D eia is so pretty that it can make you gasp aloud. In fact, that’s just what I did when spying it for the first time from the back of a taxi. Wedged between the Balearic Sea and the Unesco-protected Tramuntana mountains on Mallorca’s northwest coast, this petite village is quite the sight with steep streets, spires of cypresses, buttery-brown stone villas, and – sitting atop its highest point like a cardinal’s biretta – a 16th-century church.
Deia is more than just a pretty picture though. This is a town with personality, managing at once to be fashionable and luxurious while retaining an artsy, bohemian soul. “The name Deia dates back to the 10th-century Moor conquest and means ‘village,’” local guide Gina Vasquez tells me while walking the stone-paved streets of Es Clot, the oldest part of Deia.
Tucked on the back of the Puig (the hill), this part of the village is hidden from the sea to deter once-common pirate attacks. Gina points out the farming terraces, allowing the steep hillside to be cultivated with olive trees (another Moorish legacy), but when we get to Esglesia de Sant Joan Baptista at the very top, we meet the man credited with creating Deia’s modern reputation as a haven for artists, writers, musicians, and stars – all in search of inspiration or rest and relaxation. Robert Graves’ final resting place is marked with red votives and polished pebbles.
“He’s Deia’s adoptive son,” says Gina. Graves, the British author of Good-bye to.
