The sanctuary of the Balearic Islands has enchanted a multitude of creative minds, from Robert Graves to David Bowie, finds Holly Kirkwood. Trade and conflict shaped the Balearics. From the 8th century BC, a succession of superpowers, from the Phoenecians and the Carthaginians to the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba, brought to the islands their skills, tools and crops.
All this built over the relics of a sophisticated prehistoric culture, the Talaiotic people, who raised countless monuments that can still be found throughout Mallorca and Menorca. Today, visitors can walk through these layers of history and see everything from Coptic monuments to Phoenician settlements and Moorish bathhouses. This outstanding preservation of both the landscape and built heritage has not gone unnoticed: all four islands boast UNESCO World Heritage listings and, this year, Ibiza is celebrating 25 years as a World Heritage Site.
The Balearics are also blessed with exceptional natural beauty: Mallorca’s UNESCO-listed Serra de Tramuntana is one of the most romantic landscapes found anywhere in Europe and Menorca and Ibiza have enough turquoise coves, white-sand beaches, pine forests, mountains, cliffs and caves to reward a lifetime of exploration. This heady combination put the Balearics firmly on the map for the Grand Tourist of the past. Chopin lived and worked on Mallorca in 1838–39 with his lover, George Sand, then, in 1872, Archduke Luis Salvador visited and found the Serra de Tramuntana so.
