The peaceful olive trees of Soller
Published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin
Tuesday 14th October 2014
Photograph by RACHEL FOX
Soller is known for its oranges and citrus fruit production but a revolution has been going on behind the scenes. The olives of Soller are staging a fight back and want to be the pre eminent export of the Soller Valley . The terraces of our mountains were prepared centuries ago by the Moors and these olives are very special. My olive education has been learned from the Capsvespre Project at the San Bartholomew Agricultural Centre on the way to Fornalutx. No watering systems for the Soller olives but complete reliance on rain. This means that the tree roots spread out far and wide looking for water. In this process the system picks up more nutrients from the soil and creates a completely different olive to those with easy access to water. The harvest is just beginning and the olives which are all collected by hand go up to the Agricola to be pressed. This is a very exciting process and visitors to the centre are often there as this is going on. Smallholdings take their harvest there for individual pressings and then there is a collective one which gives the Oil de Soller brand.
The peaceful olive has met a little controversy in the heart of Soller this week. The War memorial in Placa Espanya has sprung a leak and a decision was taken to change the ornamental pond at the foot of the statue into an olive garden. The digging up of the concrete happened and two huge olive trees were installed and it changed the face of the memorial completely. Most people were happy about this but some felt the changes hadn’t gone far enough. There is the problem of the eagle insignia that is on the wall of the edifice. It is known as ‘Franco’s Eagle’ and is a memento of a previous era. After Franco died most of these memorials were removed unless it was considered that they were of particular historic or cultural interest. In Soller the eagle remained for that reason. Some local people feel that it is time the eagle flew away and that it should be now as they are renovating the memorial and installing the olive trees. Not sure how this one is going to end and most of us can’t quite believe that all this anger has come about through the installation of the olives.
Meanwhile down at the Port of Soller tempers are really fraying about the delay in installing the bus stop. The Port of Soller has hundreds of people who use the buses each day. Many of them are walkers heading through the tunnel to pick up their trails on the Bunyola side of the Coll. The rains of the past two weeks brought their problem to everyone’s attention. There is no shade or shelter at this stop at all. The order for a covered canopy was placed and delivery date promised but that has long gone. Pictures were taken of drenched visitors caught without shelter while waiting for the bus. The powers that be are busy issuing ‘not my fault’ statements and it is all now being put at the blacksmiths door. The iron man of Soller is supposed to be doing something with an iron frame which will create a bus stop. I’ll keep you informed of his progress.
Progress has been made on the demolition of the Hotel Rocamar. It just simply isn’t there any more. The rubble gets shifted every day in convoys of Lorries that take it away to the recycling centre. The beautifying work begins any day soon with a landscaping project to be the start of the mountain walks. This is all a very satisfactory conclusion to a long drawn out affair. Bus stop people – take note – Soller gets there in the end.
The autumn calms have given us flat seas and beautiful days on the beach. October visitors are pinching themselves at their good fortune to have summer weather for their autumn break. The dominance of the mushroom menus is the give away that this is really the season of mellow fruitfulness. The hotels are working towards their last welcomes of this year before they close the door for a bit of renovation and cleaning. The live music people who have been a huge success this season in the Port of Soller are contemplating their diaries and their winter bookings. Some of them will head for the mountains and entertain the skiers, others will head for the Caribbean and others for the dole queue.
2014 will be remembered as the summer season when the Port of Soller came alive with music. The number of live musicians in the place has been quite remarkable and put the resort on the music map of Majorca . The long awaited plans for a music arena to be built in the Santa Catalina end of the Port might come to fruition too in the renovation plans for that area. Live music all around the bay and in our own auditorium on the watersedge. What a lovely thought to end the season on.
