The scenes outside Soller’s train station minutes after the arrival of the Tren de Soller can only be described as chaotic. A couple of hundred people jostled each other as they waited to take the connecting vintage tram to the beach at Port de Soller. The tram and platform were woefully inadequate to deal with this many people. The tram staff were rude, aggressive and unhelpful as the crowd pushed and shoved to board.
We decided to explore Soller instead. It was a shame, and not only because we’d bought the train and tram ticket combo. The journey on the historic Ferrocarril de Soller railway to reach this small, historic town on the other hand, can only be described as epic. The 27km train journey from Palma to Soller pases through a Mallorcan landscape of olive, lemon and orange groves, before heading into the Serra de Tramuntana mountains.
The narrow gauge railway is an engineering marvel that passes through thirteen tunnels in the mountains, the longest almost 3km long. Work began on the line in 1907 and took five years to complete. The railway was paid for by citrus fruit farmers – Soller was famed for oranges – and soon became known as The Orange Express. It opened on April 16, 1912, a momentous occasion overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic.
Today, lucky tourists can climb aboard its antique wooden carriages and enjoy one of the most glorious train trips in Europe. The train stations in Palma and Soller are also period pieces. The one in Soller includes a remarkable permanent collection of works by Miro and Picasso, which must make it one of the most cultured train stations on the continent. Miro’s grandmother was from Soller.
The journey takes an hour one way and, just after the train emerges from a tunnel at the highest point of the route, there is a stop at a place called Pujol d’en Banya. Here you can get off the train and walk along a viewing platform that offers a sweeping panorama over Soller and the lush, green valley it sits in, all surrounded by peaks of the Tramuntana Mountains. From here it is all downhill into Soller.
After leaving the crush of people attempting to get on the tram, we headed into the main square, the Plaça de la Constitució. The tram line cuts through the centre of the square and between restaurant tables where people eat as the tram trundles past. Towering over the square is the 16th century Neo-Gothic Church of Sant Bartomeu. It’s a pretty spot that bustled with tourists.
From here we wandered through attractive narrow streets lined with tall stone houses. Get a short distance away from the main square and the streets are more or less deserted, although a couple of homemade signs that said ‘SOS Soller’, gave the distinct impression that some residents may have had enough of the mass of tourists who come here. I imagine summer is a living hell for residents.
We were headed to the Can Prunera Museum of Modernism, an Art Nouveau villa that houses sketches by Miro, Picasso and Cezanne, amongst others. Sadly, it was closed. We meandered around for a while in the atmospheric streets, then decided to visit the botanical gardens. This proved to be a stroke of luck. We were the only people there and the gardens, filled with endangered Mediterranean plant species, were wonderful.
The botanical garden is on a hill overlooking Soller, and the view across the town to the mountains was fabulous. We strolled back down into town under what was now a very hot sun. Luckily, the town’s streets are narrow and winding, perfect for creating shade. In one particularly narrow lane we came across Casa Alvaro, a restaurant with an outdoor table where we had one off the best meals of the trip.
The small delights of Soller exhausted, we passed back through the main square to the train station to take the glorious Ferrocarril de Soller back to Palma. It’s a journey worth making, but I would avoid making it out of the off season.
