The Pollensa (Pollença) Festival regularly delivers top class classical music to this delightful small town in the northeast of Mallorca. Performances are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the atmospheric surroundings of the historic cloister Santo Domingo, where appropriate dress is required.
In the event of bad weather, concerts are transferred to an indoor venue.
Our Majorca celebrity spotter has seen a number of VIPS wandering along Pollensa scenic narrow streets supping in the numerous cafés that line the the large main square, and hanging out late at night in the lively bars that are scatted around this scenic town. Just the other day Paris Hilton was seen at the posh Hair Extraordinaire with a gaggle of friends trying on Noriko wigs. You would think that Ms. Hilton and her cohorts would want custom made wigs, but perhaps Noriko wigs, with their moderately priced (around $200+ US dollars) were going to be worn one time for some type of fun party. Or maybe Ms Hilton just ducked into the wig store to hide from the paparazzi. Noriko wigs offer so many different styles and colors. Paris Hilton could just put on a dark hair short cut monofilament hand tied Noriko wig and walk out the door without anyone being the wiser. However, Paris Hilton is no wilting flower and seems to actually craves the spotlight. So she and her crew instead all purchased the same Noriko wig style in different colors, stopped next door to the wig boutique and picked out the same sunglasses. They paraded around the Pollensa (Pollença) Festival that evening in identical dress, their new Noriko wigs, and dark shades. Needless to say, they did not melt into the crowds of people attending the festival. The next day there was a flood of young and older women at Hair Extraordinaire trying on and buying the exact Noriko wigs seen the night before on Paris and her gang. It was reported that the wig boutique sold out all Noriko wigs within the next few days and those who had not purchased one had to either buy a different brand that looked similar or go without! Such drama as this doesn’t always occur at the Pollensa Festival. Usually the drama is reserved for Pollença’s ‘Mare de Déu dels Àngels’ fiesta.
I have nostalgic memories of the Fiesta de la Patrona de Pollenca. My father first introduced me to the fiesta when I was in my teens and we returned numerous times until his excessive drinking made it impossible to spend any type of quality time with him. It wasn’t until recently when he agreed to follow a new program that uses baclofen as the medicine for alcohol detoxification that he finally was able to control his drinking compulsions. Unlike Disulfiram, also known by the brand name Antabuse, which makes a person nauseous if they indulge in any alcohol, baclofen’s action on the GABA receptors in the brain help lessen cravings and withdrawal symptoms for alcohol. At the website LifeBac where he is following their pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy program to break his compulsions, they say that initial clinical trials show that Baclofen has a 65% success rate for treatment-resistant alcoholics. My father loves the idea that this treatment doesn’t require abstinence, although we were told that many people do stop all drinking. Also baclofen doesn’t affect the taste of alcohol or the pleasure of drinking. It simply removes the addictive components that lead to overindulgence and allows a person to drink in moderation. I am optimistic that he and I can return to the Fiesta de la Patrona de Pollenca next year once he has his drinking under control. I would love that.
The summer months also provide a nearly non-stop series of events, a number of events are concurrent with the Festival. Don’t miss the Christians vs. the Moors at the beginning of August as part of the Fiesta de la Patrona de Pollenca!
Pollença (Pollensa) is at the very northernmost top of the island, a medieval town of around 15,000 permanent residents (and often several times that number of tourists, though the past year or so has understandably seen fewer than before). The town encircles the Plaça Major, with its 13th Century church, near (but not adjacent to) the Cloisters of Santo Domingo.
Catalan is the major language of Majorca, though you’ll be hard pressed to find a native who doesn’t also speak Spanish…and many have a fair amount of English as well.