UNSPOILT COVES,
(POOT in Spanish), which
Islands in 1229. All these names
SHREDDING THE SEAGRASS
among other things, «fossilised»
are included in tourism subzones
–not to say clearly delineated–
within the aforementioned
MEADOWS WITH THEIR
the different tourist areas.
legislation.
ANCHORS»
Touristic building
Thus, again it should be
developments had clung to
emphasised that we must be
careful with the dynamics
imposed by the recent laws passed to protect nature,
parks, biosphere reserve or world heritage sites,
which control the urban and touristic development
in the coves within their jurisdiction. However,
thanks to the gods, or to some bizarre laws or to the
stubbornness of some owners or to public pressure,
there are a handful of coves that have remained
untouched, vibrant areas where the sea still washes
up Santa Llúcia’s stones, talisman to make us to see
more clearly the need for further protection of wild
and unspoilt spots. Because every millimetre of the
area covered by fine sand, stony or pebbled beaches
has been measured and mapped, and human density
calculated at seven square metres of sand per bather,
assuming we would be able to stand saturation or
tolerance to the limit.
On the sands of small coves and bays, our jostling
for space (towels, sun-beds, parasols...) reaches a limit
and creates problems of physical and psychological
saturation. This makes those «in the know» flee
these crowded places and search out unspoilt spots,
less colonised by foreigners or so-called guiris (the
derogatory nickname applied to tourists by residents),
even though these coves may be tricky to access
and one must travel on foot. Access to such places
is difficult, parking is drastically limited, but people
cross fenced properties and, in some cases, even pay
their owners for access to certain secluded coves in
Menorca. Others come in from the sea (the coast is free
for all), and in summer there are traffic jams, caused by
2013 MÈTODE Annual Review 115
MONOGRAPH
© Vicenç M. Rosselló
© Vicenç M. Rosselló
© Vicenç M. Rosselló
© Vicenç M. Rosselló
The Enchanted Cove
Until more stringent regulations came into force, touristic and residential infrastructure took over the coast without any planning.
Urbanisation and, especially, construction of tourist facilities on the beaches have had a negative impact on the coast, such as the loss of
beach surface area and sand regeneration problems. The images on this page, from left to right and top to bottom, show: Es Rivetó, Caló
des Macs, Cala Murada and Cala Mosca. On the right, Cala d’Or.
sea vessels looking for these remote and unspoilt coves,
shredding the seagrass meadows with their anchors.
■ A TOUR OF THE TOURISTISED COVES
It is possible to classify the coves according to the
degree of residential and touristic colonisation,
ranging from the most urbanised ones to those
inhabited by a single hotel, from the lonely bar on the
beach sands to the virgin sands at the other end of
the scale. Here, I shall take you on a descriptive tour
of the Balearic coastline. It is the sandy shorelines of
Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Southern Formentera
that have been subject to residential and touristic
development. However, paradoxically, it is the
untouched coves that provide the pictures filling
guidebooks, the main attraction to lure the tourists
and promote tourism.
In Menorca there are two distinct areas,
Tramuntana and Migdia. Tramuntana, with its
expressive and tortuous coastline, has little appeal for
tourism. By contrast, Menorca’s Migdia is the area
116
Annual Review MÈTODE 2013
where the hotel business is concentrated, the coastline
follows a linear path, it is flat and rises above the sea
with sandy coves and inlets, alternating urbanised with
non-urbanised areas. A series of coves and beaches
line the coast from the tip of Sant Carles to the tip
of Es Gegant, some of which remain untouched and
protected, while others are urbanised. This is the
case of the coast from Cala Torrent to Cala Binidalí,
with the urbanisation of Binibèquer, Binisafulla,
Biniparratx. Cala en Porter is a highly urbanised area
(next to Calas Coves, with prehistoric dwellings),
but going on towards Trebalúger, this is not the case.
Again Cala Santa Galdana is urbanised, but Calas
Macarella and Macarelleta are unspoilt. While spots
near Ciutadella, Cala Blanca, Cala Santandria, Cala en
Blanes, Cala en Brut, Cala en Forcat are also built up.
In Ibiza, the least urbanised area is the so-called
Costa de Amunts, running from Cape Nunó to the
Grossa headlands. This is a mountainous place with
deep coves, indeed, but also with major residential
areas, such as Port de Sant Miquel and Cala Portinatx, which are densely urbanised. On the east coast,
MONOGRAPH
© Vicenç M. Rosselló
The Enchanted Cove
From Sant Elm to Formentor is the Serra de
where we find Cala de Sant Vicenç and Santa Eulália
Tramuntana coastline, which is highly inaccessible,
coast, residential and hotel areas increase as we move
protected and mostly falling within the UNESCO
towards Ibiza, as also happens in the bay of San
World Heritage Site. Here we find the well-preserved
Antonio de Portmany.
Deyá cove, away from the village. Then on to Puerto
Meanwhile, south of Mallorca, starting in the area
de Sóller, a traditional urban
of Ses Salinas and travelling
to Cap Blanc, we find Cala
centre, and the nearby Cala
En Tugores, which is a virgin
Tuent, which would seem to
«TOURIST SETTLEMENTS
cove, and Cala Pi, which is an
have been saved. Cala Castell is
TOOK OVER THE COVES
old urban development that has
unspoilt but then we reach Cala
FROM THE OUTSET, WITH
spread to the neighbouring area
Sant Vicenç, with its built-up
HOTELS AND TOURIST
coves (Cala Barques, Cala Clara,
of Vall-gornera. Meanwhile,
Cala Molins, Cala Carbo).
the Palma bay area (from Cap
RESIDENCES SPRINGING
In the Bay of Pollensa, between
Blanc to Cala Figuera) Cala
UP, AND IN SOME CASES
Cape Formentor and Cape Es
Blava, Calo de la Reina in the
SECOND-HOME URBAN
Pinar, the Gossalba and Murta
Son Verí area are all built up.
DEVELOPMENTS»
coves lie virgin. In Alcudia, the
Cala Estància and Cala Gamba
little coves of Manresa, Cala de
are considered to belong to
Sant Joan and Sant Pere spread
the city. To the west of Palma,
their sands to the bathers residing in the neighbouring
Cala Major and Cas Català are a continuous urban
developments of Manresa, Es Mal Pas and Bonaire.
extension, while in the vicinity of Toro, both Cala
The Bay of Alcudia, the area running from Cape
Figuera and Cala Rafalbetx are two beaches that have
Pinar to Cape Ferrutx, Baix Coll, is unspoilt, while the
not been urbanised, in the quintessentially touristic
region encompassing Sant Pere, Caló de los Ermitans,
municipality of Calvia, just before entering the major
Calos Campos, Cala Mata and finishing up in Caló of
touristic and residential conurbation of Santa Ponça,
Ferrutx, is in good state of conservation.
Peguera, Camp de Mar.
2013 MÈTODE Annual Review 117
MONOGRAPH
From the Ferrutx Cape to the Ses Salines Cape we
find the unspoilt coves of the Parc Natural de Llevant:
Cala de Sa Font Celada, S’Arenalet d’Albarca, Cala
Matzoc, Cala Torta, Cala Estreta and Cala Mitjana,
which were saved from projected urbanisation. Much
of this area was bought up by the government with
revenues obtained from a tourist tax, later abolished,
popularly known as the «eco-tax». Then we have the
highly urbanised Cala Mesquida, although its great
dune system has retained its dignity. Cala Molto
is unspoilt, but gives way to coves known as Cala
Agulla, Cala Ratjada and Cala Lliteres that make up
the large hotel and residential centre of Cala Ratjada,
which, almost joined together, proceed to Sa Font de
sa Cala and Cala Provençals.
An unbuilt area leads us to the Canyamel hotel,
which continues through to the ports known as Vell,
Nou and Roig, and to the major tourist spots at Cala
Bona and Cala Millor, beyond Sa Punta de n’Amer
towards Sa Coma, Cala Morlanda and S’Illot. The
© Miguel Lorenzo
The Enchanted Cove
Besides the negative impact on the landscape and beaches caused
by coastal urbanisation, another consequence of mass tourism can
be found at sea, with boats seeking remote coves and damaging
seagrass meadows.
Tourists crowd the most popular beaches, driving many locals in
search of less frequented coves, even though access is difficult.
«TOURISM SELLS THE COVE AND BEACH
LIKE A STAGE SET, WHERE ANOTHER
KIND OF LIFE IS LED, A DRAMA FOR MANY
ISLANDERS, BLOTTING OUT WHAT OUR
latter grew from old neighbourhoods, where people
from nearby villages bought trasts –plots or fields–
besides the sea, as happened elsewhere after the
miraculous revaluation of what had been the poorest
lands near the sea. Lower down, the protected coves
known as Caló d’en Rafelino and Cala Petita give way
to the urban area of Portocristo and its urban complex
in Cala Mendia, Cala Romántica, Cala Anguilla and
the Caló de s’Estany.
Then comes a stretch of undeveloped land (Cala
Falcó, Cala Varques, Cala Enganapastor, Cala Sequer,
Caló d’en Serral, Cala Magraner, Cala Pilota, Cala
Virgili, Cala Bota, Cala de Es Soldat, Cala Antena)
after which there is a series of urban developments,
known as «Calas de Mallorca» encompassing Ses
Romegueres, Cala Domingos, Cala Murada. S’Algar,
which is unbuilt, leads us to Portocolom, with its
touristic Caló d’en Marçal. Then there follows a set of
unspoilt coves: Cala Brafi, Cala Estreta, Cala Sa Nau,
Cala Mitjana, Cala Fe, but continuing further along
the coast we come to crowded urban developments
in Cala Serena, Cala Ferrera, Cala Gran, Cala d’Or,
118
Annual Review MÈTODE 2013
© Miguel Lorenzo
COVES WERE, OR HAD BEEN»
MONOGRAPH
The Enchanted Cove
Cala Llonga, Cala de Ses Egos until we reach the
original settlement at Portopetro, which continues
beyond Montdragó nature park, with its natural
coves but which are exploited by nearby residential
and touristic developments like those at Caló des
Burgit, Montdragó, S’Amarador or Es caló d’en
Perdiu. Here the coast is full of small scattered urban
developments, until you get to Cala Figuera with its
harbour, and Santanyí cove, Cala Llombards and Caló
des Moro. Then, travelling beyond the Cape of Ses
Salines, to Marmols cove and passing the headland,
Caleta d’en Tugores –this whole area is undeveloped
private property– leads us to the Colonia de Sant
Jordi.
■ BETWEEN NATURE AND TOURISM
We find the main urban areas on the coast of the
Balearic Islands, but it is also here that we can still
find hidden spots. Tourism and residences –already
sprawling inland– chose the coast, which had
remained almost unchanged for centuries. As I have
attempted to show above, the degree to which the
coastline is exploited by tourism varies from place
to place. Coves, and especially the beaches nestling
in coves, are sold to the tourist industry. They are
treated like a stage set where another kind of life
is led, a symbol contrasting with the cold northern
winter, a drama for many islanders, blotting out what
our coves were, or had been, before the arrival of
the northern barbarians, and those from not so far
north, living among us. Thus certain tourism-related
problems, such as those concerning the loss of sand
and of beach area and stability are of concern to
hotel owners. Other than temporary causes, the main
causes of this deterioration derive from urbanisation,
especially construction near or on the sand of touristic
infrastructure or communications equipment, as well
as interference with the dynamics of sedimentation
due to the busy marinas and trouble with natural
regeneration. Two solutions have been proposed to
stop the touristic sandy beaches from dwindling. One
is to try to retain and regenerate the sand dune system
with wooden traps (Cala Mesquida, Formentera, Sa
Mesquida de Menorca) and the other is to replace the
sand by shipping it in from other places.
Tourism has converted coves and beaches into
emblematic spots, the perfect combination for the
market, to sell the Five Ss, the first three are Sun,
Sand and Sea, to which Sex and Sangria have been
added later on in an outburst of modernity and
marketing. The beverage, sangria, was sold in the
chiringuitos or beach bars, whose existence is now
hampered by the Ley de Costas (Coastal Act), but
which became the emblem that blotted out what
coves were or had been: a place to enjoy the meeting
point of sea and land, to contemplate the sound of the
waters, feel the sand underfoot, smell the garrigue
vegetation in the perfumed dusk. Nowadays this
primitive seduction is media saturated, and we must
settle for searching for unspoilt coves or sharing
other coves with the issues and impacts generated by
urbanisation and tourism.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BUSWELL, R. J., 2011. Mallorca and Tourism. History, Economy and
Environment. Channel View Publications. Bristol.
FORNÓS, J. et al., 2007. Geomorfologia litoral. Migjorn i Llevant de
Mallorca. UIB-SHNB- IMEDEA. Palma.
P ICORNELL. C. et al., 2002. Turisme, economia i societat a les illes Balears.
IBATUR-Grup Serra. Palma.
Climent Picornell. Emeritus Professor of Geography. University of the
Balearic Islands (Spain).
2013 MÈTODE Annual Review 119