Porto Cristo and its Caves

 

Porto Cristo is situated around a fish-hook shaped inlet on Mallorca’s east coast. Porto Cristo a

Fishermen have sailed from the sheltered harbour to catch fish to sell in Manacor’s market since Roman times. Legend says an Italian boat was blown into the bay during a great storm in 1260. The crew came ashore with a statue of the Virgin Mary and took it to Manacor where it can still be seen in the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows. Porto Cristo, or Christ’s Port, is named after the legend.

The Falcons Tower was built on the south side of the inlet to keep a look out for ships from the Ottoman Empire, when they attacked Mallorca in the 16th Century. In 1851 a lighthouse was built on the opposite headland, called ‘the Pumpkin’ (Sa Carabassa), to guide sailors into the harbour.

By 1888 Manacor was producing so much wine that a customs post was opened and a ship delivered huge wine barrels to Barcelona on a Porto Cristo bweekly basis. But the export business soon stopped because a pest called phylloxera wiped out the island’s vineyards.

Porto Cristo’s beach is now a place to enjoy the sun but it was a battlefield during Spain’s Civil War. A military coup, starting on 18 July 1936, brought Mallorca under Nationalist control and the Republicans based in Barcelona wanted to capture the Balearic Islands. An invasion fleet took Formentera and Ibiza without a fight and troops landed around Porto Cristo on 16 August. They fought against Regular Army units and militia controlled by the Guardia Civil but a lack of discipline stalled the advance.

The Republicans and Anarchists were soon falling back into Porto Cristo and there was heavy fighting in the streets of the ‘Red Port’, as it had been renamed. The Nationalists occupied the cliff overlooking the beach, calling it the ‘Parapet of Death’. Small boats were soon evacuating the Republicans to waiting ships those who were left behind were executed.

Porto Cristo cThe Republicans formed a new beachhead around S’Illot and Sa Coma, north of the harbour, and waited for a political coup across the island; but it never happened. There was a stalemate until Arconovaldo Bonaccorsi, who called himself Count Rossi, took command of the Nationalist forces at the end of August.

Republican morale dropped when Italian bombers reached Mallorca and started bombing the beachhead. The first troops were evacuated soon afterwards and the last ones left on 12 September. While it was the end of the fighting around Porto Cristo, it was the start of months of repression across the island as the Nationalist regime arrested and executed many people.

Porto Cristo d

The Caves of Drach

The Caves of Drach, or Dragon’s Caves, are on the south side of Porto Cristo. The first mention of the caves was as early as 1338 but the Porto Cristo fname did not appear until 1632. Those who lived in the tiny fishing village probably spoke of a mythical dragon which inhabited the caves.

A German cave explorer, M. F. Will, mapped out the Black and White Caves in 1880 but Archduke Ludwig Salvator invited the Frenchman Edouard Martel and Louis Armand to explore them in 1896. Martel was the father of speleology (the study of caves) and he discovered a third cave, which he named Luis Salvator’s Cave. His group then crossed a large underground lake, named Lake Martel in the explorer’s honour, to discover the cave on the far side which was called the French Cave.

The famous author Jules Verne wrote a novel in 1896 called ‘Clovis Dartentor’ and the Caves of Drach get a mention; described as “… comparable with the most beautiful in the world, with their legendary lakes, their stalactite filled vaults, their cool, limpid pools, their theatre, their hell – fantastic denominations if wanted, but what the wonders of these vast caverns deserve.”

Don Juan Severa and Angela Amer Nadal bought the caves in 1922 and they built paths and opened a new entrance. In 1935 Carlos Buigias installed lighting so visitors could see the rock formations. In 1951 archaeologists discovered Bronze Age, Carthaginian, Roman and Arabic finds proving that the caves were occupied for around 2,000 years.

The chamber next to Lake Martel can accommodate hundreds of visitors at a time and a boat brings a quartet of musicians out onto the lake to play classical pieces. Find out more about the Caves of Drach at www.cuevasdeldrach.com.

 

Porto Cristo gThe Caves of Hams

The Caves of Hams are on the west side of Porto Cristo. They were discovered by the speleologist Pedro Caldentey Santandreu in 1905 when he was looking for onyx, a colourful version of silica. The first cave was called March Second, the date it was discovered, and the next one was called the Owl’s Hall because owls were nesting inside. He continue to explore a chain of caves, finding another underground lake.

By 1912 Caldentey was worried the sooty smoke from the explorers’ carbide lamps was damaging the rock formations, so he installed electric lighting, using a windmill and a waterfall to drive a turbine. In 1953 his son Lorenzo installed the electric system which still lights up the rock formations.

After passing through Caldentey’s original caves you enter the Angel’s Dream Cave which is filled with hook shaped stalactites. Ham is the local word for fishhook, hence the name of the caves. After passing through the Hall of Images, the Valley of Delights, the Enchanted Lake City, Paradise Lost and the Column Lake, you enter a large cave with an underground lake called the Sea of Venice. A boat brings a quartet onto the water and they give a short classical concert. The final caves have delightful names like Fairies Cemetery, the Imperial Palace and the Valley of Delights. Find out more about the Caves of Hams at www.cuevas-hams.com.Screenshot 2015-10-04 18.28.46

To find out more about Mallorca’s history visit www.mallorcadaysout.com or join the Facebook page for all sorts of pictures and facts, both old and new.

 

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