The old route that once connected Port de Valldemossa and Deià is rather a walk than a hike. On the way to Sa Foradada you pass terraced vineyards, olive groves and abandoned plots with donkeys in the shadow of orange and pine trees. And you come by S’Estaca, the stunning white mansion built by the Austrian archduke Ludwig Salvator of Habsburg. For almost 30 years now it has been the vacation home of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Even more picturesque is the former fishing village of Cala S’Estaca a little further down the road. The tiny houses that used to be the dwellings of Valldemossa fishermen are mainly used as holiday cottages, today. A fancy cluster of colored shutters, narrow staircases and terraces overlooking the sea and the bay with its natural swimming pool and crystal-clear water. A magic place in the summer, now in deep hibernation. 

It’s worth following the path that once led all the way to the Foradada peninsula. After a number of landslides it is not kept anymore and nature has started to reclaim its territory. But you still have a great view. When Frank Gehry was visiting Michael Douglas in his splendid villa in the Tramuntana the two of them were strolling along the path by the sea when Gehry discovered Sa Foradada in the distance. 

Everybody knows the rock because of its large hole. But from this perspective it looks like a huge whale pausing on the shore. Thus it comes as no surprise that Frank Gehry created his famous Peix d’Or for the Olympic Games in Barcelona soon after. On the way back to Port de Valldemossa we kept talking about this amazing coincidence. But a whale is not a fish, or as the famous philosopher and writer Giordano Bruno put it: Se non è vero, è ben trovato.