Sometimes you don’t have to travel far or climb high. Pollença is one of the most beautiful towns on my trips to the Northern Tramuntana. Although its local mountain Puig de Maria is an easy hike up of less than an hour you are rewarded with a beautiful panorama of the Formentor peninsula and the bay of Pollença. While the medieval monastery Santuari de la Mare de Déu del Puig has long been left by the nuns it is still worth a visit.

Next to the chapel there is a large kitchen and an archaic dining hall. You can figure the novices breaking secrets to each other while they are taking in their meals on the long wooden benches. Today, you meet hikers and other guests who enjoy a break on the terrace of the cafeteria with cool drinks and small traditional dishes. Every year on Easter Monday the people from Pollença make their way up to celebrate with a big open-air picnic.

There is a short detour that leads to the Mirador del Molí Vell. Even though the signpost has been removed you can still find it. Leave the main route at a narrow intersection just below the mountaintop. Follow the wobbly path downhill, then circle the mountain’s northern slope to the edge with the ruins of an old mill. And you have the fabulous vista of the jagged Formentor mountains almost for yourself. Except for a couple of wild goats, maybe.